There’s no shortage of workplace matters HR professionals have been involved in these last 19 months: Health and safety protocols. Employee burnout and well-being. Diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. Remote work or hybrid logistics. Retention, turnover, recruiting and hiring. Vaccination strategy. The list goes on.
The heightened focus on all of these issues has given HR more influence than ever as companies navigate the lingering Covid-19 pandemic, the “great resignation” and ongoing conversations around racial and social equity.
In spring 2020, “HR’s seat at the table was solidified permanently,” John M. Bremen, managing director of human capital and benefits at Willis Towers Watson, told the Society for Human Resource Management.
Millions of employees settled into remote work during the pandemic and now want to keep that perk, or at least come into the office less often; some are lining up new jobs to get what they want. Many have dealt with burnout or other mental health challenges.
Concurrently, the 2020 murder of George Floyd and the ensuing protests and conversations prompted companies to enhance diversity efforts, develop training to address bias and take a closer look at their hiring and promotion practices.
It’s understandable, then, that 7 in 10 HR leaders believe this year has been one of the most challenging of their careers, according to a Paychex survey. Nearly all of those polled said the pandemic has transformed their role.
To meet these challenges, hiring has ramped up. Indeed data indicates HR job posts have jumped 53% since pre-pandemic times, with roles gaining more prominence at the corporate level.
A LinkedIn analysis of C-suite roles discovered chief diversity and inclusion officer hiring has skyrocketed during the past year. Among all hires, chief D&I hires jumped 111%, outpacing last year’s 84%. At other companies, chief human resource officers are responsible for navigating DEI strategy.
Chief people officer hires rose 61% and chief talent officer hires, 36%. The “great resignation” and fight for talent — what some call the biggest challenge for HR right now — have made these roles even more crucial to organizations’ success. As employers focus on company culture and retention, chief people officers now have more muscle, LinkedIn noted.
Additionally, the pandemic-era question of where employees do their work tends to fall within HR’s purview, as does the consideration of training supervisors to manage remote workers more effectively and keep them engaged. Coming out of the pandemic, companies might call on remote work experts to prepare them to lead hybrid or remote teams, Axios noted, or recruiting or onboarding experts who can help fill jobs at a quicker pace.
During the burnout crisis, keeping tabs on employees’ well-being requires more emotional intelligence of HR professionals. That shift will change what companies look for in these candidates amid the flurry of HR-related hires, Holly Maurer-Klein, SHRM-SCP and vice president at HR/Advantage Advisory, told SHRM.
“One of the lessons of the pandemic is that we have to put the ‘human’ back into human resources,” Brian Kropp, group vice president and chief of research in the HR practice at Gartner, told SHRM. HR professionals need to “understand the life experiences employees are going through, to support them not just in their experience as workers but in their lives.”
As they remain agile and tend to an evolving list of workplace concerns, some HR professionals are close to burnout themselves. Alison Stevens, director of HR services for Paychex, called her work since the pandemic began “a rollercoaster,” per CNBC Make It.
“Part of the stress is that, by nature, HR professionals tend to take care of others before themselves,” Stevens said. “It’s how we’re hardwired. That, combined with the fact that the pandemic isn’t over.”
