When I was a graduate student in organizational design, I had to do a capstone project.  My thesis, years before there was hard evidence for this, was that happy employees were more productive.  To be evaluated, each student needed to build a unique team of judges.  We needed a professor, a student and someone from the corporate world to evaluate our work.  I had a distant relative who was high up in a fortune 50 company.  I told him about my idea and asked if he would be a judge.  He said no—he didn’t buy my assumption.  He did not think that happiness and productivity were correlated in strongly enough to make a difference.

I think about him every December when the annual “State Of HR” annual wrap up studies roll in.

The findings are always positive: milestones achieved, priorities tackled, progress made. Yet the perception of HR’s work  in the eyes of CEOs is stubbornly unchanged. Just like my third cousin, many still see HR as administrative-not mission critical.  We are keepers of payroll and compliance, not drivers of strategy.

It’s a frustrating paradox: every year HR ably tackles more difficult challenges, but opinions haven’t changed. And as we head into 2025, this misalignment—the chasm between HR’s accomplishments and what CEOs value, both breaks my heart and makes me so mad I want to break things.

The Influential Voices Who Dismiss HR’s Work

For some leaders, the gap is deeper than misalignment. Several of the world’s most influential business leaders seem to dismiss HR efforts altogether. These aren’t obscure voices—they’re CEOs of major companies whose words ripple across industries. Here are some examples:

• Marc Andreessen said employees should “leave their full selves at home” and “act like professionals and grownups”​.
• Brian Niccol, CEO of Starbucks, framed return-to-office mandates as a matter of adulthood: “We’re all adults here. You need to figure out where you need to be to get your job done”​.
• Elon Musk told employees at X to “become extremely hardcore or leave”​.

When CEOs see “employee experience” and “well-being” as unnecessary distractions, HR isn’t just missing the mark about what projects are most important. In their eyes, we’re playing on an entirely different field.

HR’s Dual Trust Problem

This leadership dismissal is more than an HR problem—it’s an organizational problem. If CEOs reject employee-focused strategies as unnecessary, then in turn, employees distrust both leadership and HR.

Consider the evidence:

• 91% of executives think they demonstrate care for employees, but only 56% of employees agree
• Only 53% of employees believe their needs are prioritized, while 90% of C-suite leaders think they’re already doing enough​.
• A recent HR Magazine article revealed that despite all the good work, HR is often perceived as “outdated, process-driven, and disconnected”​.

If CEOs don’t value our work and employees don’t feel its impact, our strategies, however well-intentioned, are failing.

“We Cannot Solve Problems With The Same Thinking We Used To Create Them.”

Easy fix right?  HR just needs to rebuild trust, close the perception gap, and prove its strategic value.  What can we do differently?

The old paradigms aren’t working so I tried to give some thought to the Einstein quote above and borrow tactics from disciplines that know how to bridge impasses and persuade skeptics: diplomacy, hostage negotiation, and behavioral science.

1. Think Like a Diplomat – Align Around Shared Objectives

Diplomats succeed by finding shared goals between opposing sides. CEOs care about productivity, innovation, and results. HR must clearly show the C-suite that initiatives to address employee needs significantly impact business success.

Step one, stop designing HR strategies in “rarified air”. Instead, work backwards from desired business outcomes.  The question to ask is “what programs can we put in place that will allow the employees to more easily and contentedly achieve the business goals?”

Programs designed through this lens boost retention, strengthen the workforce, and contribute directly to business productivity. Everyone wins. Remember though, find a business metric to measure your impact.  if you can’t actually prove you helped the company hit a business goal, nobody thinks your work made a difference.

2. Use Hostage Negotiation Tactics – Build Micro-Commitments

Hostage negotiators build trust incrementally. HR can use the same principle to prove its value. Start small, measure impact, and tie every success to measurable business outcomes.

• What you do must have leadership buy-in, be data-driven and enable the business goals. Start with pilot programs. This is a less risky way to tweak the measurements so there is a clear line from what HR is doing to business success.
• Measure impact on the business’ metrics—not HR stand-alone metrics–before and after implementation.
• Show immediate, tangible value. Better small gains in the right direction on key indicators than large gains on metrics that don’t really matter to leadership.

3. Act Like a Behavioral Scientist – Prove Cause and Effect

CEOs dismiss HR speak like “employee wellness” because it feels intangible. We need to speak about employee experience improving the bottom line.  We need to make what appears as invisible connections visible to leaders.

There are now a plethora of facts and figures that support the connection between wellbeing and company performance.  For instance:

• High engagement teams deliver 21% greater profitability​.
• Companies with strong cultures see 2.5x higher revenue growth .

But generic statistics don’t change minds. Impact must be felt personally. Test your strategies internally. Measure pre- and post-implementation metrics for your company, and prove ROI tied directly to your unique business strategy.

The 2025 Reality Check

In a large percentage of companies, HR isn’t appreciated—it’s tolerated. So be strategic about what you tackle. Suggest one or two “people” initiatives for 2025 align with your company’s business strategy and drive them relentlessly. Prove they work.

Approach this from both sides.  At the same time you are working with the executives, involve your employees. Identify what they really care about—what will drive loyalty, trust, and retention. Then find a way to dovetail the needs.

If you execute on both fronts, you’ll have real wins to show for your work this year. CEOs will see results. Employees will feel heard. And HR will have made a relevant contribution recognized by both groups

Happy New Year—and good luck.