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Home › HR Career Path › What Does an HR Business Partner Do? › What is the HR Business Partner Model?

What is the HR Business Partner Model?

Certified HR Generalist

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Looking for the HR business partner model? You’re at the right place then.

The human resources business partner model is when the HR department participates in planning in a strategic way to elevate the business growth and supports it in its present and future goals.

Rather than limiting itself by concentrating on HR duties such as payroll, employee relations, and benefits, HR departments seek to add business success to the company by overseeing training, recruiting, advancement, and placement of all employees. In addition, the HR business partner model can organize how HR functions are carried out.

To learn more via video, then watch below. Otherwise, skip ahead.

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The HR business partner role carries the expertise and a comprehensive understanding of how the HR function works and how to make a line of business within the company prosperous.

Their job responsibilities include coaching business leaders about human resources issues such as developing supportive HR, business strategy planning, analyzing talent requirements, onboarding, and recruiting.

HR business partners exhibit solid business knowledge and specific experience within the employer’s business sector, using HR capabilities to support organizational business goals.

HR as a function is close to the top and the center of the organization’s structure. In this manner, HR can function to enhance organizational objectives and add value to the business. In addition, HR business partnering makes human resources a part of corporate strategy rather than a strict, reactive personnel function.

Why is the Human Resources Business Partner Model Important?

The HR business partner model structure is curated to elevate business growth on all levels over time. HR chooses and screens individuals best aligned for the roles involved in recruitment.

In the development and development process, HR locates which employees need detailed training and ensure that it is done correctly.

In knowing the company’s inner workings, the strategic nature of the HR partnership model is combined with a corporate game of employee and manager sequence to achieve the most effective business outcomes.

Our top-rated HRBP certification provides insightful information on the HR business partner model. Take a look here and make sure to enroll to upskill your knowledge with the advanced HRBP skills:

HR Business Partner Certification

What is an HR Business Partner?

A human resources business partner is a senior HR member with a deep knowledge of the correlation of the HR department’s role with the company’s success.

Their role includes supporting, guiding and coaching other HR staff members, as well as strategies, recruiting, and onboarding.

An HR business partner differs from an HR manager. The HR manager is focused on looking over the running of the HR department, while the primary goal of an HR business partner is to ensure HR contributes to the broader success of the organization.

Why is it Important to have an HR Business Partner?

An HR business partner ensures that the HR is treated as an essential business division to develop the business and drive more profit. Processes like intelligent recruitment decisions, smooth internal communications, and effective onboarding all contribute to the broader success of the company. An HR business partner helps lend these things the prominence and attention they deserve.

For HR business partners to work in practice, HR must shake off its lack of self-esteem. However, when done in a strategic way, HR adds immense value to the organization . 

Perks of HR business partner model

HR business partnership, defined by a more expansive definition, is the future role of HR. It walks away from the limited functions of training, recruitment, etc., and makes these functions work for the business.

Reasons for Considering Human Resources Business Partner Model

Here are a few reasons to consider the HR business partner model structure for your organization:

Companies’ primary reason for considering and implementing the HR business model is due to change and evolution.

Change is necessary to expand the business or make it more productive, efficient, competitive, and problem-solving. Therefore, change in the business paradigm is a continuous necessity.

The HR leaders recognize that the business model handles the required changes and improvements by investing in human capital and people.

The supporters of the model understand that the success and job satisfaction of the employees is one of the primary keys to business success. Where a well-run HR partner model is most suited to focus on the needs of both the company and the individuals.

2. Considerations

Businesses considering the human resource business partner model must understand the nature of different model aspects and train outsourced individuals or hire HR specialists.

Expecting a sole HR office to handle HR generalist duties on top of interviewing, training, recruiting, strategic planning, and reviews results in frustration and eventual program failure for all involved. Instead, the HR business partner model requires a conscious HR strategy to change and hire a force of technical HR talent to see it through.

An HR business partner plays a crucial role in acquiring top new talent and verifies business objectives. As a result, they place current employees in the proper position with the correct managers and team partners and have access to vital training opportunities that permit long-term advancement. In addition, by promoting employee satisfaction and individual success, an HR partner aids in publicizing business success.

What areas in which the human resource business partner model adds the most weight? The answer might differ from business to business, the best HR partners work with the upper management team to specify the organization’s short and extensive goals. Then, they develop techniques for achieving these goals and discuss the organizational structure to pinpoint problem areas.

Advantages of a Human Resources Business Partner Model

In a traditional model, the HR manager is accountable for hiring and recruiting employees, administering benefits and payroll, and handling employee relations.

Digital HR technology now takes care of many of those traditional tasks, often freeing up space for HR to take on new responsibilities. Many companies are now looking at the HR role as a business partner, which plays a vital role in driving growth and profitability.

Responsibilities of HR business partner

The business partner model reduces and takes away pressure from management to sharpen employee job skills for efficiency and productivity. Also, they identify, develop, and groom the best employees for success.

HR personnel is also responsible for assessing and reviewing employee data. This allows HR personnel to figure out strengths, which they may develop further to place employees more smartly, and disadvantages, which they may correct with further job skill training or corrective action.

Limitations of a Human Resources Business Partner Model

Suppose the HR department already works in a dynamic way and faces employee relations problems. In that scenario, you will not have enough time and people to assign to partnering with the company for other functions.

The business partner model requires the involvement of HR in almost each and every aspect of the enterprise, including financial status, production statistics, and sales numbers.

Management buy-in may is also a difficulty, as the traditional role of HR is inflated to that of an overseer of the whole business in the business-partner model.

There are multiple shortcomings of a human resource business partner model. The most fundamental ones are mentioned here:

1. Capability Shortfalls

The implementation of the HRBP role often displays pressing shortfalls in vital areas, such as how good the HRBP’s understanding of the necessary drivers of organizational success is and how progressive the HRBP is.

2. Reactive, not Proactive

The HRBP exists to benefit the client, i.e., the internal customer, but, that means pausing for the client to approach them rather than taking a functional approach. This means not concentrating on real value due to unaligned requests.

There is a risk that the client’s demands are based on activity not in line with the strategic goals. Therefore the HRBP does work that is not even aligned with the strategic objectives.

3. Unnecessary Assumptions

There may arise a few assumptions about what parts need attention rather than the ones that need actual requirements.

For example, an HRBP may take the task in seclusion, so when it fails, that HRBP will look at the reasoning behind the loss of that individual project. Yet only about thirty percent of initiatives are ever executed. Therefore, the HRBP needs to look at the business signs rather than take an isolated view.

4. Unsuitable Solutions

There is a trend to give internal customers the best practices. However, this is not always what the customer requires or wants. So instead, HRBPs are responsible to serve the best current outcome.

HR business partnering is gaining popularity amongst organizations to organize their HR function. This is because it’s proving to add meaningful professional value. Human resource is the instigator of both change and balance through business partnering, balancing different stakeholders to the overall organizational ambitions. On the base, this means HR professionals hire the right talent and encourage it here without losing the picture of the more extensive goals and performance in the long term.

The mission of the HR business partner model is to add actual value to the company by adding HR into all areas of business operations and strategic planning. As experts on the human element of the business, HR is best qualified to figure out how every employee fits into the organization’s goals and put each employee in a position to deliver positive results.

Human resources business partners identify employee morale, support new perks, and benefits that provide a competitive edge and build a strong company culture from the latest employee to the oldest one.

Companies must focus on results instead of the process to measure an HR partner’s value. For example, instead of changing the performance review process, Human resource experts need to assess and measure the impact of those changes. There are several trackable HR metrics that companies can use to gauge results.

For the HR business partner model to become a success, an HR professional must develop proficiency with all angles of the business. This will need digitalization or outsourcing primary administrative duties to free specialists up to focus on more significant outcomes.

If you are new to human resources and are looking to break into an HR Business Partner role, we recommend taking our HR Business Partner Certification Course , where you will learn how to build your skillset in the human resources business partner realm, build your HRBP network, craft a great HRBP resume, and create a successful HRBP job search strategy.

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hr business partner model in practice

The critical importance of the HR business partner

Neel Gandhi

January 17, 2018 Nearly a decade ago, CEOs surveyed by McKinsey stressed the importance of talent strategy to their organizations. But they also voiced misgivings about HR’s ability to manage the talent process strategically and deliver maximum value to the business.

We recently refreshed that research and found little has changed. Effective talent practices that drive true value remain vital, yet HR continues to struggle to deliver this need.

The disconnect centers on HR Business Partners (HRBPs) – those senior HR individuals who counsel managers on talent issues. Despite decades of trying to focus these HRBPs on strategic issues, many of our clients voice a common refrain that a great HRBP is quite hard to find. And while the value of a great HRBP remains unquestioned, the structure of the HRBP role requires reengineering.

In fact, we even urge changing the name to Talent Value Leader and giving them a different set of responsibilities and accountabilities. Here are several key features of this reimagined role:

  • Remove operational responsibilities of Talent Value Leaders and make it a purely strategic role. Today, no matter how strategic their mandate, HRBPs get dragged into transactional and operational issues. In large measure, this occurs because most HRBPs retain some operational role, whether as an overseer of generalists or as the “customer service liaison” to the execution side of HR.
  • Empower Talent Value Leaders to influence and drive talent initiatives that generate real business value. Many business leaders today do not look to HRBPs as drivers of value via pulling talent levers; they continue to see them as personnel managers. This must change. Just as a business unit CFO doesn’t have control over spending decisions but influences the entire profit and loss center, a Talent Value Leader must possess the credibility and authority to drive important talent decisions. And just as a CFO is accountable for the profit and loss, a Talent Value Leader should be measured against and held responsible for talent outcomes and the value they drive.
  • Establish a pipeline of Talent Value Leaders who blend talent, business and financial experience to be able to identify which talent levers can yield the most business value. Traditionally, HRBPs have assumed HR generalist roles that considers great customer service the best measure of success. A Talent Value Leader wouldn’t play that service role but would be a business leader who says “no” occasionally, pushes a difficult perspective and influences other managers and executives.

Some companies are moving in this direction. A global beverage company, for example, fills some HR roles with people with engineering, technology or process-oriented backgrounds. Leaders at the soft-drink giant say engaging the business with data proves critical to expanding HR’s strategic role.

At the same time, leaders elsewhere are moving between HR and line roles more frequently. The CEO of a major automotive company was previously the firm’s HR vice president before joining the company’s global product development leadership.

The transition to Talent Value Leaders requires a rigorous effort to shift mindsets and capabilities among both HR leaders and the business leaders that HR supports. But, the potential benefits promise to be enormous by entrusting an organization’s most capable leaders with the mission to maximize the value of its talent assets.

Learn more about our People & Organizational Performance Practice

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Dave Ulrich

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Wayne Brockbank

The business partner model: 10 years on - Lessons learned

Dave Ulrich's business partner model was launched to great acclaim in 1997 in the book, Human Resource Champions. Here, Ulrich and Wayne Brockbank, fellow Ross School of Business professor at the University of Michigan, answer recent critics, who say it just doesn't work, by reflecting on what has been learned about the relevance of the model over the past decade

hr business partner model in practice

The business partner model is not unique to HR; all staff functions are trying to find ways to deliver more value to either top line growth or to bottom line profitability.

The need for greater business performance has put all support functions under a microscope. If they are not delivering definitive and sustainable value, they have been given the mandate to change, be eliminated or be outsourced.

Information systems, finance, legal, marketing, research and development and HR are all under scrutiny and pressure to create greater value for their companies. This is especially true of transaction and administrative work that can be standardised, automated or outsourced.

2. The aim of the model

The aim of the business partner model is to help HR professionals integrate more thoroughly into business processes and to align their day-today work with business outcomes.

This topic has been approached from several perspectives. For example, we have talked about focusing more on deliverables (what the business requires to win) than do-ables (what HR activities occur).

Instead of measuring process (for example, how many leaders received 40 hours of training), business partners are encouraged to measure results (for example, the impact of the training on business performance).

This approach focuses on HR's role in the creation and maintenance of the capabilities that an organisation must have in order to deliver value to its customers, shareholders, employees and communities.

More on the HR business partners and the Ulrich model:

HR business partner models fail to add strategic value, study says

Dave Ulrich on the evolution of the profession

HR in the boardroom: four tips for maximising HR’s business impact

3. Four main HR roles

Being a business partner may be achieved in many HR roles. HR professionals tend to fit into four categories: corporate HR; embedded HR; HR specialists; and service centres.

Corporate HR professionals define corporate-wide initiatives, represent the company to external stakeholders and meet the unique demands of senior leaders.

Embedded HR professionals work as HR generalists within organisation units (business, function, or geographic). They collaborate with line leaders to ensure that their organisations deliver value to stakeholders by defining and delivering competitive strategies.

They help shape the business strategy, conduct organisational diagnoses to determine which capabilities are most critical, design and deliver HR practices to accomplish strategy, coach business leaders to behave congruently with strategy, and manage the strategy development process.

HR specialists work in centres of expertise where they provide technical insights on HR issues such as staffing, leadership development, rewards, communication, organisation development, benefits, and so forth. They deliver value when their recommended HR practices are on the forefront of their respective areas of expertise and when they create new practices that add value beyond that of their competitors.

HR professionals who work in service centres add value by building or managing technology-based e-HR systems that enable employees to manage their relationship with the firm. They govern activities such as processing benefit claims and payrolls and by answering employee queries.

These individuals may work inside or outside the company. They deliver value to all stakeholders by reducing costs of processing employee information and by providing accurate and timely services.

Sometimes, one of the above roles is uniquely defined as business partnering when, in fact, each of the roles is a partner to the business as they work to create value for employees, customers, shareholders, communities and management.

4. Talent and organisational capabilities

Business success today depends more than ever on softer agendas such as talent and organisation capabilities. HR professionals are centrally involved in providing the right people with the right skills in the right job at the right time. The 'war' for talent rages and will likely continue in an increasingly global knowledge economy.

HR professionals also partner with line managers to identify and create capabilities such as speed to market, innovation, leadership, collaboration, fast change and culture management. These less tangible business activities increasingly have an impact on shareholder value and are top of mind among CEOs and general managers.

Effective HR professionals not only work with business leaders to draft strategies , they also focus and collaborate on how to make strategies happen.

Talent and organisational issues become the mechanisms to best deliver a strategy. Business leaders are increasingly attuned to the importance of talent and organisation as a way to turn aspirations into actions and strategic intent into business results as they co-ordinate closely with their HR professionals.

5. Intellectual and process leadership

As talent and organisation issues increase in business relevance, HR professionals may help respond by being architects , designers and facilitators. General managers ultimately are accountable and responsible for talent and organisation issues.

Just as they turn to senior staff specialists in marketing, finance and IT to frame the intellectual agenda and processes for these activities, so they turn to competent and business-focused HR professionals to provide intellectual and process leadership for people and organisational issues.

Effective HR business partners are those who respond to these general management challenges. The business partner model focuses on the issues that general managers need help with to deliver business results. And because of the changing nature of business, the requirements of a business partner model are more pressing than ever before.

6. Some will never be business partners

There is concern that some HR professionals cannot perform the work of a business partner and cannot link their day-to-day work to business results. Our research shows that the HR profession as a whole is quickly moving to add greater value through a more strategic focus.

We have shown that high-performing HR professionals have greater business knowledge than their low performing counterparts. Thus, there is empirical evidence to support the business partner model.

But also empirically supported is that some HR professionals are not able to live up to the new expectations. This dynamic is true for almost all change efforts. In any change there is almost a 20-60-20 grouping of those involved.

The top 20% of individuals asked to change are already doing the work the change requires. The lower 20% will never get there. With training, coaching and support, the other 60% can make the move.

Occasionally, some pundits and researchers selectively report either extreme: the 20% who either can or cannot make the change. Those that want to find failure focus their reporting on the bottom 20%; those that want to find success focus on the top 20%.

Likewise, some leaders often like to spend time with the successful 20% and claim they had caused it when they had not. Leaders often feel forced to spend time with the bottom 20% and try to ensure universal acceptance when they cannot. They should spend time with the middle 60% and work to inform, motivate and move them to be more successful. The same is true for HR professionals.

As with all support functions, it is undoubtedly the case that some HR professionals may never become business partners. They are mired in the past administrative HR roles where conceptually or practically they cannot connect their work to business results.

Other HR professionals are natural business partners, seeking first and foremost to deliver business value through the work that they do. Most are somewhere in between.

We see the majority of those in between moving towards rather than away from business relevance. If you look at the content of HR conferences over the past 20 years, it is clear that a shift is occurring in what HR professionals want and need to know. A decade ago there was a clamour to 'get to the table' and to become part of the business.

Today, many effective HR professionals are already at the table and need to know what to do now they are there.

Being at the table poses a new set of challenges in language and logic of being an HR professional. For example, historically many HR professionals use the term 'customer' to refer to internal customer. At the strategy table , the customer is generally the external retailer or end users.

When HR professionals are at the table, the question, 'what do we need to do to make our customers happy?', has a different meaning from that of HR's traditional meaning. As HR professionals assume the business partner role, the standards for HR success shift along with the expectations of their language.

7. Don't blame the gadgets - teach the users to use them

Being a business partner requires HR professionals to have new knowledge and skills. Traditionally, HR professionals have tended to focus on negotiating and managing terms and conditions of work and administrative transactions.

The required HR skills focused on admin issues such as policy setting and administration, union negotiation and managing employee transactions.

Today, the business partner model requires HR professionals also to connect their work directly to the business. Some HR practitioners lack these skills. If they fail to acquire them, their ability to function as business partners is diminished. This strongly supports the business partner model.

Our research indicates that as HR professionals acquire the skills and knowledge necessary to be business partners, they add significant value to financial and customer business results.

Likewise our research shows that those that do not make the transition in knowledge and skills are less likely to have business impact. When HR professionals are business partners, business success follows.

By way of metaphor, if a person cannot work the remote for the new electronic gadget, we should not blame the gadget, but should teach the user how better to use the gadget.

8. Reasons for failure

The inevitable failures in the application of the business partner model may be due to several factors.

As indicated above, 20% of HR professionals will probably never be able to adapt to the full business partner role. Asking HR professionals who have focused on policies and transactions to do talent and organisation audits and make major changes may be too great a shift for some.

Some may not make the shift to business partners because of personal interests that deter them from engaging in the business partner role. Their interests and abilities may make them focus administrative detail rather than embrace the larger and more complicated perspective of the business as a whole.

Some HR practitioners may want to be business partners but simply do not how to proceed. Such individuals need to understand the frameworks, logic, knowledge, and skills that are necessary for them to grow into the business partner role.

Substantial empirical evidence shows that HR professionals who are provided with such information can quickly apply it in adding greater value to the business.

For example, defence and aerospace company BAE Systems undertook a serious commitment to enhance the competencies of its HR professionals. As a result of the developmental programme, HR's perceived impact on business performance increased dramatically (the percentage of line managers rating HR as four or five in business effectiveness increased by 120%.)

There may be some cases where an organisation's success does not depend on individual abilities or organisational capabilities. For example, a company may have a monopoly, and may be protected from competitive pressures. In such circumstances business performance may be dictated primarily by the maintenance of that monopoly. Internal dynamics will have relatively less to do with business success than the maintenance of the monopoly.

Therefore, HR professionals who push for alignment, integration and innovation in talent and organisation are less likely to contribute to business success. In addition, our recent empirical work together with our colleagues, Alejandro Sioli and Arthur Yeung, shows that HR is most closely associated with business performance under conditions of significant change and has substantially less influence under conditions of little change. So, HR's impact on business may vary depending on the business setting.

Some line managers have trouble either accepting the importance of talent and organisation and/or accepting HR professionals as significant contributors to these agendas. This may be due to their having a limited perspective on the changing nature of business or due to past bad experiences.

Research by a number of consulting firms shows that senior level executives are focusing more on issues such as strategy execution, leadership, talent, and change - all HR agendas. Therefore, managers often want and need what effective HR professionals can help them deliver.

9. What's the alternative?

There are really few other options. When someone said to us that the business partner model was not working , we asked: 'What would you suggest?' The following are the two responses we received.

First, 'Some HR professionals do not know the business well enough to be able to function as business partners'. Second, 'Some HR professionals are too enmeshed in transactional administrative work to be able to function as business partners'. Both of these problems have direct and obvious solutions.

The solution to the first response is that HR professionals need to learn the business inside out. They must know it well enough not only to do better HR work but also to be able to contribute to the strategic decision-making processes of the senior management team. The solution to the second is that much of the admin work will need to be outsourced or digitalised for electronic processing.

The reality is that HR professionals must evolve into being the best thinkers in the company about the human and organisation side of the business. The nature of business is dramatically changing.

Changes are occurring in virtually every element of the social, political, and economic environments that affect business. They include technology, globalisation, communications, regulations, competitiveness, demographics, shareholder demands and a tight labour market for key talent.

Under such conditions, the human side of the business emerges as a key source of competitive advantage. Therefore, specialists in the processes of human and organisation optimisation become central to business success. These specialists should reside in the HR department as business partners.

Read part two, The Challenges Ahead , published in our Year Ahead publication with the 2009 January issue.

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The Evolution of the Modern HR Business Partner

Vaso Perimenis

In 2003, I experienced an early version of HR business partnership . I worked for a major healthcare organization in South Florida which was quickly expanding its footprint and business.

The traditional Human Resources structure that was one degree away from personnel administration could no longer support the organization. We created a new capability called “HR Site Management” as a way to bridge the divide between local leadership and corporate HR . The new department was responsible for employee relations and acted as a conduit between corporate and local business units.

In the past 15 years, I have experienced a continual evolution of the HR business partner (HR BP) role. Different organizations and individuals see the HR business partner role slightly differently. There is no definitive structure, but there are some central tenets that contribute to a successful function and role.

The origins of HR business partnering come from the 1990s and Dave Ulrich’s model of organizing which stems from his book ‘HR Champions.’ In it, he identified four roles of the HR professional :

  • Strategic partner.
  • Change agent.
  • Employee champion.
  • Administrative expert.

This definition alone cannot operationalize an HR BP model . Rather, it sets the stage for an evolved HR based on consultant-like qualities that includes less order-taking and more focus on solutions.  

My second encounter with the business partner role was in another healthcare organization in 2009. In this iteration, the role was created and funded with talent from overstaffed recruitment and employee relations departments. The roles’ responsibilities included some employee relations, shared with the employee relations team, recruitment of manager-level jobs and general liaison with manager and director level positions.

READ:  HR and the Gig Talent Economy

With lower recruiting volumes, the model worked. However, when the recruitment volumes started to increase, the model was not sustainable. In addition, although there were many alignment meetings with the employee relations center of expertise, the misalignment continued. The gap in consistency and interpretation between the centers of expertise and the HR BP function persisted.

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Once the environmental conditions changed, Human Resources had to re-examine the role. In this second iteration in 2012 , HR created a sourcing function that assumed responsibility for manager recruitment. The employee relations function remained with the HR BP role. The historical misalignment issues were improved by a weekly case review huddle between the HR BP and employee relations teams. Also, each HR BP partnered with an assigned employee relations expert to ensure appropriate consultation. The HR team also learned about performance consulting as the methodology for operating as consulting partners to the business to solve business problems with people tactics and strategies. Performance consulting tools included:

  • Formal project contracts with defined goals, objectives and metrics.
  • Quarterly outcome reports to HR colleagues and key business stakeholders.
  • Continuous education.
  • Regular monthly reports shared with business leaders.
  • Data analysis, interpretation and evidence-based work.

Third Time’s the Charm

The third iteration came in 2015 with a downsizing that required the Human Resources team to reduce its HR BP team by half. This required a review of all expectations and job responsibilities that yielded decisions to keep, change or delete.

The employee relations function was fully centralized in the employee relations center of expertise. The HR BP no longer attended employee appeal hearings and responded to compliance hotline complaints.  The biggest change was a shift from supporting manager-level leaders to vice presidents and higher . By moving support up the chain of command, the HR BP could more easily influence decisions and projects. This change required the HR BPs to evolve and adopt the following qualities:

  • Relationship-Based : The most successful HR business partnering is reliant on the positive and productive relationships formed and the collaboration which then becomes possible. HR becomes the driver of an intensely well-networked organization.
  • Initiative and Solution Focused : Rather than simply performing the daily functions of the old-school HR department, HR business partnerships work more holistically to translate strategy into action.
  • Talent Expert : As talent management becomes recognized as a critical organizational capability, HR BPs must learn how to help identify, develop and act as stalwarts of all-things talent. Business leaders must look to HR BPs as drivers of value via pulling talent levers.
  • Sharp Business Acumen : Business acumen means having enough knowledge of a business situation that will lead to a great outcome. HR practitioners must be able to read, understand and analyze financial statements such as profit and loss reports, cash flow statements and balance sheets. They must learn about the business’ key customers and market challenges.
  • Coach: Being a trusted business advisor means taking on the role of a coach. The HR BP must understand the business, gain and maintain credibility, and be a thought partner to help find creative solutions to business needs.

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During my second encounter, the HR BP role evolved three formal times. There were informal edits too with the goal of aligning the role to the business. This is a great example of why one definition of HR BP is often insufficient to meet the demand for the capability. Human resources organizations must continuously evaluate the role’s efficacy in context of fast-moving environmental and business changes by:

  • Monitoring performance against a standard methodology and discrete business outcomes.
  • Annually reviewing the HR BP job structure to ensure alignment with business changes.
  • Obtaining feedback from key stakeholders regarding HR BP talent and their ability to move the performance needle.

HR is moving from a largely tactical, administrative function to a more strategic role focused on creating value. Before you embark on your next HR BP transformation, you need to:

  • Understand what “success” means.
  • Define the capabilities and competencies required to support the business.
  • Develop individuals to close any skill and competency gaps.

Ensuring that your HR business partner community has the desired competencies, an aligned HR vision with all parts of HR, and the ability to align HR strategies with business desired outcomes will result in a successful next level HR BP capability.

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Seven lessons learned from the HR business partner model

Having observed, studied and shaped the business partner model through rigorous empirical research and extensive work within specific organisations, done seven rounds of the HR Competency study, which studies the competencies of HR professionals and the capabilities of HR departments and worked on more than 100 HR transformations, we reflect on what we have learned about the relevance of the business partner model today

Dave Ulrich

1. The business partner model is not unique to HR; all staff functions are trying to find ways to deliver more value to either top line growth and to bottom line profitability.

Information systems, finance, legal, marketing, R&D and HR are all under scrutiny and pressure to create greater value for their companies. This is especially true of transaction and administrative work that can be standardized, automated, re-engineered or outsourced.

2. The intent of the business partner model is focus more on deliverables (what the business requires to win) than doables (what HR activities occur)

We have seen four phases of deliverables, moving from administrative efficiency to functional excellence to strategic HR to HR outside in. Instead of measuring process (for example, how many leaders received 40 hours of training), business partners move to measure results (for example, the impact of the training on business performance), then move to how training builds external value with customers and investors. For example, when HR builds better leadership capital, investors have more favourable images of the firm which shows up in market value .

3. Being a business partner may be achieved in many HR job categories 

As business partners, corporate HR professionals define corporate-wide initiatives, represent the company to external stakeholders, meet the unique demands of senior (and visible) leaders, leverage cross unit synergy, and govern the HR function. Embedded HR professionals work as HR generalists within organisation units (business, function, or geographic). They collaborate with line leaders to help shape the business strategy, conduct organisational diagnoses to determine which capabilities are most critical, design and deliver HR practices to accomplish strategy. HR specialists work in centers of expertise where they provide insights on HR issues such as staffing, leadership development, rewards, communication, organisation development, benefits, and so forth and they advise business leaders and HR professionals on how to turn insights into impact. HR professionals who work in service centers add value by building or managing technology-based e-HR systems, processing benefit claims and payrolls and answering employee queries. These individuals may work inside or outside the company.

4. HR professionals as business partners have unique information, insights, and recommendations to deliver competitive advantage  

In formal and informal business discussions, each staff group brings unique insights to drive business results: finance talks about economic performance with information about revenues, costs, and financial returns; marketing discusses customers with recommendations on targeting key customers, customer response (e.g., net promoter score), and customer connection; operations makes recommendations and systems, quality, and supply chain. When HR partners in these strategy discussions, we propose that they provide insight, information, and recommendations on:

  • Talent: HR professionals are centrally involved in providing the right people with the right skills in the right job at the right time. Talent insights capture future competence as well as commitment and contribution. Upgrading the employee experience has been a long term important part of being a business partner 
  • Leadership: HR professionals help prepare not just key individual leaders, but the collective leadership throughout the organization. They ensure that leaders have the knowledge, skills, and abilities to meet future demands and align with customer expectations 
  • Organisation capabilities: HR professionals partner with line managers to identify and create organisation capabilities such as speed/agility, innovation, risk, collaboration, information leverage, culture/shared mindset, accountability, and efficiency. These capabilities become the identity and personality of the organisation.

As business partners, HR professionals provide analytics, insights, and recommendations on talent, leadership, and capability to deliver business results and to serve all stakeholders.

5. As talent, leadership, and capability issues increase in business relevance, HR professionals may help respond by being both architects and anthropologists

As architects, HR professionals design, blueprint, and facilitate investments in talent, leadership, and capability. As architects, HR brings what is called structured information where the information is in a spread sheet which allows for traditional quantitative statistical analyses to find trends. As anthropologists , HR professionals increasingly look beyond the borders of the organization to identify what external stakeholders (customers, investors, communities, regulators) and what business trends (social, technological, economic, political, environmental, and demographic) will shape future business success. In this case, HR often sources unstructured data where they use qualitative insights to anticipate trends.

6. As with almost any change, we have seen an inevitable 20-60-20 pattern for HR professionals to fully adopt the business partner opportunities

Indeed, 20% of HR professionals get it, do it, and act as business partners while 20% will unlikely ever get there for a host of reasons (personal inability, lack of desire or organisational lack of support) and 60% are learning and moving in the right direction. While we see the HR profession moving in the right direction, some may never make it. Sometimes, critics of HR like to focus on the lingering 20% laggards and claim that HR professionals have not improved. This is as inaccurate as focusing on the 20% innovators and claiming HR has fully arrived. The business partner model is empirically supported and more of the 60% are making positive progress. A decade ago there was a clamor to 'get to the table' and to become part of the business. Today, most effective HR professionals are already at the table and they need to be clear about how their insights on talent, leadership, and capability will deliver business results.

7. Being a business partner requires HR professionals to have new knowledge and skills

There are many efforts to determine the competencies for effective HR professionals. Through the University of Michigan, the RBL Group, and partners throughout the world, we have spent 30 years studying (theory, research and practice) how competencies for effective HR professionals drive personal effectiveness, stakeholder results, and business performance 

Summary of business partner insights :

HR professionals must evolve into being the best thinkers in the company about the human and organization side of the business. The nature of business is dramatically changing. Changes are occurring in virtually every element of the social, political, and economic environments that impact business. Under such conditions, the human side of the business emerges as a key source of competitive advantage. Therefore, HR specialists in the logic, research, and processes of human and organisation optimisation become central to business success.

Many HR professionals are doing exceptional HR work. From ING in Hong Kong, to ICICI and TATA in India, to ADIA in the United Arab Emirates, to MTN in South Africa, to DHL and BAE Systems in the UK, to Arcos Dorados and América Movil in Latin America, and to Walgreens, Intel, and GE in the United States and in thousands of other companies around the world, HR professionals are making enormous progress towards delivering value as business partners. 

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What is an HR Business Partner? HR Business Partnering Model Best Practices Explained

Before we get stuck in, it’s important to note that different organisations and individuals see the HR business partner role slightly differently. There is no definition set in stone. However, there are some central tenets, and as the concept of HR business partnerships gains momentum and popularity we are beginning to see a more cohesive understanding. In order to address the question ‘What is an HR business partner?’ we need to look at the function and role of HR and how organisations meet their HR needs.

The Fundamentals of an HR Business Partnership

Fundamentally, HR business partnering is a model that can be used to organise the way HR functions are carried out. At its core is the belief that HR as a function needs to be very closely aligned with the top and the centre of the organisation’s structure: so with leaders and managers. In this way, the functions of HR can therefore truly enhance organisational objectives and add value. HR business partnering makes HR a part of organisational strategy rather than a strict personnel function which is reactive.

The Current Trend

HR business partnering is gaining popularity amongst organisations as their way of organising their HR function because it’s proving to add significant business value. Through business partnering, HR can be seen as the instigator of both balance and change, aligning different stakeholders to the overall organisational goals. On the ground, this means HR is there recruiting the right talent and motivating it in the here and now, without losing sight of the larger goals and performance in the long-term.

How HR Business Partnering Looks in Practice

In practice this means that whilst HR is, of course, a distinct function within the organisation it is also a true partnering with the business’s leaders and management, driving the organisational goals and then translating this into action on the ground. HR strategies are not simply created reactively, or out of legal necessity, butting antlers with those around them. Instead, HR strategy is determined within the context of the business strategy – the two go hand in hand.

What is a HR Business Partner?

A HR business partner is a senior member of HR staff with a deep understanding of how HR plays in a company’s success. Their role includes guiding, supporting and coaching other HR staff members, as well as developing strategies, recruiting, and onboarding.

A HR business partner differs from a HR manager. The HR manager is focused on overseeing the running of the HR department, while the main goal of a HR business partner is to ensure HR contributes to the wider success of the organisation.

Why is it Important to Have a HR Business Partner?

A HR business partner serves to ensure HR is treated as an essential business division, with a crucial role to play in driving profit and developing the business. Smart recruitment decisions, effective onboarding and smooth internal communications all contribute to the wider success of the business. A HR business partner helps lend these things the prominence and attention they deserve.

The Origins of HR Business Partnering

The origins of HR Business Partnering stem back to the 1990s and Dave Ulrich’s model of organising HR. It’s a little contentious now and has taken a somewhat meandering path since its inception, but the Ulrich Model, stemming from his book ‘HR Champions’ identified four roles of the HR professional:

  • Strategic partner
  • Change agent
  • Employee champion
  • Administrative expert

In its most basic form, you can see how this aligns the aims and goals of the organisation with the needs and development of the individual employee. Therefore, at its heart is the concept of relationship.

However, mention the Ulrich Model directly, rather than the generalised concept of HR business partnership and you can be met with disdain. Ulrich himself explains that the problem is “that people too often see the structure part of his theories as a ‘solution’ – something which, once implemented, will automatically deliver brilliant HR. As with anything, the reality is of course much more nuanced. As with anything, it’s often not what you do, but how – or rather how intelligently – you do it.”

HR Business Partnering in Practice

Therefore, for HR business partnering to be effective in practice, it is dependent on its implementation and the people in its form. A wider approach of HR business partnering looks at several broader functions and characteristics:

  • Proactive Strategic Approach: HR practitioners should always be working within the concept of, and shaping, the overall business strategy. It’s about the objective setting, responding to challenges, and consistently adding overall value.
  • Being Cost Effective: Cost-effectiveness has always been a bone of contention for the HR function. However, by taking a strategic approach it is more possible to demonstrate cost-effectiveness through excellent solutions and positive contributions. This seeks to enhance HR credibility as a by-product.
  • Relationship-Based: The most successful HR business partnering is reliant on the positive and productive relationships formed and the collaboration which then becomes possible. HR becomes the driver of an intensely well-networked organisation.
  • Initiative and Solution Focused: Rather than simply performing the daily functions of the old-school HR department, HR business partnerships work more holistically to translate strategy into action.

How to Apply HR Business Partnering

Therefore, and going back to Ulrich’s own comments on his model, HR business partnering looks different from one organisation to another – precisely because it should be aligned with the individual strategy of the individual organisation in which it’s partnering. It’s also worth noting that it may not, in its entirety, be the right model of HR for your particular organisation, or at this particular time.

However, if taken with a broader understanding, and more as a ‘mind-set’ of how to utilise HR most effectively, then it can be applied to any organisation. HR should always support business objectives and therefore, this tenet of HR business partnerships is worth getting on board.

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) states the two most common way of implementing a business partnership are:

  • Standalone HR business partners
  • Three-legged stool model

The first sees HR business partnership as a distinct organisation role. The second defines three specific areas of HR expertise: shared services; strategic business partners; and, centres of excellence.

The Success of HR Business Partnering

For HR business partnering to truly work in practice, HR needs to shake off its personal lack of self-esteem. HR, done strategically, does add immense value to the organisation. This needs to be paired with the confidence to be the square peg in a round hole challenging business strategy to add that value through the scope of human resource. In many ways, this can only be done if the HR function is as an expert in the nature of the unique business it works in, rather than the typical generalist approach.

HR business partnership, taken with a broader definition, is the future of HR. It steps away from the confined functions of recruitment, training etc, and instead makes these functions work for the business.

hr business partner model in practice

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What is an hr business partner a guide | cutehr.

  • By Avneet Oberoi
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HR Business Partner

Although HR business partnering roles back to the 1990s, the concept recently started gaining currency for its plethora of benefits. Hiring the right people is not only an indispensable organisational duty, but if done right, it can lead to inconceivable productivity, workplace efficiency and overall organisational success. 

The HR Business Partners (HRBPs) take this responsibility up a notch, to a leadership level and work with line managers and business leaders, essentially erecting a solid blueprint of handling talent to accomplish common organisational goals. 

If you consider hiring an HR business partner, it would be worthwhile to explore the roles and responsibilities before moving ahead in your decision-making process. 

Table of Contents

What is an HR Business Partner?

CuteHR For employee

By definition, a human resource business partner is an HR professional who works in a leadership role with an organisation to closely manage and develop HR policies to achieve organisational goals more efficiently. 

The HR business partner (HRBP) works with senior leadership of the firm, instead of the internal human resource department. The HRBP blends his proficiency in people management with business strategy. This fusion and integration of business strategy with people management policies is called ‘business partnering’.

Having an HR professional in such a managerial position is critical to make human resources a part of the organisational game plan. They work strategically to enhance workforce performance, directly impact workplace culture, nurture talent, leadership and learning. 

As a popular trend, businesses have begun to incorporate or collaborate with a human resource department professional with the C-suite for more optimal leadership. With the complexity that comes with such a crucial position, the HR manager is often confused with HRBP.

‘I love that I get to work with a wide range of people who are passionate about the organisation I’m working for. Being able to work together to deliver people strategies that make a difference is so rewarding.’ -Katie Landy, Senior HR Business Partner at the BBC  

Essentials of HR Business Partnering

The human resource business manager sits at a managerial role and discharge essential duties like:

  • To work closely with line managers and support them to manage their workforce at all levels efficiently. 
  • Analysing the traditional administration burden and outsourcing it to free the HR department for more critical, higher-order thinking.
  • Arrange and sort the most efficacious HR professionals to perform crucial responsibilities and functions to expedite pressing business agendas. 
  • Employing information and technology, like data management software, CRMs and AI, spike productivity and shift to service culture. 
  • Reducing the operational costs to make the HR executives more effective with policies and their implementation, and ultimately satisfying everyone- workforce, managers, and leaders. 

In essence, business partnering unravels how the HR department can wield their functionalities to streamline the organisational processes. Their collective working with the leadership teams helps build and implement HR strategies that directly impact the institutional and its people. It aims to make the business prosper by providing solutions and processes that make employees progress. 

David Ulrich’s HR Business Partner Model

Transformation and developments in technology drastically contributed to the businesses and the economies of the world have benefited. This tremendous change brought about a massive evolution of all organisational domains pertaining to their structure, productivity and functionality. Human Resource Management is no stranger to this. It witnessed sweeping change and development in the HR function and is still evolving- thriving to add value to the business.

Many theories and models promise to achieve this, and David Ulrich’s model is unsurpassed. 

Dave Ulrich, the “Father of Human Resources”, introduced the HR model in Human Resource Champion (1997).

This model transforms the HR functions and allows them to make a shift from strategic management to administrative. The HR functions are categorised into four segments: 

  • Corporate HR
  • Embedded HR
  • Specialist HR
  • Service centres 

hr business partner model in practice

Source : Ulrich (1997, p.24)

The corporate HRs are the strategic business partners, work at the senior level to devise corporate-wide programs and collaborate with the business leaders.

The embedded HRs are human resource generalists who collaborate and assist line leaders in developing people management strategies. These HR generalists primarily design and shape HR practices, catering to their successful implementation.

The HR specialists primarily provide technical awareness on issues of staffing, leadership, communication, benefits, rewards and the like. 

The HR professionals working in service centres assist by building and managing the e-HR systems.

The four pillars of Ulrich’s model shows how the HR department can create value and deliver results. Although many may consider it outdated, the model is perfect for use in any generation. It is the ideal blueprint to execute the HR functions seamlessly. The principles of the Ulrich model include:

  • Clear definition of the HR’s role
  • Forming a unified Human resource structure that conveys value
  • Gaining an edge over the competition
  • Evaluating the company’s performance along the lines of a defined metrics

As per the model, HR professionals have to shift focus and cater to strategic and operational aspects. As per Ulrich, he should be adaptive and resourceful to meet company expectations by developing and implementing practical tools. More importantly, the HR professionals should help the line managers enforce HR policies, deal with people issues and furnish them with the appropriate tools. 

Since its inception in 1997, the feasibility of the model has emerged as the primary concern. Debates surrounding its practical application, trying to figure out its pros and cons have cropped up. But in reality, every business, in the quest for a competitive edge and HR efficiency, ought to look into the David Ulrich HR model. Because there is no one-size-fits-all, the hour’s need is to keep this model as standard and design one as per the organisational structure and demand. 

What Does an HR Business Partner Do?

hr business partner model in practice

The primary role of HR business partners is to develop people’s capabilities and steer them in the direction of growth, ultimately driving organisational success. For this, they work closely with managers, principal stakeholders and teams. Alongside, they build a sound understanding of the company’s workings- its strategies, challenges, goals, customers and all employee-related problems. 

All this is achieved slowly and begins when HRBPs are deployed in a particular area of business. From here, they start indulging in the business area and start the planned, “people-first” implementation of the strategies. 

This is facilitated by building valuable relationships with influential people in their business area. Alongside, a human resource business partner deduces problems and solves them using data, and evidence. It considerably affects the decision-making process in the organisation and creates room for business changes.

While the role of an HRBP remains constant, the activities that help in execution can vary. Here, the size of the organisation plays a big part. Big firms ask for the HR business partner support at a more strategic level by enabling strategies through people approaches. As the organisation size reduces, HRBPs work on operational implementation.

In large institutions, they develop people strategy for business. For more specialist support, leaders in talent, L&D, etc. called the ‘centres of excellence’ work with the HR business partner. Additionally, ‘shared services’ work side-by-side as an operational support team to handle daily issues. 

On an average, the key activities you perform as a human resource business partner include:

  • Discussions and meetings with major stakeholders to address people problems
  • Giving guidance on pressing matters of people practices
  • Being insightful by introducing people expertise in building ideas, which, in turn, helps the business area prosper. 
  • Establishing and strengthening relationships with everyone in the business.
  • Understanding and challenging people to solve business and people problems by identifying the root cause. 
  • Make the business more competent by training people, and giving prompt feedback to stakeholders, contributing to business enhancement.  

From that breakdown, it is evident that HRBPs have to perform a mix of strategic and core HR functions. The diversity of all these activities that an HR business partner fulfils demand a specific skill set. 

HR Business Partner Skills

The role of an HR business partner is very versatile. It demands a set of diverse competencies. These nine critical skills are necessary to become an HR business partner. 

1. Business Leadership

HR business partners play a significant role in designing business strategies. For this, they ought to know about HR management and business functions. Understanding how a business operates, the hierarchy, the business goals, vision, and operations are fundamental. In a nutshell, the HRBP is expected to be skilled in human resource management and have business administration proficiency. 

2. People and Project Management Skills

An HR business partner has the responsibility to collaborate with business leaders, devise competitive people management strategies, communicate with stakeholders and help C-suite executives reach their goals. Strong people skills like employee engagement, workforce planning, mentoring, succession planning and productivity enhancement are a must. 

Most importantly, team management skills make one an effective HRBP.

3. Technological Adroitness 

Technology plays a crucial role to help simplify smoothly executive HR functions. There are different HRM software and tools which help optimise the HR processes. Knowing how to use them is essential to become an HRBP. 

Apart from tools, the HR business partners have to analyse, interpret and understand it to deduce results. Here, technological adroitness and familiarity are essential.

4. Cultural Awareness 

To become an effective business partner, cross-cultural competence is also a highly sought after skill. Since multinationals hunt for talent globally, the sense of cultural awareness helps gain insight into business practices, laws, and compensation programmes. Keeping in mind the diversity, the cross-cultural skills proactively help build inclusion programs, strategic recruitment and retention. 

5. Empathy 

Empathy is the foundational skill for anyone looking to build a career in human resource. All HR professionals’ primary job is to cater to the workforce’s needs and improve the workplace environment. Empathy is a skill of importance here. 

Similarly, all HRBPs must focus on developing an empathic attitude and a genuine concern for the business. This exceedingly facilitates the business strategy building phase as well as workplace policymaking. 

6. Knack for Learning

Apart from knowing everything about the HR domain, a human resource business partner ought to know what goes down in the business world. For this, appropriate curiosity and aptitude for learning are elementary. This will aid in the process of learning the business language like jargons, 

7. Problem-solving Attitude 

Being in a senior leadership position, you have to tackle business problems and manage the human resources department’s issues. Empathy and a problem-solving attitude are vital skills that come handy. You will have to find active solutions and solve workforce challenges.   

8. Discretion and Diplomacy

The HR business partner is a critical position in the human resource field and the business domain. Here, maintaining discretion and trust with “insider” information goes without saying. 

9. Networking 

Business is all about making the right contacts. This ability to build relationships and connections within the industry is essential to do successful business. 

The HR business partner role has evolved over the years, and today the professional skills needed to discharge responsibilities have also diversified. In such a scenario, knowing the difference between the duties between an HR manager and a business partner becomes essential to understand the peculiarities associated with each role.

HR Business Partner VS HR Manager

The HR domain was initially just a business function. As this area evolves, the titles, roles, skills, idiosyncrasies, nature and structure of HR teams have redesigned. 

As the HR domain matures, a common mistake is to confuse the HR manager’s role with the HR business partner role. But there lie many differences between the HR business partner and HR manager. 

Both the HR manager and business partners connect the company’s management to the HR department. But the critical difference is that business partners are more responsible for establishing a connection between the HR department and business goals. At the same time, the HR manager administers the daily activities of the HR division.

One may say that the HR manager is more involved in the core human resource functions and daily activities. They oversee the HR department to ensure its smooth functioning. They supervise the employee management task, administer employee onboarding, and cater to workforce skill optimisation. The responsibilities of the recruitment process, budgeting, workforce discipline, rewards, L&D, and productivity also falls with the HR manager. 

Moreover, they collaborate with company executives and help to plan and build strategies. 

HR Business Partner

Like an HR manager, the HR business partner also has to collaborate and report to senior organisational management. They help build the proper business structure by introducing policies from the HR department, which are fruitful in people management. The HRBP works closely with business leaders, identifies their vision and assists in accomplishing them by introducing effective HR policies. 

Apart from these mainstream responsibilities, they also coach executives and drive all HR initiatives. Therefore, instead of executing the more classical HR duties, the HRBP is involved in strategising, consulting, and coaching. 

The above contrast shows a difference between the roles and responsibilities of the HR manager and the HRBP. Depending on the organisational structure, the HR business partner ranks higher than the HR manager because it is a more influential role. But despite their seniority levels, it is evident that they attempt to infuse the business with the sophistication of human resource best practices. 

Why does your organisation need a business partner (BP) model?

Business partnering is fundamental to make the traditional, mundane HR role shift to one that steers the business or enables it. It is a role that transfuses organisational goals with people-based solutions to configure futuristic administrative practices to achieve future objectives. 

To further simplify this, the key reasons why a business should consider implementing the business partner (BP) model are:

Business facilitation

The business partnering model enables strategic business implementation. Such people professionals work at different organisational levels to achieve objectives by formulating such practices that lead to a better understanding of the venture, its challenges and plan of action. This extensive growth is possible when business partnering enhances people performance while blending them with potent practices. 

Cost effectual

A well-knit HR team works to create business solutions. It does this masterfully by planting expertise in domains that require it, caters to solving people problems and overcoming obstacles. This proactive approach is cost-effective and allows the HR department to deliver. 

Strategic and structured leadership

Placing the HR in the leadership funnel puts him in a decision-making role, one that functions at the root level. Working at this level is best because HR can quickly identify, evaluate, influence, and solve problems to become a strategic enabler and business leader. 

Workplace connectivity

With their thorough understanding of internal business workings, business partners collaborate and build relationships in a company structure. They remove any/all obstacles hampering a productive environment to create a more polished way of working. Consequently, they drive change for success and refinement that stimulates learning and activeness. 

These key pointers show why organisations of today need a business partnering (BP) model. But, before adopting one, they should inspect if this model is the right fit for them. Moreover, there is no one fit for all. This model varies depending upon a corporation’s size, evolution and associated intricacies.

hr business partner model in practice

Avneet Oberoi

With Flair in Human Resource study and an Avid HR Reader, Writing and traveling are food for her soul. She is currently studying French at Alliance Française de Delhi. Avneet has also done double bachelors in English Honours and Education.

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hr business partner model in practice

HR as a Business Partner, Part 2

In April’s HR CoP newsletter, we shared historical context for the term, “HR Business Partner” and what it means for today’s HR practice. This month, we continue our exploration of what it means to be an HR Business Partner, reveal the potential pitfalls of the partnership model, and share some ideas for how you can avoid those pitfalls as you transition your HR practice to a partnership model.

What does it mean?

Jason Jankoski, Assistant Dean of Operations (including HR) in the College of Engineering, had a mentor once who taught him that there will always be inherent problems within the field of human resources “because people are interesting!” Partnership implies the ability to come up with shared, reasonable, solutions to difficult problems. “You have to have guidelines,” Jason affirmed, “but sometimes the guidelines are ineffective because unpredictable situations arise.”

This is where strategic thinking comes into play. Jason suggested that when it comes to strategic thinking, HR leaders on campus are already working as partners. These leaders also need to coach team members who handle the day-to-day ‘processing’ work, however, so that they begin incorporating partnership practices into their work. This means fostering the tendency to think as one collaborates with managers and department chairs to resolve transactional problems.

Jason agreed that Dave Ulrich’s initial vision of the HR Business Partner model was limited by the fact the transactional components of HR still need to be handled, even as HR evolves into more of a partnership role. “We can’t contract that out,” he acknowledged. Those who handle transactional HR tasks, however, can still learn to work in partnership.

What are the benefits?

Jason suggested that one of the greatest benefits of functioning in partnership with the people we serve is this: “When you are truly a business partner, you typically see problems before they emerge.”

When HR professionals do not function as partners to the people they serve, both within our HR community (HR to HR) as well as with managers and other employees (HR to non-HR), they quickly discover that they are not included in conversations about what is really going on.

“People will learn to work around bureaucracy if you’re not a partner. Our jobs [in HR] are to help managers navigate the rules that are there. Managers generally have the right intent. Our job is to help them get to the right endpoint. If a manager writes a poor position description, for example, I don’t tell them that the PD is of poor quality. Instead, I might say, ‘We have a little work to do here. This is a good foundation… let’s raise it up.’”

Partners create in their behavior an invitation to share information as it’s bubbling up, Jason explained. Managers who interact with HR Business Partners are going to get help, not instructions on compliance. When HR professionals do this, they are more approachable and end up being included at the table.

How does the partner model break down in practice?

Jason emphasized that HR professionals have to make time to put a partnership model into practice. When an HR professional doesn’t have time and/or resources to think strategically, is highly stressed, or is simply annoyed with someone who is asking for something, that person is going to have issues. “The consequences of just firing things off can be long-ranging,” Jason cautioned. “It’s always better to pause, and very important to put yourself in the other person’s shoes.”

Jennifer Stewart of the Advisory Board’s HR Advancement Center echoed Jason’s emphasis on taking time to cultivate partnership. “It sounds really good in theory,” she said, “[but] it can be incredibly challenging when it comes to putting it in practice.”

In a 2013 talk [no longer available online], Stewart highlighted key pitfalls of the partnership model, including adopting ‘partner’ in name only – i.e., not cultivating the time to function as an actual partner. HR professionals “can’t be all things to all people,” she states. One has to choose wisely, and “hold business partners accountable for achieving demonstrable progress on a certain goals.” This helps with prioritization of demands on HR professionals’ time.

How might we go forward?

Jason suggested that the HR Competency Model currently being developed by the HR Communities of Practice Office sets the foundation for helping HR professionals at UW–Madison to succeed as partners. “Certainly you have to be competent in your role,” Jason said, “but a lot of [being successful as a partner] involves the softer skills of collaboration, change management, ethics and integrity… These are how you get to be at the table.”

Jason elaborated: “If you have a competent HR person who is not approachable, what you’ll see is the person’s manager translating what the person knows. The competent person knows what to do, but leaders will not view this person as a partner and so won’t be drawn to include the person in high-level decisions.”

“You can’t just tell people all the things they do wrong,” Jason cautioned.

In order to carve out time for learning how to function as a partner, he suggested reading Covey materials on priority management , and learning to embody the soft skills highlighted in the UW–Madison HR Competencies .

As HR professionals strengthen their ability to function as partners, they begin to be able to move a department, division or campus in a direction that meets collaborative operational goals, and they discern correctly when and how far to push. HR professionals can push too little/ too late or too much/ too soon. A strategic partner finds the sweet spot, Jason said, because they take the time to think strategically in conversation with others.

What questions do you have?

In next month’s newsletter, we’ll take time to answer questions about what it means to be an HR Business Partner at UW–Madison. We invite you to email your question by May 19 to [email protected] .

Responses submitted to this form are used to enhance and improve the content of this website. Please contact your supervisor or your human resources office if you have questions about implementing policies, practices, or procedures.

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COMMENTS

  1. HR Business Partner: All You Need To Know About the Role

    FAQ What is an HR Business Partner? The HR Business Partner (HRBP) plays a vital role in connecting Human Resources with the business side of a company to achieve its goals. They are responsible for adding value to the organization and helping the business make decisions, especially during times of change.

  2. What is the HR Business Partner Model?

    2024 What is the HR Business Partner Model? Become a Certified HR Generalist LEARN MORE TABLE OF CONTENTS Why is the Human Resources Business Partner Model Important? What is an HR Business Partner? Why is it Important to have an HR Business Partner? Reasons for Considering Human Resources Business Partner Model 1. Change 2. Considerations 3. Value

  3. A new approach to human resources

    This model is an adaptation of the classic Ulrich model, with HR business partners developing functional spikes and taking over execution responsibilities from centers of excellence (CoEs). In turn, CoEs are scaled down to become teams of experts and selected HR business partners.

  4. The Most Common HR Business Partnering Model

    The HR Business Partner model is about rebalancing the HR Processes between Human Resources and managers. The managers are coached and mentored to become the real people managers and Human Resources does not act as the people manager for them anymore.

  5. Business Partnering

    Business partnering is one of the main HR operating models that people functions use globally. Ideally, Business partnering is about defining and aligning people function capabilities in order to meet the organisation's objectives, and you don't have to be called a Business Partner to adopt and apply a business partnering mindset.

  6. PDF The Evolution of the HR Business Partner Role

    Figure 1: Leading Practice HR Shared Services Delivery Model This shift to a leading practice HR service delivery model requires a structured approach to implementing the design, including the overhaul and elevation of the business partner role.

  7. The critical importance of the HR business partner

    The disconnect centers on HR Business Partners (HRBPs) - those senior HR individuals who counsel managers on talent issues. Despite decades of trying to focus these HRBPs on strategic issues, many of our clients voice a common refrain that a great HRBP is quite hard to find.

  8. The business partner model: 10 years on

    The aim of the business partner model is to help HR professionals integrate more thoroughly into business processes and to align their day-today work with business outcomes. This topic has been approached from several perspectives.

  9. HRBP: HR Business Partner

    Download the Template Increase HR's strategic impact at your organization Only 30% of HR leaders believe their current structure allows them to adapt to changing business priorities. Use this playbook to adapt to these changes and build an HR operating model for the future. Get the Playbook Explore what Gartner for HR can do for you Learn More

  10. Human resource business partner lifecycle model: exploring how the

    The human resources business partner (HRBP) role is advocated as a way for human resource (HR) professionals and the HR profession to become more strategic and less transactional, necessitating the development of different competencies. ... Few researchers have examined how the HRBP Model plays out in practice, over time, from the perspective ...

  11. Developing a High-Impact HR Operating Model

    Upgrade your HR operating model to support changing business needs. The HR operating model of the future is a set of guiding principles to help every HR leader achieve their functional goals. Progressive CHROs focus on these four key activities. Reinvent the HRBP Role. Designate Problem-Solvers.

  12. Key skills for HR business partners

    Specifically, business leaders are turning to the HR business partner to help address challenging issues, such as returning to the workplace; managing vaccine regulations; creating hybrid work teams; building inclusive and equitable teams, cultures, and practices; defining the future of work with humans and machines; elevating the worker experie...

  13. The Evolution of the Modern HR Business Partner

    The origins of HR business partnering come from the 1990s and Dave Ulrich's model of organizing which stems from his book 'HR Champions.'. In it, he identified four roles of the HR professional: Strategic partner. Change agent. Employee champion.

  14. The Strategic Modern Role of HR Business Partners

    Implementing Practical Strategies and Driving Impact Implementing the HRBP model involves understanding the theoretical aspects and applying practical strategies in organizational contexts.

  15. Seven lessons learned from the HR business partner model

    1. The business partner model is not unique to HR; all staff functions are trying to find ways to deliver more value to either top line growth and to bottom line profitability. Information systems, finance, legal, marketing, R&D and HR are all under scrutiny and pressure to create greater value for their companies.

  16. Effective Business Partnering: A Guide to HR Models and Mindsets

    In an HR business partnership, a seasoned HR professional works with you and key senior staff to achieve business goals by creating an HR strategy that is aligned with them. This kind of partnering is a modern dynamic that goes beyond contractual obligations; it is in practice an alliance between two leaders, usually as part of your business ...

  17. HR Business Partner Model vs. Traditional HR Practices

    The HR Business Partner (HRBP) model is a strategic approach to HR that emphasizes the role of HR as a partner to the business. The HRBP model differs from traditional HR models in several key ways, including its focus on business strategy, alignment with organizational goals, and the role of the HR professional.

  18. What is a HR Business Partner (Human Resources Business Partner)?

    Fundamentally, HR business partnering is a model that can be used to organise the way HR functions are carried out. At its core is the belief that HR as a function needs to be very closely aligned with the top and the centre of the organisation's structure: so with leaders and managers.

  19. HR as a Business Partner, Part 3

    The goal of shifting to an HR business partner model is to improve and document processes and manage change more effectively. "About 70% of our HR employees are working as business partners," Brian said, "and 30% are in the field as specialists or SMEs [subject matter experts]."

  20. What Is An HR Business Partner? A Guide

    Source: Ulrich (1997, p.24). The corporate HRs are the strategic business partners, work at the senior level to devise corporate-wide programs and collaborate with the business leaders.. The embedded HRs are human resource generalists who collaborate and assist line leaders in developing people management strategies. These HR generalists primarily design and shape HR practices, catering to ...

  21. HR as a Business Partner, Part 2

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