Recent trends and studies indicate a growing presence of chief human resource officers (CHROs) in company boardrooms. As intangible assets increasingly dominate company valuations, and with the expansion of board skill requirements in a rapidly changing world, the significance of human capital management has never been more apparent. This shift has prompted boards to integrate human capital measurement into their governance processes and engage HR experts to provide strategic guidance.
According to the National Association of Corporate Directors’ (NACD) 2024 report, there’s a rising demand for non-traditional skills in boardrooms, such as technology, human capital, cybersecurity, and digital skills. Leadership and innovation have also been identified as critical, reflecting a focus on people-centered capabilities. A corporate governance course for CHROs highlighted global board trends, emphasizing people governance and its implications on risk, AI, and talent shortages.
Matteo Tonello from The Conference Board noted an increase in CHRO engagement with boards, with nearly 70% of companies reporting enhanced interaction over the past three years. The proportion of directors with human capital expertise is also on the rise, with 38% of S&P 500 and 25.5% of Russell 3000 companies in 2024 having such directors.
Research by WTW and Directors and Boards underscores the evolution of effective board stewardship, identifying five key focal areas: financial performance, purpose and strategy, human capital and culture, innovation and transformation, and risk management. Notably, health and safety emerged as the top risk for board members in WTW’s 2025 Global Directors and Officers Survey Report, highlighting its link to human capital governance.
The Directors and Boards study reveals a shift towards prioritizing leadership succession, strategy development, and innovation. This shift necessitates a deeper focus on human capital factors, with effective boards using dashboards to track performance against key people indices like productivity and engagement.
The Conference Board study highlights the expanding role of CHROs in corporate governance, driven by changing expectations from investors, regulators, and customers. Boards and CEOs now expect CHROs to align human capital strategy with financial and operational priorities and lead workforce strategy, succession planning, and business transformation.
Key expectations for CHROs include:
– Business and financial strategy alignment
– Workforce and labor market strategy development
– Operational efficiency and analytics utilization
– Leadership succession planning
– Support for mergers, acquisitions, and growth strategy
Workforce-related topics gaining prominence in CHRO-board interactions over the next three years include addressing generational shifts, AI and automation impacts, employee engagement, mental health, and reskilling.
Effective CHROs take several actions when interacting with boards, such as building trust, demonstrating business acumen, fostering ongoing engagement, steering discussions on human capital, and aligning strategically with the CEO.
Directors and CEOs enhance human capital governance by establishing direct relationships with CHROs, improving the quality of board discussions, supporting executive compensation and succession planning, championing people strategy, and empowering CHROs as C-suite peers.
The study also indicates that effective directors and CEOs build partnerships with CHROs and other functional leaders like legal and finance, fostering multidisciplinary narratives on human capital risks and opportunities. By reducing committee silos, they find a unified voice on human capital issues across board committees.
Effective boards recognize the value of human capital governance, integrating it into their practices to achieve sustainable growth and navigate market complexities.
Note: This article is inspired by content from https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnbremen/2025/05/29/why-are-more-chros-in-board-rooms-today-people-risk-and-more/. It has been rephrased for originality. Images are credited to the original source.