Jeffrey Schmitz
Chief People Officer
Zebra Technologies
Episode 112
Stop Reacting: HR's Evolution to a Strategic People & Culture Force
Current chapter: Built by People podcast features insights from world's top HR leaders
Built By PeopleJuly 10, 2025 · 15:17
Thesis
“HR must evolve from a reactive, transactional function to a strategic business partner that proactively drives talent and culture initiatives, leveraging automation and redefined roles to support overarching business needs.”
Show notes
Jeffrey Schmitz didn't come up through HR. He's a computer scientist by training who spent years in engineering and general management before landing in the CPO seat at Zebra Technologies. What he found when he got there: an HR organization that was busy, reactive, and consumed by transactional work — great at fielding questions, weak at driving strategy. His question was simple: were we spending enough time being strategic?
The transformation he describes is a methodical one. Hire a consultant for benchmarking. Build a clear vision. Redefine what an HR Business Partner actually does (less answering employee questions, more strategic advisory). Redirect transactional work to a service center with the right people and technology to handle it at scale. Then turn to the piece most transformations neglect: onboarding. Early attrition is an early warning indicator, and inconsistent onboarding is almost always somewhere in the root cause. Zebra revamped the entire process.
The culture reinvigoration work that followed is worth hearing in full. Zebra ran workshops with employees at every level to help define purpose and values — not to present them, but to build them collaboratively. His definition of culture is one of the most practical you'll hear: "Culture is how we get stuff done around here." His parting advice is equally no-nonsense: work hard, stay positive, be curious about the business you're in.
- The diagnostic that revealed Zebra's HR was reactive rather than strategic — and the steps taken to change it
- How redefining the HRBP role freed HR to focus on strategic work instead of transactional questions
- Why onboarding was the first employee experience problem Zebra targeted — and what changed
- How Zebra ran company-wide workshops to co-create purpose and values with employees, not deliver them
- Why curiosity about the business — how it wins, how it competes — is the most underrated HR career asset
This episode is brought to you by Previ — an employer network that saves employees thousands on the necessities they already pay for, at no cost to the company.
What you'll take away
- 1HR transformation requires a clear vision, benchmarking against KPIs, process revamp, leveraging technology, and meticulous change management to shift from reactive to strategic.
- 2Prioritize improving the employee experience, starting with onboarding, to significantly reduce early attrition and ensure consistent process adherence.
- 3To successfully reinvent culture, define an authentic purpose and inspirational values with broad employee input and executive team buy-in, then reinforce them through experiential workshops, not just monologues.
- 4Redirect transactional HR work to centralized service centers, equipped with the right people and technology, to free up HR Business Partners for more strategic contributions.
- 5Cultivate individual success by working hard, maintaining a positive attitude, and fostering curiosity about the business to understand how it operates, differentiates, and wins.
What most organizations get wrong
- •While HR supports the business, it's crucial for HR to also develop and own its specific vision to guide its transformation.
- •The most challenging aspect of any major change or project isn't necessarily the execution, but figuring out where to start.
In Jeffrey's words
“HR isn't here for HR. HR is here to support the business needs.”
This quote defines the guest's core philosophy on the purpose of HR within a business.
“The hardest thing in this job is getting out of bed... you know, it's always hard to figure out where to start.”
This offers a unique perspective on the initial challenge of initiating any significant change or project.
“One of our tenets was fundamentally redefining what an HR business partner's role was.”
It highlights a key strategic action taken to implement HR transformation at Zebra Technologies.
“We just want to make the employee experience better.”
This simple statement encapsulates the overarching goal and guiding principle for their HR initiatives.
“The one thing that we're stewards of that is important is culture. And the way I define culture... is it's kind of how we get stuff done around here.”
This provides a concise and actionable definition of culture and HR's critical role in managing it.
“I've never seen anyone succeed without working hard... stay positive... being curious.”
These three pieces of advice are presented as fundamental prerequisites for individual success, especially in nonlinear careers.
The problems this episode addresses
- •Reactive HR model leading to high transactional workload and inability to focus on strategic talent initiatives.
- •Inconsistent HR service delivery across different regions or business units.
- •High early-career attrition rates due to inadequate onboarding processes.
- •Difficulty in shifting employee behavior from direct HRBP contact to utilizing self-service knowledge bases or centralized service centers.
- •Challenges in maintaining and reinvigoration company culture in hybrid and remote work environments due to lack of central presence.
In this episode
Built by People podcast features insights from world's top HR leaders
Built by People
Zebra Technologies transformed HR into a more integrated business partner role
Jeff Smith on Zebra Technologies' Transformation to a More Integrated HR
Once the need for transformation was identified, what strategic steps did you take
The Shift in HR's Role
Transformation of an HR organization of some size is hard
The Hardest Thing in HR Organization Transformation
The company implemented changes to enhance the employee experience, such as onboarding
Employee Experience Enhancement
Zebra Technologies defined its purpose and values as part of culture reinvigoration
Zebra Technologies' Cultural Reinvigoration Process
Jeff Anderson has some advice for budding entrepreneurs about success and individual success
Jeff Wilcox on His Final Podcast
Topics covered
Organizations and entities mentioned
Full transcript
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