Chief people office (CPO) is one of the fastest growing job titles over the past five years, according to research from LinkedIn.
The networking site’s 2023 Jobs on Rise List used its own data to calculate a growth rate for the most popular titles on the website.
CPO ranked 10th in the list, with customer success consultant, sustainability manager and product operations manager making the top three.
The most common industries for CPO were professional services, technology and media and financial services.
There was an unequal gender divide in the role, at 77% female and 23% male and just 9.2% of CPO roles were remote.
Perry Timms, founder of consultancy PTHR and HR Most Influential number one thinker, said the rankings reflect the success of purpose-led businesses.
Speaking to HR magazine, he said: “When most CEOs are purportedly concerned about skills gaps – and the World Economic Forum echoes that – and talent, the role of a chief people officer becomes as critical as legal, digital, compliance, finance and customer experience leading roles. If not more so.
“Has HR finally arrived as an uppermost thought in CEOs’ and boards’ minds? I hope this symbolises a move to the top of the list.
“The future of work is being human and about people. Now, let’s deliver impact, value and a flourishing working experience for people.”
Despite economic challenges, the UK job market is still very active, with over half (55%) of respondents to a Boston Consulting Group survey looking for a job at a new employer. This compares with 21% of global respondents.
Laura Baldwin, president at tech firm O’Reilly, predicted HR roles will continue to grow.
Speaking to HR magazine, she said: “Conversations over the last six months have been focused on economic uncertainty and layoffs across multiple sectors, and yet the LinkedIn data shows that there has been a rise in HR roles. Due to the changing workforce and the need for increased learning and development, the demand for skilled chief people officers and other HR roles will continue to grow over the coming decade.
“Business leaders need to be less focused on the noise in the short term and plan to set themselves up for long-term success. HR leaders need to be focused on how they’ll be re-skilling or upskilling their teams to ensure they have the skills needed to keep their businesses competitive.
“With unemployment rates so low, and many roles continuing to go unfilled, businesses need to focus on how they’ll invest in their existing teams’ learning and development to close the growing skills gap and a strong HR team will help in doing so.”
Identical job titles across different seniority levels were grouped and ranked together.
