What is an HR business partner and how could it benefit you?

What is an HR business partner?

An HR business partner is a strategic role performed by a human-resources professional. They provide higher-level support to your business than a standard HR manager can and are focused on growth. By employing or contracting one of these highly skilled and experienced workers, you can bridge the gap between your business’s objectives and your workforce to ensure that employee performance is aligned with your current goals. Having an HRBP is a popular choice for larger organisations and their role can be invaluable when facing changes, disruptions or other challenging periods.

HR business partner vs HR manager

HR managers typically oversee a company’s HR department and handle daily administrative tasks. This usually includes functions like recruitment, onboarding of new hires, benefits, payroll, conflict resolution and offboarding. An HR business partner is a more advanced role that acts as a liaison between the HR department and the C-suite. They can strategise with your stakeholders and upper management about how to streamline your workforce, increase productivity and create policies that are in alignment with your business objectives. The expertise and experience of an HRBP can also help you navigate crises more smoothly. Businesses usually seek to engage an HRBP who has at least four years’ experience working as an HR manager or in another managerial or supervisory position within people operations.

Five core HR business partner duties

Depending on your industry and the unique needs of your business, any HRBP you engage could have a wide range of responsibilities under their remit. Let’s break down some of the more common duties of this role and what they entail.

1. Strategic process management

At its core, an HR business partner’s role is a strategic one. Recruitment, talent acquisition, employee development and staff retention are not simple tasks and certain external factors like the economy, local laws or the current status of your industry can make finding and keeping quality employees a real challenge. Talent shortages and high turnover rates can also have a serious impact on your business’s profits. A skilled HRBP can identify bottlenecks, streamline hiring practices, develop innovative recruiting strategies and leverage data to assess and improve employee satisfaction levels, among other capabilities.

2. Staff development

Employees can be more likely to thrive in their roles and remain with your organisation for longer when their potential is acknowledged and developed. An HR business partner can help you create and implement ongoing training programmes for your employees. They can also facilitate peer-to-peer support initiatives like coaching or a formal mentorship system. For those in management roles, they can initiate projects designed to sharpen leadership abilities. As well as potentially increasing job satisfaction and company loyalty, these functions may also boost productivity and in turn, profits.

3. Collaboration with upper management

An HR business partner acts as a direct point of contact for your organisation’s executives and can be an effective liaison between the C-suite and your wider workforce. They generally work in a data-driven way and support management in making challenging decisions about recruitment and staffing needs, as well as identifying areas of weakness or what skills may be missing in your current workforce. Through these responsibilities, your HRBP can actively shape the future of your business and help you stay ahead of the competition.

4. Driving change

Because most companies remain human-centred, the HR department is a key player in change management and an HRBP is typically expected to take charge of this process. One primary area of change that’s prevalent in many HR departments relates to digitisation. During the Covid-19 pandemic, HR departments worldwide needed to suddenly pivot to a remote-working model and navigate the technical challenges that arose from this sudden shift. A key priority during this period and beyond was ensuring that recruitment and onboarding processes can be easily operated online, fully remotely. The persistence of remote and hybrid working, along with rapidly evolving new technologies, particularly in the AI sphere, can make continuous adaptation a priority for many businesses. With a skilled HRBP at your service, you can remain at the forefront of industry shifts and rapidly embrace new technologies to streamline your operations.

5. Employer branding

An HR business partner is often also in charge of setting, developing and maintaining your corporate culture. At an internal level, this task can play a key role in the job satisfaction of your workforce as well as employee retention. Externally, it can form part of a wider process known as employer branding. This can shape your organisation’s reputation and determine how attractive you are to potential new talent.

In addition to these core duties, an HR business partner’s involvement may extend to the following:

Responding to HR emergencies in real time
Mediating conflicts and helping to negotiate resolutions
Providing training for leaders in people management
Reducing employee-related risks
Addressing compliance issues
Developing new recruitment strategies
Setting HR policy
Evaluating benefits packages
Monitoring payroll and tax administration processes
Offering guidance on performance management

Benefits of an HR business partner

Engaging an HR business partner can mean hiring this professional on a full-time basis or contracting them for specific periods. Regardless of which model you choose for your business, you can expect to receive a significant return on your investment. Below, we explore some of the key benefits that an HR business partner can bring:

They can increase business profits. Having a dedicated professional at the helm of your HR department can streamline people management for your business and cut costs as they engage in strategic workforce management.
Recruitment can become a continuous process. A traditional HR manager may only deal with recruiting when there is an active need, while an HRBP can set up systems that continually source information about desirable candidates.
They can help you keep up with rapidly changing government guidance and employment regulations to ensure that you’re always compliant.
They offer a high-level understanding of all aspects of the employee life cycle, from hiring, onboarding and training to compensation, benefits and promoting.
They are able to handle difficult circumstances, like terminations, redundancies, workplace discrimination or harassment, lawsuits and employee conflicts.
They encourage more informed decision making. With a wealth of expertise and an analytical approach, an HRBP can help you make sound decisions backed by research and your organisation’s internal data.

Tips and best practices

Before you implement an HRBP model, it’s important to ensure that you have all the resources that you need in place, including time, training strategies and budget.
Employees can often be resistant to change and this may be especially true of your existing HR department. Open and thorough communication can help mitigate this, as well as creating an environment where members of your people department feel empowered to bring up their concerns. It’s also key to begin building the relationships between your HRBP and executives as soon as possible.
Define the role thoroughly prior to engaging an HRBP. This model can vary significantly between organisations, so it’s important to lay out exactly what your goals and expectations are for the position.
For an HRBP to perform their role effectively, they typically require you to have robust data analytics in place at your organisation. You may need to review and overhaul your data tools in advance.
Monitor and evaluate the success of your HRBP within your organisation and make adjustments where necessary. It’s also a good idea to promote a culture of continuous learning within your HR team and encourage your HRBP to stay updated on industry trends, best practices and emerging technologies. This can help them to bring the latest insights to their strategic planning.

Making the switch from a regular HR department to one with an HR business partner at the helm is a big decision and one that comes with a significant amount of responsibility and preparation work. But once the process is off the ground, you could rapidly start to see results and reap the many benefits that these professionals can bring.

What is an HR business partner and how could it benefit you?