The future of HR: “Reports of the death of the HRBP are greatly exaggerated”

As highlighted in our recent New world. New skills report, we all know that the world of work is changing: radically and quickly.

New technologies, organisational structures, and changes to how people work are all dramatically reshaping the mandate for HR. So much so, we often hear the HRBP is a role that soon won’t exist, potentially automated out of existence. Could this really be true, is the role of the HR business partner really under threat?

To better understand what the future may hold for the role of HR, we convened some roundtables featuring leaders and practitioners from different geographic markets and industries, for a series of discussions on this topic.

All our attendees agreed that the term HR business partner will mean something different. It’s not about simply evolving a job description but rather how the role becomes a broader strategic leadership role.

So what role will an HRBP have to play in the future? What skills will they need? And what will their career path look like?

We examined some of the key aspects and reflected on what these could mean in evolving and potentially radically different HR functions of the future:

Our recent Secure your future people experience report also sees the HRBP as a role that will add real value to the workplace of the future. It details the five actions needed to build a nurturing people experience, with HR at the heart of this change. HRBPs need to be a force of positive disruption to carve a new path and type of partnership with the business.

It appears far from the role being on the way out, there's an increasingly sophisticated set of requirements for partnering with business leaders around people.

The question for all HRBPs should be: given the evolution of the role what are you doing to develop the skills needed to meet these new workforce priorities?