CHROs are more powerful than ever—but they’ll have to fight to hold on to their new status

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CHROs have been toiling in the shadows for quite a while.

They’ve often been tasked with fixing problems while having limited power, shut out of board meetings, paid less than their C-suite colleagues, and excluded from the executive inner circle.

But COVID changed that, according to reporting from Fortune’s Paige McGlauflin. When the pandemic struck, CEOs looked to their HR chiefs for help handling everything from remote work pivots to mental health support for struggling workers. Soon after, CHROs were asked to help companies navigate a racial reckoning in the U.S. following the murder of George Floyd.

And as the pandemic slowly recedes, HR chiefs have been tasked with bringing reluctant workers back into the office, navigating a major labor market upheaval, and negotiating with employees who have new expectations from their workplace.

“Every big issue on the CEO’s agenda, basically, is a people issue, and that has made the CHRO role more prominent,” Jennifer Wilson, who leads Heidrick & Struggles’s global human resources officers practice, tells Fortune.

CHROs still have a long way to go before they’re paid the same as CFOs, but a dawning awareness that the role is strategically important to business has led to a mad dash for CHRO talent, higher salaries, and a power shift within the C-suite. The rise of AI will make the position even more important, as companies look to incorporate the technology in their operations and increase productivity without alienating their existing workforce.

“It’s not just that HR is kind of the fun crew, organizing picnics and engagement surveys,” Tom Wilson, managing director at Frederickson Partners, an executive search firm, tells Fortune. “They’re doing real, proper business work.”

But will CHROs be able to hold onto their new power? To keep a seat at the table, they'll have to do three things, according to Steve Patscot, leader of Spencer Stuart’s human resources practice: Stay on their CEO's radar, continue to learn new aspects of business, and deliver on the AI revolution. But that's a tall order.

“If you took a survey of who thinks HR is blowing it away right now, I think the results would be reasonably mixed,” he says.

You can read more about the rise of the CHRO here.

Azure Gilman
azure.gilman@fortune.com

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com