HR needs to think the unthinkable and reinvent the very nature of what it does and why it does it.

The HR profession is at a tipping point. Unprecedented turbulence, driven by tech innovation, hyper-competitiveness and market disruption, has created levels of organisational stress that demand a new focus on the human side of business.  The opportunity for HR to take the lead is huge, but there remains a question over whether HR professionals have the capability, focus and mindset to transform themselves from being a support function to the long-term driver of competitive advantage. We have spent six months researching the future of HR, informed by in depth interviews with 22 leading HR directors and supported by Kevin Green, former HR Director at Royal Mail Group and Chief Executive of the REC UK.  Our goals were to:

• Explore the capabilities that HR needs going forward
• Understand what may be inhibiting progress
• Identify what could enable HR to achieve the desired change.

We also wanted to provide HR leaders with guidance on what to focus on and how to manage the change, in the context of increasingly busy and challenging work environments.

The title of the campaign makes our intent clear: we are challenging HR to ‘go on the offensive’; to lead from the front, shape organisational strategy and drive business change.

The report focuses on our findings in 4 key areas:

• Service offering – are we the jack of all trades?
• Structure – is there a silver bullet?
• Capabilities – how do we up our game?
• Mindset – are we our own worst enemy?

It also provides guidance on what we believe are two major enablers for change:

• Data, analytics and insights
• Line manager capability

The future is full of opportunity, if we’re bold enough to break the mould.

Download our HR on the Offensive whitepaper here:

Fill in your name and work email address below to download your copy of the report.

We have a number of other whitepapers you may be interested in, including:

• The Future of HR Shared Services – Becoming People Experience and Solutions Experts

• HR Shared Services Trends Report

• HR’s One Big Thing – What is keeping CPOs up late at night?