More than half of UK businesses risk transformation failure by bringing HR into major change programmes only after implementation has already begun, research from LACE Partners reveals.
The From Implementer to Influencer report, based on insights from 450 C-suite executives across FTSE 250 and global organisations, finds that 53 percent of leaders say HR is only involved once implementation starts.
This finding comes in spite of HR’s clear strategic role and suggests that people teams remain on the sidelines of critical transformation planning.
More than two-fifths (41 percent) of leaders say people workstreams fail because HR is underfunded, deprioritised or involved too late in the process. A further 36 percent of business leaders still don’t see HR as central to transformation, leaving people strategy disconnected from business outcomes.
“When HR isn’t in the room from the start, decisions are made without the necessary workforce insight to make change sustainable,” said Aaron Alburey, founder of LACE Partners. “Transformation fails far more often because of people challenges than technology ones. If HR is asked to deliver a strategy it didn’t help design, the business risks slower progress, wasted investment and employee fatigue.”
The research highlights structural and operational barriers that prevent HR from leading effectively. These include a lack of capacity (33 percent), failure to prioritise people transformation against other business goals (31 percent), and weak change management skills (33 percent).
While 64 percent of leaders say HR is involved in shaping transformation decisions, a quarter (25 percent) report that HR is considered but not central, with 8 percent saying HR rarely influences outcomes.
“Until HR is integrated into transformation planning from the outset alongside Finance, Operations and Technology, organisations will continue to face the same barriers of misaligned priorities, resistance to change and weakened delivery,” Alburey said.
