HR’s role is changing within organisations. Conceived as an administrative function – the ways and means for employing and paying people – the function is becoming more strategic, more important and indeed a crucial part of every organisation.
Its position within organisations certain gives it a view over everything that happens: a new IT system – HR needs to help ensure everyone knows how to use it; a new product line – HR needs to ensure the right skills are there to deliver; company expansion or contraction – HR is intrinsically involved. But by being proactive about this position, rather than reactive, HR can at last secure its place in leading organisations forward.
According to Denise Flavin, HR Business Partner and specialist in L&D at Totalmobile, success for HR differs from business to business, according to what approach works best in each instance. However, one thing that unites success for HR is building a proactive HR strategy plan. “At Totalmobile, we have achieved success through strong business partnership and engagement models,” she explains. “Our approach as a team is to anticipate and prevent issues arising with a strong focus on providing strategic support to our business leaders.”
Decisive data
According to Flavin, the function has stopped trying to predict the future based on the performance of the past. People data and analytics are now front and centre to support business leaders in all their decision making including forecasting future talent based on business objectives, promoting employee engagement and overseeing the automation of HR admin to further enable emphasis on strategic initiatives.
We moved from a support mindset as a team to a strategic enabler, improving our skills in data, strategy, and change management.
The result is HR positioned as a strategic driver. “It’s a mindset change,” says Flavin. “We moved from a support mindset as a team to a strategic enabler, improving our skills in data, strategy, and change management.”
Jeanette Wheeler, Chief People Officer, MHR agrees with the shift towards strategy: “Over the past decade, we’ve witnessed HR transform from an administrative support role into a true strategic partner,” she says. “That’s why it’s earned its place in the C-suite.”
Again, analytics are now revealing trends in performance, engagement, and retention, allowing businesses to anticipate needs, shape workforce planning, and drive long-term business outcomes.
Collaborative role
Jeanette also highlights a mindset and attitude change that goes with these activities: “To move from reactive to proactive leadership, HR must reposition itself as a ‘people intelligence’ function, collaborating closely with finance, operations, and IT to align on shared goals, and ensure every decision made across the employee experience reflects the business’s broader vision,” she says.
M&E Global deploys skilled workers to fulfil defence sector contracts at military bases worldwide. According to their HR specialist, Ashley Round, being proactive in HR also means anticipating and resolving potential challenges before they become obstacles. On one level, this involves managing tasks, such as visas and housing arrangements, which if handled incorrectly will result in delays in deployment or cause housing difficulties and unnecessary stress. “By establishing a proactive approach bound by robust systems and processes, we are able to ensure smoother operations and a better experience for our workers, ultimately leading to higher satisfaction and productivity,” says Ashley.
However, HR’s work in making things run smoothly goes further: “Beyond administrative efficiency, well-being and supportive resources should also be readily accessible to everyone without the need for to request them,” Ashely says. “For example, we are working with many ex-forces individuals, helping them transition into civilian life and supporting with PTSD and mental health issues. The goal should be to foster an environment where mental wellbeing is actively nurtured through thoughtful and compassionate strategies.”
Proactive strategies are integrated into the everyday operations of the business, creating, says Ashley, a supportive workplace environment that safeguards its people at every level. “In return, this creates a workforce that is highly productive and more likely to remain at a business for a long period of time,” he concludes.
Working in the wider context
Part of the potential now offered to HR lies in what is happening in the wider world of work: “We are living through a period of seismic transformation,” says Michelle Carson, Founder & Chairwoman of executive search firm Holmes Noble. Alongside an increasingly diverse, distributed, and discerning workforce organisations are also facing immense pressure trying to deal with everything from AI disruption to geopolitical volatility. “In this environment, a business’s ability to adapt and thrive hinges on how well it understands, supports, and activates its people,” argues Carson.
A business’s ability to adapt and thrive hinges on how well it understands, supports, and activates its people.
However, despite HR’s worth being high, outdated perceptions are still holding the function back. “Research shows that over 70% of employees question whether HR truly represents them,” says Carson. “This erosion of trust limits HR’s influence – at a time when organisations urgently need its leadership to navigate change.”
According to Carson, the most forward-thinking organisations are elevating HR as a strategic catalyst – essential to innovation, resilience, and growth. This means elements such as workforce design, cultural intelligence, and data-driven insight are now at the heart of boardroom decisions.
“Those already leading this shift are proving just how powerful HR can be when it’s positioned to lead,” she says. “To those on the cusp – step in, not back. This is HR’s moment – not to support from the sidelines, but to lead from the front.”
A pivotal moment
For David Liddle, President of the People and Culture Association and CEO of The TCM Group believes the HR profession is facing a pivotal moment, describing it as perhaps the most consequential in its history. “As the world of work continues to shift, HR stands at a crossroads,” he says. “It can either rise to become the most strategically important function within the modern organisation, or it can retreat into the background as a transactional, administrative department clinging to outdated practices.
“The choice is stark, but the opportunity is extraordinary,” he adds.
Again, Liddle is calling for a mindset change, taking the function away from its support service role and instead becoming the architect of that strategy – embedding purpose, values, and people-centred thinking at the heart of every leadership decision. “This evolution requires a complete reimagining of the function itself,” he says. “We must stop thinking in terms of ‘Human Resources’ and start thinking in terms of ‘People and Culture’.”
Liddle positions HR as the custodian of the organisation’s cultural integrity ensuring that the stated values of an organisation are not just words in a handbook, but principles that are felt, experienced, and enacted daily. “This involves creating spaces where employees are heard, valued, and supported,” he says. “It means fostering environments of psychological safety, restorative practice, and relational leadership. And it means taking bold steps to ensure that fairness, inclusion, and sustainability are not mere aspirations, but strategic imperatives.”
As challenges to business become more sophisticated and as organisations become more reliant on their people to adapt, perform and deliver, HR has everything to play for. “HR isn’t waiting for an invitation – it’s shaping the agenda,” says Holmes Noble’s Michelle Carson, “And in today’s climate, that’s exactly what leadership looks like.”
