In 2024, Chief Human Resources Officers are regarded as strategic leaders of enterprise change. To compete in a volatile marketplace, the trajectory of their role has been altered to have an unwavering focus on “future-proofing” the organization, driving digitalization capabilities and fostering workforce resilience.
CHROs are keeping a pulse on emerging trends and modifying their leadership strategies and organizational design in accordance. A recent Gartner report, Leadership Vision for Chief HR Officers in 2024, notes that 80% of HR leaders believe their function faces different challenges to those they faced prepandemic, and it cites productivity surrounding hybrid work models, generative AI and the ever evolving talent landscape as having a significant impact on their approaches this year.
Here, we explore HR leaders’ top priorities and challenges for 2024, based on our proprietary Leadership Perspective Survey of more than 1,200 CHROs in Evanta communities.
Top Priorities for CHROs within the HR Function
This year, a few distinct changes were made to the functional priorities rated in our annual survey to better align with CHROs’ goals. In 2023, leadership development and succession planning were combined as the top priority for the year. However, in 2024, they were rated separately and came in at varying degrees of importance. For the second year in a row, leadership development topped CHROs’ list of mission critical priorities, whereas succession planning surprisingly dropped to seventh place.
For the first time since 2021, organizational design and change management is a top priority for CHROs, coming in at number two. This shift may be due to advancements in data and AI capabilities which are drastically reshaping the future of work.
Organization culture – a persistent challenge for CHROs throughout the years – ranked third for the second year in a row. Workforce strategy and planning jumped to fourth on the list from eleventh in 2023. Talent retention dipped slightly to the 5th priority for CHROs this year.
Unexpectedly, this is the first time since the inception of our reporting that CHROs did not name employee experience as a top critical priority. It ranked number six this year.
Below, we closely examine CHROs’ top three priorities for the year, including key objectives and roadblocks to success.
Rethinking Leadership Development
At the current rate of change, it is imperative for leaders to be able to guide their teams through transformation. As one CHRO said, “There are multi-layer approaches to change management. We want to enhance confidence with the new strategy. Leadership is key for this, and we’re developing change leadership capabilities.”
Unfortunately, these skills are not universal, and according to another Gartner report, “73% of HR leaders confirmed their organization’s leaders and managers aren’t equipped to lead change.” This attitude is most likely why CHROs overwhelmingly selected leadership development as a top priority for 2024.
Below are CHROs’ specific goals and challenges in implementing their leadership development strategies.
Goals for Leadership Development
80% Developing talent and skills
56% Improving business outcomes
52% Improving employee experience
Challenges for Leadership Development
51% Competing priorities
37% Lack of skills
32% Lack of resources
In addition to our survey, we conduct hundreds of follow-up conversations with CHROs about their priorities. Here is a sample of what CHROs are saying about their approach to leadership development:
Leadership development remains a consistent priority, as this is a basic to get right. It’s important to create a common language for leaders at all levels. We have three programs: basic development for new leaders, next level for managers of 2-5 years experience, and leadership development for managers with over 5 years experience.”
Supervisors play a role in influencing others and holding the right bar. They can have the conversation directly with employees, and they are the truth tellers. We all own this. We play a role in helping them through difficult conversations.”
We are shifting culture towards a more driven, growth-oriented mindset… a high-performance culture with a hunger for success. There is the need for investment in leadership to drive organizational progress.”
CHROs also mentioned that they would primarily like to discuss leadership development from a strategic perspective (62%) with their peers at future CHRO community gatherings.
Aligning Organizational Design with the Business Strategy
Business strategies are evolving to keep up with advanced digital and generative AI capabilities, and in response, CHROs are having to align their organizational design and change management approaches accordingly. Restructuring the business while keeping morale high is a substantial undertaking, leading organizational design and change management to skyrocket to the number two priority for 2024.
As one CHRO shared, “Our focus is to evolve the core business strategy without a fundamental revolution. We have structural and operational changes to support growth opportunities. We need to balance changes sensitively to minimize distractions.”
In our survey, CHROs outlined the following goals and challenges for executing organizational design and change management this year. Their primary goal is to improve business outcomes, processes and efficiencies, while their primary challenge is the quickly changing landscape.
Goals for Organizational Design & Change Management
67% Improving business outcomes
53% Improving processes and efficiencies
42% Enabling new business models
Challenges around Organizational Design & Change Management
45% Quickly changing landscape
41% Competing priorities
40% Siloed operating model
Here is a sample of what CHROs are saying about organizational design and change management:
The aim is to consistently change the operating model and introduce cross-functional business teams to eliminate silos and promote collaboration. There is a commitment to conducting surveys to gather employee feedback and ensure transparency through town halls and open communication.”
I am keen to improve the hybrid work design, because I have a lot of people at home, and I want to balance the negative perception of this new independence and help those whose teams are struggling to ensure free flowing communication, despite not being in the office.”
One main challenge is digitalization and a digitally enabled workforce… the workforce is slow to adoption. We need to bring a multi-generational workforce to digital capability and create that value proposition for the workforce.”
In terms of organizational design and change management, CHROs say they would like to consult their peers about strategic opportunities (75%), followed by discussions on execution (49%).
Building an Organizational Culture for Growth
Employees are feeling the uncertainty in the marketplace just as much as executives, and that coupled with the push to return to the office has left many unsettled, putting pressure on organizational culture – CHROs’ third highest priority. HR leaders are striving to build a culture of wellbeing and belonging, as well as establish “growth mindsets” and “a culture of high performance.”
CHROs say their goals are to improve the employee experience and improve business outcomes. They note that competing priorities is their greatest challenge in this area.
Goals for Organizational Culture
69% Improving employee experience
54% Improving business outcomes
45% Developing talent and skills
Challenges around Organizational Culture
46% Competing priorities
39% Siloed operating model
37% Company culture
Here is a sample of what CHROs had to say about their approach to organizational culture in 2024:
We are fostering an engaged and high performance culture in which people are excited and passionate about their work. We are linking culture to high performance and a growth mindset.”
We shifted from an annual cultural diagnostic approach to a listening strategy. Providing that data to people leaders so they can take appropriate action is powerful.”
We focus on different areas, such as performance management, employee experience and other elements. We see positive growth in belonging and purpose. The improvement area is around continuing to push the performance edge.”
CHROs say they would like to learn about improving their organizational culture from both a leadership perspective (65%) and a strategic perspective (60%).
CHROs’ Priorities Across the Enterprise
In addition to functional issues, our annual survey asks CHROs about their enterprise-wide priorities. For 2024, executives across the C-suite, including CHROs, all named increasing operational efficiencies and productivity as their top enterprise priority. This is a slight shift for CHROs, as last year it was their third top priority behind driving growth and employee satisfaction and engagement.
Here’s a look at CHROs’ top enterprise initiatives for this year.
Ultimately, CHRO’s top five enterprise priorities are the same as last year. Driving growth and employee satisfaction are still critical areas for CHROs, coming in at second and third respectively. Increasing revenue and optimizing or reducing costs remain in the fourth and fifth positions, reflecting how many businesses are still rebounding from economic disruption.
The Outlook for CHROs
CHROs’ influence within the C-suite is growing. A recent Gartner survey found that 83% of CHROs say their companies are relying more heavily on them compared to just three years ago, and 73% believe they have more opportunities for impact compared to the same time period.
Through both our survey and conversations with HR leaders, it is evident that CHROs are steadfast in leading business transformation for both the HR function and the enterprise, starting with their leaders and exploring advanced technologies and AI tools.
One CHRO said, “It’s crucial to have the commitment to make the change and steer commitment among leaders to drive change.” Another CHRO shared, “We need to balance the immediate needs for productivity and cost management with long-term strategic shifts… This includes adapting to technological advancements and impactive technology such as AI.”
The strategies CHROs implement today will have a lasting impact on the future of the business, and it will be interesting to see how they execute the priorities listed above over the next 12 months and years to come.
To stay up-to-date with CHROs and their top priorities, join a regional Evanta CHRO community near you. If you are already a member, explore an opportunity to connect with your peers through the MyEvanta membership app.
This article is an update to a previous report, which you can find here: Top 3 Goals & Challenges for CHROs in 2023.
Based on 1,200 CHROs’ responses to Evanta’s 2024 Leadership Perspective Survey.
by CHROs, for CHROs
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