HR’s Evolution: From Support Function to Enterprise People Strategist
- Sharmila Govind
- 1 day ago
- 3 min read
Today, HR leaders stand at a crossroads: remain as a support function, or evolve into Enterprise People Strategists - leaders who align people, strategy, and value creation at the core of business.
Introduction
For much of its history, Human Resources (HR) was not seen as a driver of strategy. It was the office that kept the gears of an organization turning - payroll, compliance, contracts, and employee relations. Necessary work, but not the kind that shaped boardroom agendas or enterprise outcomes.
That reality has shifted. Over the past two decades, globalization, digitalization, and new models of work have transformed HR’s mandate.
HR's Evolution From Support to Strategy
When I began my career, HR was disciplined, structured, and precise, but narrow in scope. We maintained compliance and fairness, yet HR was often perceived as always busy but not impactful enough. This was not about effort - HR professionals have always worked tirelessly. It was about perception. HR was not yet seen as an architect of business strategy.
But the environment changed. Talent scarcity, digital disruption, and hybrid work placed people leadership at the center of enterprise success. My journey across industries and continents revealed a hard truth: HR cannot survive as a back-office support function. To remain relevant, it must shape enterprise outcomes.
The Pressures Redefining HR
Technology and Automation: McKinsey estimates 40% of HR tasks could already be automated, yet only 11% of HR leaders feel confident using digital tools.
Talent Scarcity: 77% of CEOs cite skills and talent shortages as their biggest business threat (PwC, 2024).
Engagement Crisis: Gallup reports just 23% of employees globally are engaged.
Leadership Gaps: Deloitte found that 70%+ of organizations believe their leaders are unequipped for hybrid, AI-enabled workplaces.
These are not abstract figures. I have lived them - leading restructurings, embedding inclusion in complex environments, and implementing digital tools that shifted HR from reactive to predictive. The lesson is clear: HR must evolve into the role of the Enterprise People Strategist.
What Is an Enterprise People Strategist?
The Enterprise People Strategist represents the next stage of HR’s evolution. It is a shift beyond administration and beyond strategic partnership, into a role where people leadership is fully embedded in enterprise decision-making.
Core pillars include:
Value Creation: Aligning workforce strategy directly with enterprise goals.
Talent Intelligence: Using data to reveal skills, adaptability, and potential.
System-Wide Perspective: Managing employees, contractors, gig workers, and partners as one interconnected ecosystem.
Purpose & Culture: Safeguarding alignment between personal and organizational values.
Enterprise Influence: Acting as co-owner of strategy, alongside finance and operations.
Why This Role Is Essential
Each executive lens is partial:
The CEO sets vision.
The CFO ensures capital discipline.
The COO manages operations.
But none of these roles focus solely on the enterprise’s most dynamic and unpredictable asset: its people.
The Enterprise People Strategist uniquely brings:
Talent Intelligence as strategy.
Human capital as value creation.
Culture as performance.
Without this role, even the strongest operational or financial plans risk collapse because the human system behind them cannot deliver.
Enterprise People Strategist in Practice
In practice, this shift looks like:
Restructuring: Not just reducing numbers, but repositioning people where they can deliver value.
Leadership Coaching: Not about compliance, but reframing leaders to see talent as the enterprise itself.
Digital Enablement: Not technology for its own sake, but using predictive insights to anticipate change.
This reframes the conversation from “How do we manage employees?” to “How do we create enterprise value through people?”
Are We Read Evolve?
The honest answer: not fully. HR professionals remain strong in people matters, but less confident in data, finance, and technology.
Only 7% of CHROs are considered AI-savvy (Gartner, 2023).
Just 19% of leaders feel ready to integrate AI into workforce planning.
But readiness is not about becoming coders or data scientists. What matters is curiosity, courage, and a willingness to engage technology and operations as equals.
That is the essence of the Enterprise People Strategist: bridging people and business to drive value.
The Journey Ahead
The evolution of HR can be summarized in three stages:
Support Function – payroll, compliance, contracts.
Strategic Partner – talent, culture, transformation.
Enterprise People Strategist – talent intelligence, value creation, and enterprise leadership.
My own career has mirrored this arc - from operational HR into transformation leadership, guided by the conviction that people are not just employees. They are the enterprise itself.
The debate over whether HR deserves a seat at the table is behind us. The real question is: are we ready to lead from that seat?
If HR embraces talent intelligence, enterprise acumen, and boldness, it won’t just adapt to change - it will shape it. In doing so, HR will prove what I have always believed: it is not a support function but one of the most powerful forces shaping the future of organizations.
