When Stephen Patscot, HR practice leader with executive search and leadership consulting firm Spencer Stuart, talks to CEOs about the CHRO role, he often says it’s the “second-hardest job in the C-suite.”
While they may laugh this off, Patscot’s serious about the complexity of the role.
“At any given time, there’s five constituencies that could take this person out…and all of them have competing and sometimes conflicting needs,” he said. CHROs are doing a delicate dance balancing the interests of the CEO, board, leadership team, their team, and the workforce.
A Spencer Stuart analysis suggests the CHRO role is getting harder, with HR leaders staying in their jobs for a shorter period of time compared to five years ago, and turning over faster than other C-suite executives.
What data says about CHRO tenure, turnover. In 2024, the average tenure for CHROs with Fortune 500 companies was 4.7 years, the analysis finds. That’s slightly longer than in 2023, but shorter than 2020, when it was about five and a half years. “It’s a hard job getting harder, and the stays are shorter,” Patscot said.
Turnover among CHROs was 9%, compared with 7% for the C-suite overall. This higher attrition rate, he said, “would be very explainable with all the demands that have been put on HR.”
One major demand on HR leaders’ plate that wasn’t as present five years ago is responding to advancements in AI, and their implications for the workforce, Patscot said. He expects AI to “transform the way people are hired, managed, mentored, coached,” while changing the nature of employees’ roles, as well. HR is so closely aligned with AI in the workplace that some experts expect a hybrid C-suite role to emerge in the coming years, perhaps coined as the chief human and AI resources officer, HR Brew recently reported.
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Given all the change and uncertainty that AI brings to the workplace, CHROs will be responsible for getting employees comfortable with the technology, Patscot predicted. “As the head of HR, you have to be a thoughtful steward of its implementation and a forward looking technologist,” he said.
When CEOs leave, so do CHROs. Another reliable indicator of CHRO turnover is CEO exits, Patscot noted.
If a new CEO comes in with a mandate from their board to change things—whether that involves picking up the pace, bringing in new talent, or reforming the culture—they might look to replace a longstanding CHRO to help execute those goals, Patscot said. Incoming CEOs might want to bring some of their trusted advisors to the company, as well, resulting in new appointments to the C-suite, including the CHRO.
There’s been a fair amount of CEO turnover this year, with departures reaching 222 in January, according to outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, the highest level for the month since the firm started tracking in 2002. Recent notable CEO exits include Ben & Jerry’s David Stever, 23andMe’s Anne Wojcicki, and Amtrak’s Stephen Gardner.
We’ll be watching closely to see if an HR shakeup occurs at these organizations next.
