Human Resources has been historically pigeon-holed by outdated perceptions, seen as a support function that is slow to adapt and notorious for saying "no" to employee requests. But that reputation has been changing as HR leaders reshape the function. Leading consumer companies are taking this reshaping a step further. In these forward-thinking organizations, HR has been transforming into an innovation test kitchen where groundbreaking ideas are piloted and scaled. From experimenting with AI to new and novel approaches to flexible scheduling to redefining career development for hybrid workers, Chief Human Resources Officers aren’t just keeping up with organizational innovation, they’re helping to fuel it.
As brands race to meet shifting consumer expectations, HR is doing the same for employees—designing new work models, nurturing inclusive cultures, and unlocking business performance through people.
HR as Business Driver: An Identity Shift
It’s important to underscore that the transformation of HR into an innovation hub is not a sudden or recent occurrence. For years, HR leaders have been actively reshaping and repositioning the function, proactively driving change and delivering measurable business impact. This ongoing evolution has steadily shifted perceptions, making HR an essential business driver rather than a supporting player. Recent forces—most notably the COVID-19 pandemic—have accelerated this progress, shining a brighter light on the value and strategic influence HR brings to the organization.
This shift is also reflected in the mindset of HR leaders themselves. Most now see themselves as broad based leaders and executives, who happen to have domain expertise in the function. This viewpoint allows them to align more closely with strategic business goals and drive innovative solutions that benefit the entire organization.
HR has become much more integrated into business strategy planning as a result. As Colgate-Palmolive CHRO Sally Massey shares in a recent interview, having a clear roadmap of how the work of HR ties into the growth strategy and business results is critical to success. “It's not an HR strategy per se; rather, it's a business strategy playing out across all divisions and functions, and it shows up through our Culture DNA, which is made up of our purpose, values and leadership principles,” she explains.
Getting Creative in the HR Kitchen: Improving Employee Experiences
Recognizing people as the driving force of organizations has also called for CHROs to pilot creative workforce solutions. As hybrid work has been adopted across many organizations, the question for leaders today is how do you coach and develop across distance. One key factor in doing this successfully is meeting people where they are and taking into account how they want to learn and grow, notes Stephanie Lilak, EVP and Chief People Officer of Mondelēz, in an interview. “We have online learning, classroom learning, and a lot of learning through jobs and projects,” she explains. “We're connecting people around the world to those opportunities, so even in their regular day-to-day roles, they still have the opportunity to try something else, learn from someone else, or take on a different type of assignment or project. Being a global organization gives us the chance to give people multi-country, cross-border experiences and let them immerse themselves in different cultures, businesses, consumers, and retailers.”
But hybrid work isn’t possible for all roles, and CHROs have also creatively explored ways to bring a different level of flexibility to frontline employees. Flexible scheduling has been something Marriott International has worked to implement across its properties—no small feat considering 90% of the roles at the company are hotel-based and performed on-site. “I never want one of our associates to miss a doctor's appointment with one of their children or something else pressing because of their schedule. So, we started allowing our associates to pick their schedules, and they can swap with another associate, so if they do have something that comes up last minute instead of being a no-show, they can pass that shift to a peer and pick up another shift,” shares Ty Breland, EVP and CHRO of Marriott International, in a recent interview.
Experimentation to offer more flexibility is also underway at Keurig Dr. Pepper. In an interview, CHRO Mary Beth DeNooyer explains, for decades the business has been built around machines and how to keep them running 24/7 to be maximally efficient, but the interests and needs of frontline employees have been far less attended to. “It has become clear there is a business cost to not taking their needs more seriously. So, we have a few pilots in place to create some more frontline flexibility that hopefully yield some new ways to think about an enduring problem for manufacturing businesses,” she says.
The Consumer CHRO of the Future
The focus on innovation and experimentation in the HR function will only intensify. The emerging profile of a leading consumer-sector CHRO is akin to a skilled juggler, simultaneously managing a multitude of responsibilities: serving as ambassadors of culture and purpose, fostering inclusivity across generations, developing talent, and coaching people—while also mastering the technological aspects of the role. They are expected to be adept with AI, drive digital transformation, and seamlessly integrate new technologies into the workforce. Far from being limited to a single axis, the modern CHRO’s impact is defined by their agility in wearing many hats—connecting human potential and harnessing technology to empower people throughout the organization.
One such example is at Aimbridge Hospitality which was recognized with an award for their “gigification” initiative, which enables their associates to view and bid on open shifts at nearby hotel properties, utilize digital tipping, and manage their schedules more flexibly. “That’s a huge evolution in an industry that hasn’t historically had a lot of flexibility,” says CHRO Ann Christenson in a recent interview. “We’re not just modernizing; we’re unlocking new ways of working that meet people where they are.”
This direction is especially important in customer-facing businesses, where internal culture is ultimately externalized through its products, services, and customer experience. Colgate-Palmolive’s Massey brings this to life, explaining that the organization is focused on linking its people’s everyday behaviors to the organization’s purpose, values, and leadership principles – demonstrating how culture shows up in both work and business results. “Consider our “Courageous” value. It's not just about being courageous for the sake of it; it's about showing how being courageous—thinking big and getting things done—can make a measurable impact internally and externally,” she adds.
Rethinking Where Innovation Comes From
True and impactful innovation goes beyond product pipelines. It begins with people. CHROs are redefining their function by piloting, iterating, and scaling what works to put people center—just like a good test kitchen. The secret ingredient is the belief that human potential, when activated with the right intentions and thoughtful structures, strategies, and culture, can be a company’s most enduring advantage.
Thank you to Julie Kalt, Michele Moncrief, and Zachary Pomerantz for their contributions to this article. To read more insights from the HR leaders mentioned and more, visit The Voice of the CHRO series.
