Monday, July 20, 2026

HR has a credibility problem—and it starts with not speaking the language of finance

HR has to speak the CFO's language to earn a seat at the table.

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Good morning!

For years, HR has cycled through titular rebrands, from employee experience to people operations or people and culture. But beyond the shifting name changes, little has fundamentally changed in how the department functions, argues Jessie Zwaan, who leads people strategy and operations at HR software platform Leapsome.

The change she is calling for is financial. HR leaders, Zwaan says, need to operate more like CFOs. Many cannot immediately cite their company’s EBITDA, and for Zwaan, that illustrates a gap in how closely HR is connected to key financial metrics.

“HR has been judged on the amount of tasks you can tick off, the amount of processes you can run, the amount of compliance you can achieve,” she says, “and less about the increase in ARR per head you can achieve.”

That mismatch shows up in the boardroom. A CRO typically walks in with projections that tie every dollar requested to an expected return. By contrast, HR leaders often present investments in the employee experience without a clear link to revenue. In fact, 31% of surveyed HR leaders cite conflict between people and financial goals as a top obstacle, a recent study from HR and payroll platform HiBob found.

The fix, Zwaan argues, is to start speaking the language of the P&L. Just as marketing and sales teams calculate customer lifetime value—the total revenue a business expects from a single customer over their entire relationship—she suggests that CHROs measure “employee lifetime value,” factoring in salary, the revenue an employee supports, and the ongoing cost to retain them.

In this way, HR teams can map specific investments to business outcomes.

That does not mean bringing back the beanbags and snack walls of the 2010s perks era, Zwaan cautions. Instead, Zwaan points to targeted spending, like remote-first Dropbox’s investments in in-person offsites over office perks.

Kristin Stoller
Editorial Director, Fortune Live Media
kristin.stoller@fortune.com

Fortune Office Hours

This week, Jon Caldwell, chief people officer of Valvoline, a retail automotive company, answers your burning workplace questions. Responses have been edited for length and clarity.

Q: A coworker who joined around the same time I did has been slacking since day one. Multiple colleagues struggle to work with her and aren't sure what she does. She's always “too busy” to pull her weight, but no one knows with what.

Recently, she was supposed to lead a training but claimed she lacked the expertise. A colleague took over and invited her to join and learn. She declined and never showed.

The next day, a LinkedIn post showed her on a panel hosted at that exact time. The organization called her "one of our own," and its website lists her as staff, suggesting she may have a second job she has not disclosed. Her manager shoots down any criticism, so I've stayed quiet. But it feels unfair to everyone pulling their weight while she's two-timing. What should I do?

A: Here's how I'd think about it: At Valvoline Instant Oil Change, we've built our culture on the idea that we're a team, what we call our "Vamily," where people look out for each other and genuinely rely on one another to get the job done. That only works if everyone's actually in it. When one person consistently isn't, it doesn't just create extra work, it erodes the trust that is foundational to an effective team. That's worth naming, even quietly to yourself, so you don't start to doubt your own read on the situation.

Document what you're seeing. Not to build a case, but because specifics travel better than frustration. "She missed a training she was scheduled to lead, and a colleague had to cover with no notice" lands differently than "she's not pulling her weight." Examples where you, personally, have been impacted are most relevant. Your LinkedIn discovery is particularly concerning.

Then go back to her (or your) manager but frame it around team impact rather than her behavior or your personal feelings. Managers who brush off character complaints will often still respond to "here's what this is costing the organization and the people around her." Acknowledge that you may not have the full story, but what you are experiencing is questionable.

I'd also gently push back on the idea that staying quiet is the only option because leadership hasn't acted. Raising this, calmly and with facts, is part of protecting your organization’s culture.

Lastly, don't let this cost you your own wellbeing. At our company, one of our values is a people-first focus because we've seen what happens when people feel supported and know they belong—they do their best work and they stay. Feeling like your effort doesn't matter is exactly the kind of thing that burns good people out. Protect your energy. Keep being someone others can rely on. That's what actually gets rewarded over time, even if not initially recognized.

Have a workplace situation that you're unsure how to navigate or a scenario worth unpacking? Send it our way via this form.