HR Business Partners (HRBPs) strategically connect HR and the company, ensuring HR’s impact on business success. They adapt to labor market changes, focusing on strategic HR management, data-driven decision-making, and talent management.
By Brad Nakase, Attorney
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The HR Business Partner serves as a strategic connection between HR and the company. These seasoned HR specialists make sure that HR has an impact on the business and have a thorough understanding of it.
The HR Business Partner position is always changing due to shifts in the labor market and new developments in the workplace. The emphasis on strategic HR management, decision-making based on data, talent management, employee experience, and productive teamwork is reflected in these modifications. In order to meet expectations and support the success of businesses, HRBPs must thus acquire and develop a variety of abilities.
This article will cover the history of the HRBP function, qualities of a successful business partner, and strategies for HR Business Partners to increase their value to the company.
In order for Human Resources to work with the business side of an organization to accomplish its objectives, the HR Business Partner (HRBP) is essential. They are in charge of bringing value to the company and assisting in decision-making, particularly when things are changing. Their main task is to guarantee that managers’ needs are met by HR operations.
Since line managers are familiar with the organization, HRBP collaborates closely with them to establish goals and have a big influence. Business partners in human resources are typically found in larger organizations and may be in charge of a large workforce. Their function becomes increasingly vital and strategic the more personnel they are responsible for managing.
Within a company, HRBPs are responsible for distinct tasks. Gartner has identified four jobs that demonstrate their versatility:
With 60% of HRBPs employed by organizations with 10,000 or more workers, HR Business Partners hold a common position in big businesses.
Businesses ought to view HRBPs as strategic partners, but this isn’t always the case. According to 57% of C-suite executives, HR is essentially an administrative job. They are perceived as putting too much emphasis on daily duties and neglecting to take the demands of the business and the wider picture into account.
This isn’t how things should be. The HR business partner should be a change agent and an advisor in addition to being an administrative specialist and an advocate for workers.
There is a widespread misconception about the HR Business Partner’s job and capabilities.
Thus far, we have discussed the HRBP position as a job. As the strategic point of contact between HR and the business, this individual holds the position of Human Resource Business Partner.
Though not all HR professionals are business partners, all HR professionals ought to be “business partnering.” This means that each HR specialist should have a thorough understanding of the business and work to create HR regulations that support the organization.
A learning and development professional, for instance, has a thorough understanding of how individuals learn and may modify their behavior. Without a doubt, if they didn’t know what they were doing, they would be dysfunctional. They will have a greater influence and make better decisions when they are familiar with the organization and can better match L&D processes with industry standards.
Although the HRBP is primarily discussed in this article in terms of the job description, any HR professional who is committed to helping their company meet its goals and wants to enhance their business partnering skills will find it helpful to understand the strategic responsibilities and fundamental competences of the HR business partner.
A senior HR director told a story about two distinct kinds of business partners. The first one gets up early, travels to work, and says, “How can I help you today?” while taking a seat in a manager’s office and bringing a notebook. When the manager begins to complain, the business partner takes a list of tasks and begins to write. This is an HR Business Partner who handles administrative duties.
The second type of HRBP is far less common. They review the data, which includes learning and development rates as well as turnover, to determine the manager’s areas of need before speaking with them.
This same business partner checks the manager’s performance using key performance indicators. How can I support this manager in his success? considers this HRBP. They take notes and arrive at the meeting with KPI-driven, achievable ideas.
In order to assist firms improve their productivity, earnings, and competitiveness, HRBPs must play a more strategic role.
What, therefore, ought to be the future responsibilities of the HR Business Partner?
HRBP and the commercial world are dynamic fields that never stand still.
HRBPs must overcome a number of obstacles, according to Mikaela Kiner of the HR consultancy firm Reverb, in order to future-proof their companies:
To prepare the labor force to meet future challenges and needs, it will be imperative to retool company culture to match a digital workforce and to prioritize employee experience, reskilling, upskilling, and technological adaption. Strategic workforce planning will also be essential.
This includes determining the kind and quantity of workforce that is needed, planning for the correct workforce size and composition, developing skilled workers for important jobs, and matching training programs with company goals.
An HR Business Partner needs to be aware of how the people in their firm are affected by present and upcoming difficulties. This makes it possible for them to give important stakeholders coaching and advice.
It’s important to remember, though, that the HRBP’s job is to advise and consult rather than to assume full responsibility. They enable organizational leaders to efficiently manage issues pertaining to people.
The following are some typical duties of an HRBP:
For HRBPs in particular, business acumen is a critical skill that every HR professional should possess. It refers to the astuteness and promptness in identifying and seizing a business opportunity or risk in a way that maximizes results. The HRBP assists the company in addressing these problems by making the connection between HR outcomes and actions and business difficulties.
In light of this, HR Business Partners are aware of the rivals, market value, sources of competitive edge, unique selling points, and market share of their company. They are aware of the market and the function of technology. Furthermore, HRBPs may contribute to the success of their organization since they have a thorough awareness of every relevant party.
A company’s ability to win over clients and draw in and keep top people is greatly aided by having an HR Business Partner. In order to remain competitive in the market, Human Resources Business Partners must prioritize:
Helping the company plan, train, and adjust in order to produce the greatest possible good or service. This entails training line managers in performance management, assisting them in resolving personnel- and organizational-related conflicts, and streamlining the organizational structure to improve output and effectiveness.
Ensuring the company’s ability to draw in and keep talent. They work together with other members of the HR team to create forward-thinking, inclusive recruitment strategies, future-proof compensation and benefits plans, and incentive and recognition initiatives that boost productivity and employee engagement.
One of the most important tactics for coordinating business objectives with workforce demands is to offer learning and professional development opportunities. Training programs ought to concentrate on developing future abilities that are in line with each employee’s aim and the strategic objectives of the organization, in addition to present job tasks.
HR business partners can guarantee alignment between the organization’s objectives and employees’ career goals by making investments in their professional development.
Human Resources Business Partners work proactively to discuss different workforce issues and strategies with business leaders. This means offering leaders the tools, information, and abilities necessary to lead their teams successfully, resulting in a management structure that is stronger and more independent.
Creating a setting where leaders are capable of handling the majority of daily workplace difficulties by themselves is the aim here. After that, HR transforms into a strategic partner, concentrating on longer-term people strategies and larger organizational concerns rather than becoming bogged down in day-to-day problems.
Human Resources Business Partners support executives in navigating the people management complexity, which enhances organizational effectiveness and fosters a strong organizational culture.
To know if you are headed in the correct direction, data is essential. You have to make educated guesses when lacking it. An HR Business Partner tracks KPIs and uses data strategically to drive performance and accomplish goals.
This entails having a thorough contextual awareness of both the industry and the regional, cultural, and local challenges that are pertinent to the areas in which your company operates. For instance, different data should be taken into account when a corporation is planning to construct a production facility in Indonesia vs when it is experiencing attrition in its North American operations.
HRBPs that are prepared for the future must prioritize people and the ways that cultural change can contribute to company goals. Additionally, they strive to always enhance the working environment for employees, which is crucial for the success of businesses.
The following specific duties may be expected of Human Resources Business Partners:
The HR Director at Mistplay, Jessie Lambert, describes how an HRBP improved the onboarding process for employees. She saw that new hire turnover was rising in her previous role at a rapidly expanding startup, and feedback suggested that new hires were feeling overwhelmed.
After realizing that a poor onboarding experience could play a role, the HR team made the decision to fully rework and restructure the onboarding procedure. The HRBP worked with multiple teams to create a comprehensive onboarding program that includes training tailored to departments, mentorship opportunities, and an overview of the business culture. The HRBP also created an onboarding checklist and provided managers with training on how to properly onboard new recruits in order to guarantee consistent execution.
The new onboarding method raised work satisfaction among new hires and dramatically increased new recruit retention rates. This improved the company’s reputation as a fantastic place to work while simultaneously reducing turnover-related expenditures.
It’s important to remember that HRBPs’ duties can change depending on the level. Vice Presidents of HR and senior HR managers are examples of senior HRBPs that often have a more strategic role and facilitate business discussions. They concentrate on coaching, strategic planning, and HR-related consulting with leadership.
In addition to participating in business talks, mid-level HRBPs help senior HRBPs with coaching, helping line managers with people-related problems, and creating HR initiatives.
While an HRBP requires a wide range of abilities, four are essential for the position to be effective:
People tend to think more about the administrative side of HR and less on the data side. But an HRBP is the exact opposite of that.
The above abilities are used in the following ways in the HRBP role:
The HRBP needs to be proficient in gathering, analyzing, and interpreting data. The days of HR responding on intuition are long gone. In the modern world, HRBP must be able to interpret complicated data from reports and dashboards and take appropriate action.
HRBP, for instance, must gather and analyze meaningful data in order to develop criteria for performance reviews that work.
The HRBP needs to be aware of the following HR metrics:
Business acumen includes knowledge of reward, risk, and business outcomes in addition to financial concepts. An HR Business Partner for a printer manufacturer will not succeed in their position if they do not have a thorough understanding of the printer industry. Put otherwise, they must possess business acumen.
An effective HRBP may have served in line management before undergoing extensive HR training to assume the HRBP position. Even though the majority of HR competencies are industry-neutral, an HRBP must have industry-specific knowledge to function well.
This competency relates to HRBP’s capacity to use technology to boost productivity and produce the company’s desired results. Using the appropriate technology increases employee engagement and communication by improving the digital work experience.
However, applying the wrong technology or adopting it inappropriately can lead to increased workloads, decreased productivity, and irate, frustrated workers.
The HR IT landscape is still fragmented, according to Aditya Roy, Senior Consulting Manager at Cognizant, and here is where HRBPs can be extremely valuable. Modern HRBPs now have a greater responsibility to lead change, and it is expected of them to spearhead every shift that technology brings about.
For any HR professional, speaking up for their workers and striking a balance between their demands and company goals is essential. Businesses cannot thrive without decent employees who receive fair treatment and compensation for their hard work.
Establishing an organizational culture that encourages employees to perform at their highest level is facilitated by an HR business partner. They must speak up for workers’ rights and take action when necessary. When this is done correctly, the company is shielded from lawsuits, disgruntled workers, and unwelcome employee turnover.
Metrics used by HR Business Partners (HBPs) assist in gauging their effectiveness in their positions. Because of its broad variety of tasks and areas of influence, the HR business partner job is difficult to measure.
HR Business Partners can better focus their work, monitor their progress, and advance the HR department by setting SMART goals. These objectives must to be customized to the unique requirements and aims of the company, as well as the duties and obligations of the HR Business Partner.
Let’s examine a few different kinds of HR Business Partner metrics:
With the use of an employee net promoter score (eNPS) survey, HRBPs can gauge employee engagement. It offers information about how satisfied workers are with their jobs and whether they would suggest their employer as a great place to work.
Employees are asked in the survey, “How likely are you to endorse our business as an excellent workplace?” They answer on a range of 0 to 10, where 10 represents extreme likelihood and 0 represents very unlikely. The following categories apply to the scores:
Subtract the percentage of critics from the percentage of promoters to get the eNPS score.
Examples of staff engagement SMART objectives for HRBP might be:
HRBPs’ ability to advance justice and equity in the workplace can be evaluated using Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) criteria. By highlighting areas for improvement, these indicators assist companies in strengthening their diversity and inclusion activities.
A few things to think about while assessing DEIB are wage fairness and the representation of various groups. The following formula can be used to determine the representation of employees from particular groups (such as women, BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and employees with disabilities):
(Number of workers in group / Total number of workers) x 100
After that, you may contrast this with how that group is represented in the broader population.
The following formula can be used to determine the salary difference between men and women:
((men’s average hourly rate – women’s average hourly rate) / men’s average hourly rate) x 100
The company’s appreciation of DEIB and its ability to contribute to the business is demonstrated by its varied representation and small pay gap.
Example DEIB targets are as follows:
HRBPs are involved in decisions that have an impact on workers for the duration of their employment. Retention rates may be directly impacted by their job. While low rates could call for a strategy review, high retention rates show that their efforts are paying off. As a result, retention rates may be used to evaluate HR Business Partners’ efficacy.
The percentage of workers that remained with the company for a predetermined amount of time—typically a year—is displayed by the employee retention rate. It aids businesses in understanding staff retention rates and departure trends.
Retention rate is calculated by deducting the number of departing employees from the total number of employees, dividing the result by the total number of employees, and multiplying the result by 100.
For instance, the company’s retention rate would be 91.67% if it had three hundred workers and 25 of them left.
Goals for staff retention could include things like:
Nancy Stewart, TalentAlchemists.com’s HR Leadership Coach, provides an example of how an HRBP reduced staff turnover in a business’s sales division. A client’s entry-level sales position was experiencing a lot of turnover. The Department Head and HRBP convened to examine pertinent data. Metrics showed that only 20% of sales representatives worked for more than 90 days. In order to improve the interview process, the HRBP collaborated with the team to rework the job description, incorporate a live shadowing session for candidates, and update the interview team and questions. In just nine months, the team’s turnover rate dropped from 120% to less than 15%.
Because of its strategic importance in today’s businesses, the HR Business Partner position is both demanding and satisfying. Let’s look at some advice that will help you have a prosperous career as an HR business partner.
Build a strong foundation in HR expertise and skills: HRBPs must be well-versed in a variety of HR topics, including hiring, employee relations, benefits administration, and talent acquisition. With the use of these abilities, you will be able to fully understand the particular difficulties that each role presents as well as how they operate together to create a motivated and effective workforce.
1. Improve your business knowledge: Increase your knowledge of business strategy, operations, and finances. Learn the fundamentals of business to properly match company objectives with HR procedures. In this manner, you’ll be ready to evaluate how external business settings affect internal choices.
2. Obtain an HR Business Partner certification: This will not only help you advance your knowledge and abilities but also give you the necessary credentials for job applications. Certifications demonstrate your commitment to the field and your willingness to take on the duties involved in the position.
3. Become a better leader: HR business partners play a critical role in mentoring and counseling managers. Develop your mentoring, coaching, and influencing abilities as a leader to better inspire and motivate others. These skills enable you to mentor leaders through difficult choices and foster a more engaged, cooperative workplace.
4. Concentrate on important soft skills: Problem-solving, strategic thinking, and relationships are examples of critical soft skills that are just as important as HR-specific abilities and business acumen. HRBPs may successfully navigate challenging situations and establish and sustain solid connections with the help of these skills.
5. Encourage a data-driven mindset: In the age of digital transformation, it’s critical to feel at ease with people analytics and metrics. With the use of these tools, you can spot trends and patterns that will guide your future tactics. Adopt a data-driven strategy to drive business outcomes, show the ROI of HR efforts, and make well-informed decisions.
6. Make contacts and look for mentoring: Establish connections with HR experts and look for guidance from seasoned HRBPs. Networking can help you along the way to become an HR business partner by offering insightful information, job prospects, and career coaching.
Get ready for your interviews: Review and practice common interview questions for HR Business Partners as you get ready to assume the role of an HRBP. You’ll be able to communicate your abilities, experiences, and vision more clearly and grasp the demands of the position if you get familiar with these questions.
The path to becoming an HR Business Partner does not have to be linear. It’s more akin to a selected set of experiences that aid in the skill, knowledge, and talent development of HR professionals.
Human resources professionals can concentrate on developing the fundamental skills and abilities necessary to accomplish their career objectives by being aware of the opportunities and requirements.
You might think of the following three main HRBP job path directions:
Strategic HR consultant
HRBPs need to develop their knowledge of stakeholder relations, change management, and business strategy. They could work as HR directors, managers, or heads of HR in the future.
HR Specialist
HRBPs need to learn about process mapping, organizational diagnostics, and design thinking. They could work as an OD Head, Talent Manager, DEIB Manager, or L&D Manager.
HR Technologist
HRBPs need to become proficient in workflow management, operational excellence, and HR digitization. They might be suited for roles like HR Scrum Manager, HR Operations Manager, or HR Analyst.
Senior members of the HR workforce typically comprise both HR Business Partners and HR Managers. Proficient HR Business Partners typically possess over ten years of expertise in the industry, and HR Managers typically share this trait as well.
An HR manager is in charge of hiring, benefits, and payroll processing for an HR department. They also have subordinates who answer directly to them. HRBPs, on the other hand, are seen as lone contributors who directly assist the company or a business function. They work as consultants and counselors, concentrating on the strategic aspect of the HR department.
Furthermore, there are instances where the two roles overlap, and some companies employ both phrases interchangeably. One or two HR managers oversee all facets of HR, from administrative to strategic, in many small businesses. However, because they collaborate closely with management and leadership, HR Business Partners frequently function at a senior level.
While an HRBP is likely to educate a Vice President on how to deal with their team as a whole, an HR Manager is likely to advise an employee on how to communicate with their supervisor.
HR business partners collaborate directly with company leaders, possess a wider organizational perspective, and prioritize strategy. They offer counsel on issues pertaining to people and support the organization’s strategic strategy. They are also essential to talent management, which includes programs for employee engagement, leadership development, workforce planning, and succession planning.
Conversely, HR generalists oversee day-to-day HR tasks, focus on operations, and assist managers and staff in a particular field. They handle employee complaints, offer advice on HR procedures, and help staff and management communicate effectively.
HRBPs get caught in a complex situation. Their duties are frequently ambiguous or conflict with those of HR Generalists.
When this happens, management and staff members depend on BPs to answer everyday questions about employee experiences, such as “Is our insurance going to cover my dentist?” or “I think my paycheck is off; can you help?” HR should handle these important questions rather than the BP.
The alignment of people initiatives and plans with business objectives ought to be the primary focus of the HRBP. Getting bogged down in the routine of HR management is discouraging and distracting.
HRBPs provide a specialized perspective and handle HR-related issues unique to their designated business area by concentrating on a particular department, company division, or geographic area.
HRBPs have a great potential to promote effective change by intentionally asking questions to help make better choices as a business grows and evolves, given their direct knowledge of how a certain department operates. As Senior HR Consultant at Red Clover HR Eric Mochnacz notes, they offer this special insight into creating positive change that connects people strategy with company goals.
According to Payscale, the usual HR Business Partner compensation ranges from $59,000 to $108,000 year, with an average of $78,931 per year reported in the United States. Years of employment experience, schooling, certifications, industry, and extra talents all affect pay.
The beginning compensation for an HR business partner in the US is approximately $66,300, according to Salary.com.
Location also affects average salary. The annual pay of an HR Business Partner in Chicago is $83,135 according to Payscale, whilst their New York counterparts get $95,536.
Since things change swiftly in the digital age, the position and responsibilities of the HR Business Partner are becoming more and more strategic. A capable HR business partner may assist leadership teams feel less stressed by helping to incorporate technology into the workflow, thinking strategically, and making future plans.
An HR Business Partner needs to be always learning and up to date on the latest trends in HR and the business world. The HRBPs contribute to the success of their enterprises in this way. In other words, you can significantly improve your company as an HRBP who is both people- and business-savvy.
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