SHRM26 Debrief · General Session · #1385

Taking Back HR: A Call to Courage

with Johnny C. Taylor, Jr.

▶ Watch on the SHRM portal ~58 min, distilled

HR's credibility crisisAI and job displacementHR value measurement (HRX)

"This isn't a case of AI replacing people. It's the cost of AI replacing the cost of people."

What it was about

HR's business credibility is eroding as CEOs carve up and eliminate HR functions in the AI era. HR professionals must evolve from experts on people alone into experts on work itself, and practice courage to reclaim the profession's value and future.

By the numbers

10% said they love HR, 60% said they tolerate HR, 30% said they saw little to no value in HR

Informal poll of 92 Fortune 500 CEOs in late 2025 on their sentiment toward the HR function

8,000 employees cut and 6,000 open jobs not filled (14,000 total)

Meta layoffs framed by CEO Mark Zuckerberg as reallocating budget from people to AI/compute

approximately $62,000 more revenue per employee per year

SHRM's HRX research finding on the revenue impact of improved HR maturity

Key notes

Stop over-indexing on employee happiness metrics like engagement scores and Glassdoor reviews, and instead be able to explain the value and ROI of every employee to the business.
Actively listen to your internal customer (the CEO and other business leaders), not just to employees through surveys, since the CEO is HR's critical customer.
Become an expert on work itself, not just people: understand how work gets done, by whom, and with what tools, so HR can architect solutions to any business problem.

The contrarian takeTaylor argues HR should stop treating employee happiness/engagement as a top priority and instead focus on proving ROI per employee to CEOs — essentially reframing HR's core allegiance toward the business/CEO as its 'critical customer' rather than primarily toward employees.

Take this back Monday

Do this for your team

Pull one flight-risk employee's data and outline the specific retention action you'd take, instead of just checking their engagement score.

Say this in your next leadership meeting

SHRM's HRX research found a roughly $62,000 revenue gain per employee per year when HR maturity improves — HR isn't a cost center, it's a revenue lever.

Watch out for

Justifying HR's value through narratives, surveys, and activity reports instead of hard business-performance data.
Focusing solely on people and employee sentiment while neglecting to understand and own 'work' itself as a discipline.
Failing to listen to CEOs and other business leaders as seriously as HR listens to employees.

Fun fact · Johnny C. Taylor, Jr.

Before leading SHRM, he was an executive at Blockbuster Entertainment Group and Paramount Pictures, and now writes a weekly USA Today column called "Ask Johnny."

If this landed, see these

↳ Go deeperTalent Intelligence on a Shoestring: Turning HR Data into Board InsightsShows exactly how to build the CEO-ready, ROI-per-employee story this call to courage demands.⇄ The counterpointAre You Okay? Fight Burnout Using PlayArgues employee wellbeing matters for its own sake, not as a line HR should deprioritize.✦ The unexpected oneBuilding an AI-Enabled Recruiting TeamBecoming an expert on work itself starts with the AI already sitting inside your recruiting stack.