Automating routine HR processes has given staff more time to undertake strategic tasks. But the transition from personnel administration to adding value to the business requires major organisational changes across the entire business.

Professor David Ulrich at the University of Michigan has set out the five key elements of HR’s new role: to act as an employee advocate to make sure that the relationship with the employee is of reciprocal value; to be a functional expert able to design and deliver HR practices; as a human capital developer to build the future workforce; to be a strategic partner to help line managers reach their goals; and as the HR leader, credible to its own function and others.