Jamie Durling
Vice President of Human Resources, Luxury Goods & Retail
Luxury Goods & Retail (various organizations)
Episode 250
Beyond HR Costs: How to Quantify People's Impact on Revenue and Profit
Current chapter: Built by People podcast features insights from world's top HR leaders
Built By PeopleMarch 28, 2025 · 10:06
Thesis
“HR must transcend traditional people-centric views to become a strategic business facilitator, quantifying its impact on financial outcomes and proactively partnering with finance to drive top and bottom-line results.”
Show notes
Connecting HR Strategies to Financial Outcomes with Jamie Durling
This episode is in partnership with Transform, we are very grateful and excited to be working with this wonderful community. Go check them out here
In this episode of the Built by People podcast, sponsored by Previ, host Dave welcomes Jamie, an experienced HR executive, to discuss the intersection of HR initiatives and financial outcomes.
Jamie shares his unconventional career journey in HR, spanning luxury retail to media. He emphasizes the importance of HR's alignment with financial goals, the critical partnership between HR and finance teams, and strategies to enhance employee engagement while driving profitability.
Jamie also discusses his international experience in post-acquisition integrations and the cultural nuances that influence HR leadership.
The episode concludes with Jamie's advice on positioning HR as a strategic business partner.
00:00 Introduction to the Built by People Podcast
00:16 Sponsor Message: Previ's Financial Wellness Benefit
00:44 Guest Introduction: Jamie's Career Journey
01:56 Connecting HR Initiatives to Financial Outcomes02:59 Building Financial Acumen in HR0
4:03 Balancing Financial Performance with People-Centric Decisions
05:26 HR Initiatives Impacting Profitability
07:03 International Experience in HR Leadership
08:50 Parting Advice for HR Professionals
09:58 Conclusion and Farewell
Previ Sponsor Info:
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What you'll take away
- 1Quantify HR's impact: Connect HR strategies directly to revenue, P&L, and profitability, moving beyond discussions solely focused on costs and PTO.
- 2Proactively partner with finance: Cultivate a strong relationship with the CFO (making them your 'BFS') to speak the language of business and gain executive influence.
- 3Adopt a dual-lens decision-making framework: Evaluate HR initiatives by asking how they drive employee engagement/development and how they impact the bottom line.
- 4Implement data-driven scheduling: Utilize performance-based productivity algorithms to optimize personnel costs and strategically deploy high-performing employees to boost revenue.
- 5Master cultural nuances in global HR: Recognize and adapt to differences in employment law, local culture, communication, and change management during international M&A integrations.
What most organizations get wrong
- •HR's role extends beyond 'people' to encompass how people drive business, integrating strategy, psychology, finance, and crisis management, challenging a purely soft-skills perception.
- •Achieving a true 'seat at the table' for HR is less about advocacy for employees alone and more about demonstrating financial acumen and forging a strategic partnership with the CFO.
- •HR can be a direct driver of profitability, as shown by implementing performance-based scheduling, which counters the traditional view of HR primarily as a cost center.
In Jamie's words
“HR is never just about people. It's about how people drive business. It's a mix of strategy, psychology, finance, and sometimes even crisis management with a little bit of talk therapy thrown in.”
Defines HR beyond a soft skill, positioning it as a multidisciplinary business driver.
“I believe strongly that HR executives, chief HR officers need to make the CFO their BFS.”
Highlights the critical importance of a strategic partnership with finance for HR influence.
“How is what we are doing and how is what I'm going to do driving the overall engagement and development of the employee population and prospering the employee? And then conversely, how is it actually impacting the bottom line?”
Provides a dual-lens framework for balancing people-centric and financial decisions.
“Implementing performance-based productivity-driven schedule management. Allowed us to not only save on personnel costs and costs of employees... but it also allowed us to identify those individuals who are driving the highest performance.”
Gives a concrete example of HR directly impacting profitability through strategic operational changes.
“Ultimately, at the end of the day, international experience for me has done a couple of things. Number one, it's really about understanding the differences of culture.”
Emphasizes the importance of cultural understanding in global HR, especially during M&A.
“The more time you spend with the business, sitting with the business as opposed to with HR and being in the field... the more that you will not only develop credibility, but you will also develop a strong understanding of the overall operational aspect of the business.”
Advises HR professionals to embed themselves in the business to gain credibility and operational insight.
The problems this episode addresses
- •HR leaders struggle to gain a strategic 'seat at the table' due to an inability to speak the language of finance and quantify their impact in business terms.
- •Difficulty in balancing employee engagement and development initiatives with the organization's ultimate goal of maximizing shareholder profit.
- •The challenge of navigating diverse employment laws, local cultural nuances, and communication styles during international M&A integrations.
- •Lack of proactive, strategic partnership between HR and finance often limits HR's influence on core business decisions and profitability.
- •Traditional HR views often fail to demonstrate how people strategies directly impact top-line revenue and bottom-line profitability.
In this episode
Built by People podcast features insights from world's top HR leaders
Built by People
HR is never just about people; it's about how people drive business
What Keeps You Engaged In HR?
Jamie has developed expertise in connecting HR initiatives to financial outcomes
Connecting HR Initiatives to Financial Outcomes
Jamie, how do HR professionals build financial acumen and develop stronger partnerships with finance teams
How to Build a Financial Bridge with the CFO
Jamie, what are some examples of how HR initiatives directly impacted organization's profitability
Examples of how HR initiatives directly impacted the organization's profitability
Jamie Miller says international experience has shaped his approach to HR leadership
How International Experience Has Shape Your HR Leadership
Jamie, what parting advice would you like to share with our community
Jamie Crone on Built by People
Topics covered
Organizations and entities mentioned
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