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HR leaders know and lead people. Functional leaders know and lead the business. To connect the two worlds, an organization needs someone who knows and understands both.
That’s where the HR Business Partner (HRBP) comes in. HRBPs act as a two-way bridge that facilitates, aligns, manages and elevates the relationship between people and the business, so they operate and deliver as one.
This isn’t yet another new buzzword or acronym (we've got enough of those already). More than 100,000 HRBPs are employed in the US, steering their companies through a disruptive time, even as they themselves evolve skills and competencies for a new business environment.
Let’s look at how organizations can make the most of this pivotal role.
The Origins of the HR Business Partner
Management guru David Ulrich first proposed the idea of HR working in partnership with business leaders in 1997. In 2023, it's become an increasingly pivotal role, especially at large enterprises.
In 2018, HRBPs already accounted for 28% of HR headcount and 19% of HR expenses — the most of any HR-related function. Today, over 60% of HRBP professionals in the US are employed by companies with over 10,000 people.
While HRBPs aren’t new, some business leaders still fail to view the role as a driver of value, able to pull talent levers, continuing instead to see them as HR generalists. Others confuse them with HR managers, who may, in fact, be specialists in areas such as recruitment or rewards. Often, business units see HRBPs as a catch-all role for any kind of HR support.
The main differentiator is the professional objective of each role.
HR’s objective is to support and facilitate personnel through their employee journey. The HRBP’s objective is to help the business achieve its goals by better leveraging people as a strategic resource.
Christian Walker, HRBP & HRM expert with over a decade in business and HR roles, said the role can have a significant impact on business, but to make a difference, the HRBP needs a deep and ongoing understanding of the organization's challenges and objectives.
The starting point, he said, is collaborating with leaders from various business units to identify the root cause of departmental challenges. The HRBP is tasked with finding unique yet effective solutions, not just to solve problems but to measurably move the needle on business outcomes.
For instance, in his own experience, integrating an HR information system into the company's operations reduced onboarding time, established new efficiency standards, improved performance reviews and streamlined multiple processes.
Another intervention he’s seen was based on a recognition of the rising cost of health insurance for small businesses. In response, a new wellness perk saved employees thousands of dollars and significantly reduced time spent at the doctor's office, which positively impacted business productivity.
HRBPs today, Walker said, must not only know the business and HR processes but also understand the data and technology to envision and execute real change.
Related Article: Do You Need an HR Generalist or HR Business Partner?
The HRBP Role Exists in a Strategic Spectrum
The HRBP role is what the organization needs it to be — but also what it's allowed to be.
At one end, a tactical HRBP functions as an order taker, focused on putting out fires rather than tracking back to the root cause of the problem. They talk to HR leaders and business leaders, create a list of tasks to be done to help and execute solutions in problem-solving mode.
At the other end, a strategy-focused HRBP will study the data, history and trends, talk to stakeholders and lead the conversation on how better people-business alignment can unlock business value. They dig into the root cause of the problems, which may even be unknown to the leaders themselves, and create new value for all stakeholders.
Most HRBPs function across a spectrum, focusing where the business needs them at different times. Knowing when to do what is a key skill.
But the closer HRBPs function to the strategic side, freed from operational and tactical responsibilities, the more the business benefits. Such high-performing HRBP teams have been shown to help organizations better leverage people as a strategic resource, improve employee performance by up to 22%, boost retention by a quarter and drive better revenue and profits.
In fact, the Human Capital Institute calls its training program the Strategic HR Business Partner (SHRBP) Certification. Gartner research shows that HRBPs themselves want to spend at least 20% of their time on strategic work, and technology and automation will accelerate that shift.
Related Article: What People Operations Can Learn From Product Development
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Leading in Times of Change and Disruption
Ashley Wricks, SHRM-CP, partner, talent and culture at ASQ World Headquarters, has been supporting diverse organizations as an HRBP for a decade. She said the strategic impact of her work is most apparent in the talent strategy, resulting in better employee retention, engagement and satisfaction.
But the strategic partnership between HR and business has become especially important in a time of disruption. At such times, HRBPs can facilitate change management, foster resilience and support employee wellbeing, as well as use data, analytics and technology to aid strategic decision-making, she added.
That’s because disruptive times call for smarter workforce planning, agile talent management and the ability to adapt to evolving workplace models. At such times, successful HRBPs will operate as business leaders rather than HR professionals, quickly grasping the dynamics and new context. They will help leaders of the business units view changes and new initiatives from the lens of people, talent and culture. Bringing them into the conversation early often surfaces key talent insights that can make or break the initiative.
HRBPs are also expected to coach business leaders in areas such as employee engagement and performance management, as well as in less familiar but crucial areas such as succession planning and nurturing top talent along a growth path — all of which create a smoother run during times of upheaval.
Brandon Buttars, HR manager at smart-home company Vivint, said in a podcast on HRBPs that effective and strategic HRBPs spend a lot of time not just with business and HR leaders but also with operational teams. Structured and unstructured interactions help better understand the opportunities and levers for effective change and build trust and credibility for the HRBP. The payback comes in times of disruption, when change is urgent and often drastic.
HRBPs, Buttars said, should be curious but also bring a dose of healthy skepticism. They should ask the hard questions, avoid taking what they hear at face value and push back when needed. The HRBP’s role, he said, is to help create “a path to yes,” engaging all stakeholders to find the best path to a stated goal, especially when no such path currently exists.
Related Article: Why HR Needs to Be a Change Agent
The Evolving HRBP Role
Gartner recently proposed an update to Ulrich’s original three-pillar model, which stood HR on the pillars of administrative/ transactional services (payroll, etc.), centers of expertise (specialist areas such as recruitment and rewards) and shared services (data and technology support).
The update realigns the HR operating model for the future. It also identifies three specific impact areas where HRBPs can lead: as strategic talent leaders, HR problem solvers and people relations managers.
The role is evolving at such pace that Gartner predicts that by 2025, HRBPs will be the official stewards of the employee experience, completing the shift away from “what employees need at work,” to “how employees experience work.”
Businesses have always been propelled by people. With the right HRBP function in place, business leaders learn to value and leverage people as a strategic resource to achieve business goals. In times of disruption, this ability to navigate not just business dynamics but also people dynamics can be the ultimate decider of success.
