Exploring the future of the HR profession: A Q&A with John M. Bremen
Willis Towers Watson's John M. Bremen reflects on how the role of HR has changed and offers a warning about specialization.
As the HR profession has evolved from treating employees as costs within the “personnel department,” to having a seat in the C-Suite making sure employees are treated as sources of value driving the organization’s “intangible assets,” attracting and retaining top HR talent is itself becoming even more critical. What will the future hold for the profession?
Related: Humanizing resources: HR for the post-pandemic organization
In our latest chat in this series, BenefitsPRO caught up with John M. Bremen, managing director, human capital and benefits, and global head of thought leadership and innovation at Willis Towers Watson in Chicago.
Katie Kuehner-Hebert: How has the role of HR professionals changed in recent years, and what’s driving it?
When I started my career, HR was largely perceived as transactional. Many companies still called their people function the “personnel department.” Groups tended to be tactical and operationally focused, treated employees as costs, operated locally, were tasked with implementing programs, and the most senior HR leader tended to be at the manager or director level. Soon after, the term “human resources” gained in popularity and HR became broader in its purview and mindset, becoming organization-focused, treating employees as resources, and focusing both on designing and implementing programs, generally at the national level. Most senior HR leaders were elevated to the vice president level. Increasingly, HR had a seat at the table.
The next step in the evolution occurred when HR’s mindset became more strategic and business-focused, treating employees as vital assets, directing program strategy, design, and implementation, typically at the global level. HR professionals often found themselves in the C-suite with the most senior HR leader, who often was called Chief Human Resource Officer.
More recently, even before the pandemic, HR evolved further, becoming more future- and business/organization strategy-focused, driving differentiation and competitive advantage for talent, treating employees as sources of value, creating a tailored employee experience in a way that is borderless across program types and geographies. In this world, the most senior HR leader often advises the board on key talent issues and carries the title of Chief People Officer or Chief Employee Experience Officer.
The pandemic accelerated this trend further. HR is now focused on workforce safety, well-being and resilience; dynamic and hybrid working arrangements; transformation of pay and benefit programs; and a focus on cost flexibility and optimization as well as sustainability. HR recognizes the need for breakthrough approaches across pay, health benefits, wealth benefits, and careers to hire, build, engage and lead through this change.
Several factors are driving this latest change, but the underlying structural factor in business terms is the dramatic increase and prominence of the intangible asset value of corporations. That is, in the 1970s, intangible assets represented around 15% of the market value of the S&P 500 companies that generally were heavily invested in physical assets such as factories, machinery, and equipment. Today, that number is closer to 90% as intangible assets — such as ideas, trademarks, patents, intellectual capital and brands — drive market value. And stakeholders understand that people drive the value of these assets.
KKH: How has this shift impacted the relationship between the C-Suite, HR and employee benefits consultants?
Because HR now is fully entrenched and respected in the C-suite and the boardroom (and no one even comes close to asking why they are there anymore), we see very close working relationships among these groups. From discussions on purpose and vision, strategy, program design and funding, and implementation and administration, HR is driving the conversation in the boardroom and the executive suite (virtual or in-person).
Senior HR leadership also now seamlessly partners with other key functions, including finance, strategy, marketing, operations, risk and sustainability on key business initiatives. Employee benefits are key to these discussions given their impact on employee engagement, productivity and innovation, as well as organization resilience, sustainability, risk, cost and brand.
KKH: How has technology changed the way you work? How has it changed your role in the company?
There’s no question that technology has changed everything about HR, from the way entry-level analysts collect and assess data (and how frequently they are able to do so) to the way programs are administered, communicated and delivered to employees. We can do things today that we literally only dreamed about even five years ago. The pandemic also accelerated this change. I try to imagine the years 2020 and 2021 without certain technologies and I can’t go there. These changes clearly have created both opportunities and a mandate for HR to reimagine every aspect of its role and operations. The opportunities literally are endless.
KKH: Do you see an increasing need for specialization within the field (talent management, compliance, diversity & inclusion, etc.)?
Yes, but we need to be careful here. While specialization is key, it also can lead to a paradox between the need to specialize and the need to integrate. People often ask me which is more important — specialization or integration — and the answer is clearly both. In the current environment, we need to be focused on the and, not the or. Our research suggests that technical depth is table stakes; organizations that abandon specialization pay dearly for it in the long run in terms of impact on quality and risk.
We still need experts in pay, health benefits, wealth benefits, talent management, compliance, diversity and inclusion. However, our research shows equally the importance of thinking horizontally and bringing the different programs together in terms of design and delivery in a way that makes employees feel unique, understood and valued, and creates a differentiate employee experience. Depth and breadth are both essential to make this happen.
KKH: What skills will be most important to HR professionals in the future?
The most important skills for HR professionals in the future (beyond technical HR skills, which again are table stakes) are agility, digital acumen, communication/translation and global deployment. Within those, we see heightened focus on innovation, as well as cognitive flexibility, negotiation, service orientation, judgment and decision making, emotional intelligence, empathetic leadership (including authenticity and compassion), coordinating with others, people management, creativity, data science and analysis, critical thinking, and complex problem-solving.
I usually get two reactions when I say this. This first is that these skills seem aligned with requirements for general business leadership (not just HR) in the current environment. The second is that this seems like a tall order. Both reactions are accurate, but we know that both the expectations of HR, as well as the value HR provides, have never been higher.
KKH: What trends, challenges or issues do you see most affecting your profession?
The only challenge I would double down on is the importance of attracting, engaging, and retaining top talent for HR and keeping skills fresh. Like every other group in organizations, HR is competing for top talent, both with other employers, as well as other career paths. The more value HR creates, the more its people will be valued.
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