What is an HR business partner (HRBP)

[PunnyRobin]

In our organisation we are recruiting for a HR business partner (HRBP), and ive had it explained a couple of times and even googled it, but im confused, to me Hr manages the people side of the business and then bosses talk to hr etc but where does the Hr business partner fit in with all this, because i cannot see unless they act as the business needs this we hire x etc but then i get confused with it all.

The long story short, in layman's terms can someone explain HR business partner (HRBP) please

The role of the HRBP will vary with company size and company goals.

Let's say your company wants to attract the best candidates. To attract the best you have to be the best so the role of the HRBP will be to look at how well a company is performing in terms of attraction and coming up with ways of improving the employee experience so it becomes a desirable place to work. The HRBP will develop and present a strategy that can be benchmarked to show outcomes. This is just one example of what a HRBP can do for a business.

I feel for her, HR policy is not easy.

In my experience, it usually means the HR equivalent of the CEO, CFO, CTO etc. In a functioning organisation, all those roles should be working together to run the business at the top level. They’d cover organisation-wide people and hiring policies (flexible working, return to office) but also work with the other top level execs to run the organisation as a whole.

So for example, the CTO is in charge of the technical strategy and the HR Business Partner would be working with them to translate that into staffing. Maybe ensuring they have the right number of people at the right pay grades, can any aspects be combined, what does the chain of command look like, how much above/below market rate are they paying (not the specific salaries, but percentages), how long are contracts going to be etc etc.

this helps a bit more to put the role into context, much appricated

My friend is this - it's understanding HR best policy and law and implications of business decisions well enough to be advising on how strategic business decisions will impact on work force conditions, locations, salaries etc

so its like one person knows the hr side, then deals with mangers etc to focus on what the business strategy is, then from a hr side of it , is then making that strategy possible ?

so in a sense the ceo or deputy ceo,

Civil service,

As soon as you get used to the HRBP title it changes.
Ours are now PSBP - People Services Business Partners.

Do you remember the old days of Senior HR Officers, HR Managers, etc., and before that Personnel Officers and Managers? An HRBP is the modern label and they are expected to understand the needs of the business.

I’ve worked with lots of HR Business Partners. They do need to be able to operate at senior levels and also understand business operations and the main issues their business areas are experiencing. They have to be across quite a lot of stuff.

Anything involving people automatically brings problems with it so I imagine they can get dragged into quite a lot of emergency things to calm nerves… people panic about HR issues

@PunnyRobin yes, that's how she explained it to me - she's a lovely lady and a tough cookie too with a good business head , worked her way up starting as HR officer etc

It should be. But lots of companies say HRBP for the job title but the spec is essentially an operational junior-mid level HR advisor.

Unpopular opinion incoming: I think the fact that so many HRBPs on this thread are struggling to clearly articulate exactly what the job is highlights how necessary the role is. I do think that HRBP is very important in times of large scale change, but less so in settled times. And I think the proliferation of HRBP means that we see a lot of change projects that seem to exist because we have HRBP. I’ve worked with some excellent and knowledgeable ones who really do add value, and I’ve encountered some workshy twits who seem to use it as a role to hide away in and draw a large salary. HRBPs seem to spend a lot of time extolling what they don’t do than what they can do.

@CantHoldMeDown ah that's lovely!! You are obviously a big asset

Coming down hard on slackers?

A lot of companies use the title HR Business partner when they are really an HR Manager.
The difference is more defined when a company has both.
An HR business partner focuses on ensuring the people side of the business matches the operational vision of the business. So a CEO/Director might talk about a 3 year plan and what the company intends to achieve in that time. The HR business partner will deliver the people side of that - by matching a 3 year people plan. Eg expansions, restructures, filling skill gaps, looking at new wage costs, training needed. Basically anything needed from a people point of view to achieve the company’s objectives.
An HR manager will then support the day to day delivery of those objectives - overseeing recruitment as well as the normal HR tasks such as disciplinary hearing, grievances, flexible working etc
I have supported companies in both roles and there is a noticeable difference. As an HR manager I was directly involved with staff. As an HR business partner I worked more closely with managers and directors to help them achieve what the business wanted through people planning