With the elevation of the human resources function to the C-Suite in recent years, the relationship between CEOs and Chief Human Resources Officers has become increasingly important for the effective management of companies. That trend exploded when the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent disruptions in labor markets further emphasized the importance of human resources to enterprises’ strategic success.
“Every company has its mission and core values: We care about people, people first, all that,” says Omni Hotels and Resorts CHRO Joy Rothschild. “The pandemic forced people to the top priority every single day in a way that companies had never had to deal with before.” As a result, the relationship between CEOs and HR leaders has in many cases transformed over the last two years.
“When I think about pre-pandemic, it was so much more transactional,” says Nicole Hopkins, former Interim Head of People at Webflow and founder of HR consultancy Up & to the Right Consulting. “It would be CEO X encountering a people issue or a scaling issue and saying, ‘What is your playbook solution to that? What is the best practice?’” The pandemic forced CHROs and CEOs to have much closer partnerships as they had to confront the simultaneous public health and economic crises.