Hays Chief People Officer Viewpoint Report

How the Chief People Officer role has become integral to business success

With insights from more than 190 of Australia and New Zealand’s most senior HR leaders, the Chief People Officer Viewpoint report uncovers the challenges HR leaders are facing as they take their seat at the executive table.

The challenges HR leaders face are multifaceted.

Finding the right talent is still hard, and expensive.
A strong EVP is the number one way they will attract the talent they want.
The new strategic requirement of the position requires upskilling.
Increasingly complex regulation and legislation make it hard to remain compliant.
Human skills are hard to find, especially for HR teams.

This report explores the challenges the modern HR leader is facing, and how to turn these challenges into opportunities so they can confidently take a seat at the table and help lead their organisations to even greater success.

Chief People Officer Report

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Key findings from the Hays Chief People Officer Viewpoint report

The Chief People Officer role continues to evolve both in terms of the breadth of its duties, and its importance to an organisation. As one of our Chief People Officer Viewpoint survey respondents commented: The Chief People Officer role will continue to broaden in terms of remit and accountabilities. It will be more aligned with the critical operational part of the business.

Change management, communication and a leading role at exec level have all become part of the role, with a vast majority of Chief People Officers looking to upskill, mainly in the areas of influencing decision making, strategic leadership, and aligning strategies to overall business objectives.

Despite these added responsibilities, finding the right talent for their organisations remains their biggest concern, and the majority are creating and communicating an employee value proposition (EVP) as their primary strategy going forward.

Businesses should take note, however, as almost two thirds of Chief People Officers are actively looking or considering changing roles, and yet less than half of these organisations have a succession plan in place, despite the scarcity of appropriate skills available.

The Chief People Officer is in more demand than ever. As another of our respondents to the survey said: "There is only going to be an increased requirement for C-Suite HR professionals."

85%	62%
of Senior HR leaders are looking to upskill to properly manage their new responsibilities.	of Chief People Officers are facing challenges to find the right talent for their organisation.

63%	64%
of Chief People Officers are actively looking or considering changing their role.	of HR leaders find it hard to source people with the right human skills for their HR teams.

benefits of temporary and contractor employees

The CFO Viewpoint

The C-Suite Series

This is the second in the C-Suite Series from Hays, produced to help senior leaders and senior hiring professionals share their insights on challenges, priorities, and expectations they are facing, and the solutions they are adopting.

The CFO Viewpoint Report revealed valuable insights into the evolving role of the CFO, as they move from traditional financial advisors to dynamic strategic innovators; and the shifting skillsets they and their teams require.

Similarly, the Chief People Officers Viewpoint report offers recommendations and considerations for upskilling, attraction and retention strategies and solving the challenges that Chief People Officers and their organisations are facing.