CAHRS In-Person Working Group - The Evolving Role of the HR Business Partner

HR Business Partners (HRBPs), who represent a very large and relatively underserved segment of the HR population, are on the frontlines in terms of dealing with real questions relative to the future of work. They must help the businesses and functions they support navigate changes to work and the workplace being brought about by a host of technological, economic, and geopolitical disruptions while simultaneously adapting to changes in the nature of their own role and responsibilities being brought about by many of the same disruptions.

In this working group, which will be led by CAHRS Professors Brad Bell and Chris Collins and hosted by CAHRS partner Docusign, we will explore the evolving role of the HRBP, share challenges, opportunities, and best practices, and peer into the future to consider what may lie ahead.

The working group will start at 8:30am with registration and a continental breakfast.  The session will begin at 9:00 with an overview of the recently launched CAHRS World Class HRBP Framework, which leverages the insights of experienced HRBPs, CHROs, and business executives from across the 45 CAHRS partner companies to define key elements of the role and clarify what good looks like.

We will then engage in a facilitated group discussion aimed at uncovering the key challenges and opportunities facing HRBPs, not only today but also in the foreseeable future, and identifying strategies and best practices for navigating them. 

Among other topics at this meeting, we will discuss those below while also leaving plenty of time for other topics to emerge over the course of the day.

• How can we retain our top talent who are increasingly getting poached for big roles in AI or other in-demand areas?
• How do we keep the broader workforce motivated and engaged in a world where we are starting to see more frequent AI-related impacts at scale? 
• How do we get people to engage with AI tools and to feel comfortable openly sharing how they are impacting their productivity?
• How do we make the idea of a skills-based organization a reality to facilitate reskilling/upskilling, work redesign, and internal mobility/redeployment?
• A recent CAHRS survey revealed that some of the HRBP capabilities companies are looking to further develop in 2026 include business acumen, leadership coaching, strategic workforce planning, and organizational design and development. What other capabilities should be key development priorities to best equip HRBPs to handle the challenges cited above, among others?

The target audience for this session is both high potential and experienced HRBPs.