Jeanette Winters
Chief Human Resources Officer
8x8
Episode 193
Beyond Compliance: HR's Path to Business Impact & Engaged Culture
Current chapter: Built by People podcast features interviews with world's top HR leaders
Built By PeopleMay 13, 2025 · 14:25
Thesis
“Strategic HR must transcend compliance, deeply understanding business economics and cultural nuances to align talent strategies that directly drive tangible business outcomes and foster genuine employee engagement.”
Show notes
Jeanette Winters has a phrase for the HR situation she's walked into more than once: "shadow HR." Business units that have been managing people issues themselves because they never trusted the central HR function — and the trust deficit, as she'll tell you, is usually earned.
Now CHRO at 8x8, Jeanette has spent her career integrating fragmented HR functions into genuine strategic partners — which requires a specific sequence: understand what each business unit actually does, understand why they do it that way, and convince them you have their interests in mind before you propose anything. Her breakthrough metric for knowing she'd succeeded: the moment she saw cautious skepticism flip to excitement. That shift — not the org chart change, not the technology implementation — is what sustainable HR integration actually looks like. Her offshore call center case study illustrates this sharply: changing the cultural alignment of HR business partners with the customer base they supported drove measurable improvements in agent satisfaction, customer satisfaction, and productivity simultaneously.
For HR professionals who want to move from compliance-first to strategy-first, Jeanette's advice is direct: HRBPs need to know the business and its economics as well as any line leader, be comfortable with data, and stop treating compliance as the primary output of their role. And for anyone considering a new HR role? Evaluate the organization's culture toward HR before you take the job. Whether it's a startup, a PE-backed company, or a mature enterprise — that context shapes whether your agenda is possible.
- Transforming "shadow HR" into integrated functions — the empathy-first approach that earns trust from business units who've been burned before
- The "cautious skepticism to excitement" test — Jeanette's measure for knowing when HR integration has genuinely succeeded
- Cultural alignment in offshore call centers — how matching HRBP cultural knowledge to customer bases drove engagement and productivity gains
- Moving HRBPs from compliance to strategy — the business acumen and data literacy required to be a genuine strategic influencer
- Gradual, predictable change management — why pace and listening matter as much as the plan itself when overcoming organizational resistance
- Evaluating HR culture before you take the role — Jeanette's advice on reading organizational context and choosing environments where your work is possible
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What you'll take away
- 1To successfully transform 'shadow HR' into an integrated function, deep empathy for each business unit's economics and a demonstrated commitment to their success are paramount.
- 2Overcoming resistance to organizational change requires a gradual, reasonable, and predictable pace, coupled with strong listening skills to build trust and advocacy.
- 3Aligning HR roles and responsibilities with the cultural understanding of both employees and customers, particularly in diverse and global settings, significantly boosts satisfaction and productivity.
- 4Strategic HR Business Partners (HRBPs) should be empowered and expected to immerse themselves in business acumen and data-driven insights to become true strategic influencers, not just compliance officers.
- 5Before pursuing an HR role, thoroughly evaluate the prospective organization's cultural perception of HR, its size, and operational style (e.g., startup vs. enterprise, PE-backed) to ensure a personal fit.
What most organizations get wrong
- •Jeanette asserts that HR should be 'much less focused on compliance' as it's 'one of those basics in our sport,' advocating for a higher strategic alignment that challenges traditional HR priorities.
In Jeanette's words
“I needed to convey and to convince the business leaders I knew what they were doing and why, and to help support them. So the challenges were pretty obvious. Change.”
Highlights the critical need for HR leaders to demonstrate business understanding and support during organizational transformation.
“The instant we turned from that cautious skepticism to excitement, we knew we'd won.”
Emphasizes the pivotal moment in change management when resistance shifts to engagement, marking true progress.
“One of the things about servicing customer through calls is understanding the culture of the caller.”
Directly connects HR's cultural sensitivity in staffing to external customer satisfaction, beyond internal employee engagement.
“Much less focused on compliance. We all know what we've got to do, and we, you generally stick that. That's one of those basics in our sport. But the need though is for a higher level of strategic alignment.”
A clear statement de-prioritizing traditional HR compliance in favor of a more strategic, business-integrated approach.
“In my model, on that manufacturing floor, the impact was swift and business outcomes responded accordingly. We reduced our safety issues, we contributed to reduced attrition, and we improved productivity.”
Provides a tangible example of how a simple HR alignment (language skills) directly led to significant, measurable business improvements.
“Be careful about knowing why and what you expect if you're getting into HR for the first time. Know what you're getting.”
Offers crucial career advice, urging aspiring HR professionals to critically assess organizational culture and their own fit.
The problems this episode addresses
- •Fragmented talent strategies and lack of centralized HR expertise due to 'shadow HR' organizations operating independently within a company.
- •Internal resistance and skepticism from both leadership and rank-and-file employees when implementing significant organizational changes or centralizing functions.
- •Suboptimal customer satisfaction and employee engagement in global or offshore operations stemming from a disconnect in cultural understanding.
- •HR functions that are perceived as compliance-centric rather than strategic partners, hindering their ability to influence business outcomes and organizational design.
- •Challenges in diverse work environments (e.g., manufacturing floors with a majority Spanish-speaking workforce) where HR teams lack the necessary cultural or linguistic skills to effectively support employees, leading to safety issues, attrition, and low productivity.
In this episode
Built by People podcast features interviews with world's top HR leaders
Built by People
You successfully transformed a shadow HR organization into a fully integrated HR operation
When a Shadow HR Organization Became a Fully Integrated HR Organization
You had to balance business growth with strategic HR decisions regarding offshore call centers
Employee-Culture Balance
Integrating HR business partners into a company's operation can have significant benefits
Integrating HR Business Partners into the Company
Jeanette, what parting advice would you like to share with our community
A Lesson from Jeanette's
Topics covered
Organizations and entities mentioned
Full transcript
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