Rebooting HR: Culture Meets Strategy
The history of Human Resources dates back to the early 20th century when personnel departments were created to manage the growing complexities of industrialization. In today’s competitive talent landscape—particularly in industries like healthcare—HR and recruitment have evolved into distinct areas of expertise. Recruitment is a daily grind, focused on filling roles quickly, while HR plays the long-term game of retention and culture-building. These two roles rarely align perfectly, especially in industries with a $23.6 billion healthcare staffing market. So, what does HR 2.0 look like?
C-Suite leaders emphasize "culture, culture, culture" while also focusing on the bottom line. Yet many HR leaders feel like they’re running a community counseling center, managing conflicts and grievances, instead of acting as mentors or coaches for growth. Is the constant culture cry a symptom of employees who can't manage their personal lives, and therefore, can't handle work life without conflict? Too often, HR finds itself babysitting poor managers who are critical for profit, but who lack the ability to create functional, conflict-free teams.
Take Amazon as an example—last week, CEO Andy Jassy announced a full return-to-office mandate starting in January, along with a plan to flatten the organization by reducing layers of middle management. This points to a broader trend: HR 2.0 is needed to address not just culture, but the deeper issues of efficiency, leadership, and meaningful work.
To secure its rightful place at the executive table, HR must pivot to educating leadership on the financial implications of human capital decisions. For example, how many hospitals have their CHRO regularly attend finance and board meetings to discuss labor costs and the steps HR needs from leadership to reduce those costs and improve retention? Labor is often the largest expense, yet HR is frequently left out of these critical conversations.
3 Ways CEOs Can Leverage Their CHRO to Improve Their Organization:
Integrate HR into Financial Strategy: Make HR a core part of discussions on labor costs, recruitment, and retention. CHROs should be held accountable for presenting data and strategies that have a direct impact on the organization’s financial performance.
Develop a CHRO-CEO Partnership: This includes fostering a relationship where the CHRO is a trusted advisor, or consiglieri, to the CEO. These two leaders should be having forward-thinking, five-steps-ahead conversations about the potential outcomes of tough decisions. For example, at one organization I’ve worked with, to combat a toxic "tattle-tale" culture, the CEO and CHRO decided to ban cc’ing anyone outside of a department in emails. The policy was simple: if it was urgent, pick up the phone; if it could wait, save it for the next meeting agenda. Managers had been spending over two hours daily reading non-critical emails, which turned out to be more about covering themselves (CYA) than contributing to meaningful work or culture. The CEO had to acknowledge that she may have contributed to creating this culture, and the CHRO helped her understand the detox that would happen by establishing a new norm.
Empower HR to Shape, Not Just Monitor, Culture: CEOs should empower their CHROs to proactively design the company culture, rather than reacting to issues as they arise. This means aligning company values with daily operations and ensuring that culture isn’t just a buzzword, but a strategic advantage that drives engagement and results.
By empowering the CHRO, CEOs can bridge the gap between culture and profit, creating an organization that thrives both operationally and financially. Is it time for HR 2.0 to take the lead?
