Chobani Australia's people and culture lead explains why change communications and AI guardrails now sit at the heart of HR
The HR remit at Chobani Australia now stretches well beyond people management, and the executive leading it says that is exactly where the function belongs.
Chris Eaton, general manager of people and culture at Chobani Australia, told HRD the profession has left its administrative past behind. His own portfolio is the evidence.
"We're way beyond people and culture or HR being an administrative function," he said.
Alongside the traditional HR team, Eaton oversees safety and security, facilities across Chobani's office and manufacturing site, and corporate affairs and communications. He has been with the yoghurt maker for just over four and a half years.
His experience reflects a wider shift. A Hays report, The Chief People Officer Viewpoint, surveyed 190 senior HR professionals across Australia and New Zealand and found 85 per cent of chief people officers (CPOs) are upskilling as their roles extend beyond traditional HR. It is a trend that has been growing for years.
Why communications now sits with HR
Corporate affairs and communications moved into Eaton's remit after Chobani reset its strategy.
"Our business has evolved and grown so much in the last four years. In a lot of ways, it feels like a very different business to where it was when I first started," he said.
The company previously had a strategy and corporate affairs function. "We got to a point of clarity around what our strategy looked like and what our priorities were for the next few years and decided to make a bit of a shift there," Eaton said.
"To be honest, that's just worked beautifully, particularly with communications and thinking about how that plays out through building culture and engagement in the business."
The pairing has proved valuable in 2026 as Chobani expands its site.
"We've leaned very, very heavily into communications and change communications to really help people understand what we're doing and make sense of all the things that are happening and give them all the information that they need for that to be a positive and engaging experience, not something that they're bumping into every day," he said.
Keeping the HR function agile
Eaton said HR must be shaped by the business's needs rather than by convention.
"We've got to be front and centre with our strategy and what the business's priorities are and what it needs right now, as well as what it needs in the future," he said. "You need to be agile. You need to evolve your function and your remit in line with what the business needs."
He attributes the broadening of HR at Chobani to growth, not technology. "I don't think it's necessarily a function of AI, and we're not certainly seeing that play out in our business yet," he said.
"We're fortunate to be in a category which is really growing, a product that is fantastic and really resonates with consumers."
That growth places the people and culture (P&C) team at the centre of transformation. "What do people need to be able to navigate and not only just cope with that change but thrive through change?" he asked.
How Chobani is approaching AI in HR
Eaton named artificial intelligence (AI) as the trend most likely to reshape the profession. At Chobani, adoption is shared between P&C, IT and a recently established data and analytics function.
"A lot of our focus has been putting the right kind of guidelines in place and guardrails around AI usage, giving people the tools, setting up the tools and providing some education and guidance and support and training around how those tools can be used," he said.
Staff are then encouraged to experiment within their own roles. "The pace of work just continues to get faster and faster and everyone needs to do more with less," Eaton said.
He was clear about the limits. "Many of the most important capabilities, I think, remain deeply human around judgement and experience and problem solving and knowing when something isn't right," he said.
"AI can support us to be more effective and support a process, but it can't really replace trust or context or a genuine understanding of the employee experience, particularly for HR."
His view aligns with Jobs and Skills Australia's August 2025 report, Our Gen AI Transition, which found generative AI is more likely to augment jobs than replace them. It also echoes PwC Australia's chief people officer on upskilling rather than fearing AI.
What a broader HR remit means for early-career professionals
For those entering HR, Eaton sees the wider remit as a draw rather than a hurdle.
"I think it's an opportunity more than it is a challenge, to be honest," he said. "We really look for people who have that curiosity and that energy and agility to be able to apply their skills in a whole lot of different areas."
Newer team members at Chobani are given exposure to as much of the function's work as possible.
"I see that as really energising for them and it opens up, I think, more development and career opportunities for them relative to what they might get in more traditional HR structures or environments," he said.
