After discussing the role of the HR function (What is the purpose of HR?) and the different ways in which it could be embodied organically (After the role comes the position: how the HR function can evolve organically), it is time to look ahead to concrete trajectories. Because while we know what we expect from HR, we still need to imagine how this can be translated into medium-sized or large companies, each facing their own constraints and strategic priorities. There will be no uniform future for the HR function, but it is possible to identify scenarios and draw up plausible roadmaps.
In short:
- The HR function is set to evolve differently depending on the context of each company, with concrete trajectories tailored to their strategic priorities and specific constraints.
- Three scenarios illustrate this evolution: HR-IT convergence to better align technology and talent, HR-operations integration to streamline work and improve performance, and outsourcing of administrative tasks to refocus the HR function on the employee experience.
- These transformations require hybrid skills, cross-functional governance, and increased use of data to drive the effectiveness of HR actions.
- Each model presents specific risks: technological hegemony, loss of balance between productivity and humanity, or dependence on service providers.
- The profound transformation of the HR function depends on its ability to integrate with other key functions within the company and contribute directly to its overall performance.
Scenario 1: HR and IT convergence in a technology company
Let’s imagine SoftNet, a digital services company with 8,000 employees. For the past two years, the company has been investing heavily in generative artificial intelligence. But the results have been disappointing: the tools are there, the budgets have been committed, and yet employees are not adopting them. Management understands that the difficulty is not technical but human.
Rather than strengthening the HR and IT departments separately, SoftNet creates a joint structure. First, a joint committee is set up to take on specific projects: improving onboarding through chatbots, automating certain administrative tasks, and designing more fluid digital work environments. The company quickly realized that this committee needed to become a permanent function, with a shared budget and objectives measured in terms of both productivity and employee experience.
Two years later, SoftNet took another step forward and appointed a Chief People & Technology Officer, a former HR director trained in digital issues. The existence of this unique role made it possible to fully align technological investments and talent strategy. The company finally saw tangible gains: adoption of tools, reduction of daily irritants, and increased employee satisfaction. The risk of diluting human priorities was real, but it was countered by the choice of a credible hybrid profile. In a company whose core business is already digital, this scenario is almost a natural fit.
Scenario 2: Bringing HR and operations closer together in an industrial company
Let’s take a look at MetalWorks, a medium-sized industrial company with 5,000 employees that manufactures automotive parts. Here, the HR department has historically been perceived as a support service, focused on payroll and labor relations. Social tensions are mounting, schedules are unstable, training is poorly adapted, and the difficult working conditions are ignored. Management understands that the company cannot improve its performance without reconciling operations and HR.
The project begins modestly. An HR team sets up in the main workshop, observes workflows, and talks with managers and operators. It discovers that the difficulties stem less from salaries than from the organization of work (2023 Employee Experience Barometer: the employee experience confronted with its contradictions): lack of visibility on schedules, redundant reporting, chaotic information flow (People are everywhere in the workplace, but HR is nowhere when it comes to work). Working with operations, she designed a new planning system, simplified procedures, and directly integrated skills management into the production ERP.
Gradually, perceptions changed. Field managers understood that HR was not there to impose constraints but to streamline work and improve performance. For their part, HR discovered that the employee experience was a direct component of operational efficiency (From employee experience to operational excellence: HR not so well equipped!). This is not a dilution of roles, but a double adaptation: HR is serving operations, and operations are accepting the employee experience as a structuring constraint. After three years, MetalWorks has managed to transform an often conflictual relationship into a win-win partnership.
Scenario 3: Outsourcing and People Ops in a service company
Finally, let’s take Servia, a large B2B services group with 12,000 employees, operating in several countries. The HR function is overwhelmed by administrative complexity: fragmented payroll, multiple labor laws, mass recruitment, regulatory training. Employees perceive HR as an inefficient bureaucracy.
Management decides to start from scratch. An audit distinguishes between what is strategic and what can be outsourced. Payroll is outsourced to a service provider, legal services to a law firm, and volume recruitment to specialized partners. Internally, Servia retains a small team dedicated to talent strategy, leadership, and employee experience. This team is structured as People Ops, organized like a product team (What if we thought of HR or IT as a product?). Their mission is to design integrated employee journeys, measured continuously and adjusted based on data and feedback.
Within two years, the company regained its agility. Administrative irritants have disappeared, employees have more transparent services, and the HR function has regained credibility. The risk of dependence on service providers is very real, but it is offset by tight governance. The gain is real: Servia is focusing its resources on what really matters, and the HR function is no longer overwhelmed by administrative tasks.
Cross-functional comparison
These three scenarios are based on a common belief: HR can no longer remain a silo. At SoftNet, it merges with IT to align technology and talent; at MetalWorks, it integrates with operations to streamline work; at Servia, it offloads administrative tasks to focus on the employee experience. In all three cases, it does not disappear, but changes in nature by connecting directly to what drives the company’s performance.
There are also some constants. All these scenarios require hybrid skills, capable of communicating with other professions, all require cross-functional governance to prevent the balance from tipping too far to one side, and all, finally, rely on data, whether to measure technology adoption, monitor operational fluidity, or analyze the employee experience.
But each model exposes the company to different risks. In HR-IT convergence, it is the temptation of technological hegemony. In integration with operations, it is the difficulty of maintaining a permanent balance between productivity and humanity. In outsourcing, it is dependence on service providers and the fragmentation of the employee experience. There is therefore no one-size-fits-all solution, but rather contextualized choices that reflect the history, culture, and priorities of each company.
Conclusion
These scenarios are not science fiction. We are already seeing the beginnings of them in many organizations. They show that the future of HR will not be uniform but pluralistic, and that the question is not one of choosing an ideal form but of building a coherent trajectory.
What I believe is that the real change is not in the job titles or the color of the organizational charts, but in HR’s ability to collaborate with other functions within the company. Whether they speak the language of technology, operations, or service, they will only gain legitimacy if they cease to be peripheral and become an organically integrated player in performance and work experience.
To answer your questions…
In a digital company, HR can work closely with IT to better align talent and technology. SoftNet illustrates this convergence by creating a shared function and then a Chief People & Technology Officer. This hybrid role has improved tool adoption, simplified onboarding, and increased employee satisfaction. The challenge is to preserve the human aspect while maximizing productivity gains.
In industry, integrating HR into operations helps resolve issues related to planning, scheduling, and information flow. At MetalWorks, the presence of HR on the ground has simplified procedures and integrated skills into the ERP. This rapprochement has transformed an often tense relationship into a direct partnership that drives performance.
Outsourcing payroll, legal services, or mass recruitment frees up time for strategic issues. At Servia, a small People Ops team focuses on employee experience and talent strategy, while service providers handle administrative tasks. This organization has improved the transparency of services and restored HR credibility, despite the risk of external dependency.
Each path carries risks: technological domination in convergence with IT, imbalance between productivity and people in industry, dependence on service providers in outsourcing. These limitations highlight the importance of strong governance and hybrid skills capable of communicating with other business lines.
There is no single model. Each company must adapt its trajectory according to its culture, sector, and priorities. Whether HR moves closer to IT or operations, or offloads administrative tasks, its legitimacy depends on its ability to integrate with other functions and enhance the work experience.
In this series
| What is the purpose of HR? |
| After the role, the place: how the HR function can evolve organically |
| Three concrete scenarios for the evolution of the HR function |
Image credit: Image generated by artificial intelligence via ChatGPT (OpenAI)
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