What's behind the churn in CHROs?

CHROs are cycling through organizations faster than other C-suite leaders, according to recent reports. 

New CHRO appointments in 2025 were up 25 per cent from the previous year, and the average tenure of outgoing CHROs hovered around five years, according to a report by Russell Reynolds Associates. Another report from earlier in 2025 by international recruiting firm Antal found that resignations of global CHROs in the first quarter of that year were 32 per cent above the six-year average and average tenure was just over four years, a drop from the six-year average of just over six years. 

At the same time, Canadian research by IWG finds that nearly nine in 10 CHROs say their influence is at an all-time high.  

Michelle Dulmadge, Executive Vice President of HR at Sureus-Murphy Joint Venture in Calgary, says those trends are linked because the CHRO role has outgrown traditional expectations.

“It's moved from primarily leading HR functions to shaping how an organization adapts and transforms,” says Dulmadge. “Today's CHROs are expected to connect the business strategy with workforce capability and capacity, and then ensure that they're leading these transformation efforts and advising CEOs and boards on culture, leadership, organizational design, and those kinds of things.” 

From transactional decisions to executive thinking 

When boards still see HR as mainly operational or compliance-focused, that expanded reality can be hard to reconcile, according to Dulmadge. In such circumstances, CHROs are recruited as transformation partners yet find themselves constrained to transactional decisions, and in that gap between mandate and authority, many may decide their best option is to move on, she says. 

Elena Martinella, Chief People Officer at global professional services firm Hatch, believes that the CHRO role is being transformed and elevated. “The CHRO needs to transform into serious executive thinking and leadership — with all of the challenges facing us when you think about the world, geopolitical tensions, the evolution of technology, and the talent shortage, the CHRO has to start thinking truly globally,” she says. 

Martinella believes that since the pandemic, the role has been under a brighter spotlight as CHROs partner closely with CEOs to steer organizations through disruption. At the same time, she sees powerful pull factors drawing CHROs into new seats.

“There’s lots of opportunity out there for people who truly want to step into this role,” she says. “And I think it's going to continue to be elevated as CHROs have to constantly be the models of upskilling and developing [themselves] to keep up with the constant change in this world.” 

Understanding the CHRO role y

The global numbers point to another factor: churn is being fuelled by an influx of newcomers. The Russell Reynolds data show more than half of global CHRO appointments are first-timers, suggesting both opportunity and risk, according to Dulmadge.  

“We are seeing a lot of first-time appointments and we're also seeing more CHRO roles,” she says. “A lot of times, it's somewhat undefined — there’s an understanding of the need for this role, but maybe not a well-thought-out strategy for integrating it, empowering it, and ensuring that it's successful, or maybe they've moved somebody into the role internally but too quickly, so it takes a little bit of time and experience to transition into that strategic C-suite role.” 

When the lived experience diverges from the recruitment pitch, HR leaders may act, whether they’re relatively new or more experienced. “Sometimes you'll see leaders move into an organization and very quickly move out and you go, ‘I wonder what happened there,’” says Dulmadge. “But sometimes when you get there, the reality of the culture and the experience is very different than what was communicated.” 

Strategic alignment 

Dulmadge also believes that the CHRO role now carries higher expectations and greater visibility — and CHRO tenure is often tied to CEO transitions. 

“Experienced HR leaders with transformation experience are in high demand, and what tends to keep a CHRO in their role is when they have a genuine strategic partnership with the CEO and a clear mandate to shape the organization's future, not just manage HR operations,” she says. “The modern CHRO sits at that intersection of strategy, leadership, and culture, so when that role is truly empowered, it becomes one of the most important drivers of organizational performance.” 

If there's a change in an organization’s leadership, the mandate changes, as does the CHRO’s role, so some of the turnover is organic as boards make decisions to change the direction of an organization, adds Dulmadge. 

Dulmadge says she’s seen leaders leave because of strategic misalignment with organizational leadership and they know they no longer can add a high level of value to the organization within their role, so they move on and find success elsewhere. 

“Sometimes it's that awareness of where can I affect the change and am I still aligned with the other senior leaders at this table where we can deliver?” she says. “I think if I ever felt the organization's values shifted and no longer aligned with mine, if I no longer authentically felt that I could, to the best of my ability, ensure the protection, growth, and development of our employees, I would leave.” 

Martinella agrees that a big reason why a CHRO would choose to leave is that they're not valued.

“It comes back to, if you're not truly valued as a partner and your voice isn't heard at the table, there's lots of opportunity out there and there's lots of organizations that see the need to do more around this whole talent development and talent shortage space,” she says. “They're going to go to an organization that appreciates that — rarely people leave because of money, people actually leave because they don't feel valued and they don't feel validated by what they're doing.” 

The invisible demands that push leaders out 

Strategic misalignment is only part of why CHROs leave. The emotional and psychological demasnds of the job can push even seasoned executives to step away, sometimes with no immediate role lined up, according to Dulmadge. 

“I have a number of peers who have voluntarily and willingly left organizations and gone not to another job, but have taken a break,” she says. “From an HR professional standpoint, the expectations placed on the Chief People Officer, or the most senior HR leader, are significant in terms of managing people, and we're dealing with not just how we deliver the business, with people who become critically ill, or workplace injuries, or mental health issues. 

Dulmadge also sees burnout happening in HR leader colleagues who have to run a tight ship while working with limited resources. “HR is viewed as a shared service or overhead; it's not necessarily generating the revenue, so it’s often run lean and you need to be strategic and agile,” she says. “And the thing is, at a senior leadership level, HR can be incredibly lonely — sometimes you can't share what you're going through at work because what you're dealing with is incredibly confidential, so when you get to that most senior level, sometimes the support isn't there.” 

If boards and CEOs want longer, more productive CHRO tenures, governance and support have to catch up with the mandate. The IWG survey found that not only nine in 10 Canadian CHROs believe their influence in the workplace is at an all-time high, but also nearly as many are working more closely with their company’s C-suite than ever before. For CHROs, that requires operating more like CFOs in how they present options and trade-offs to organizational leadership, says Martinella. “I think that the CHRO has to have a seat at the board table and be a partner and part of the decision-making on how to drive the organization,” she says. 

For Dulmadge, transformation is happening quickly, so CHROs have to educate themselves for long-term success in their role. “The pace of change is speeding up and it can be a challenge to stay on top of it,” she says. “It's going to be even more important to ensure that we're leveraging our workforce significantly differently, and the CHRO is going to be critical in delivering that.”