Talent Edge Weekly - Issue #294 - Best of April 2025

Here are the most popular articles and resources from the April issues of Talent Edge Weekly. An abridged version is also available.

Author

Brian Heger
April 30, 2025

SPONSORED BY

Welcome to this special Best of April issue of Talent Edge Weekly!

A shout-out to Holly Lavallee, HR Leader at Johnson & Johnson, for referring new subscribers to Talent Edge Weekly. Thank you, Holly, for your support of this newsletter!

Not subscribed to Talent Edge Weekly? Subscribe here for free!  

PRESENTED BY Draup

Skills-based talent practices are gaining momentum—for good reason. They fuel everything from workforce planning and talent acquisition to internal mobility.

But scaling these practices takes more than intent. It requires a robust skills architecture that deconstructs jobs to root skills, core skills, and tech stacks. That’s where Draup’s AI-powered Skills Architecture helps.

Built on insights from 850M+ job descriptions and 17,500+ curated skills, Draup’s skill-based architecture helps organizations:

  • Identify workforce capability gaps

  • Forecast future skills

  • Enable precision talent planning

Ready to unlock the full potential of your skills-based talent practices—at scale? Download Draup’s Skills Architecture report to learn how.

Reach 50,000+ Talent Edge Weekly subscribers. Become a sponsor.

THIS MONTH’S CONTENT

This special Best of April issue includes 15 of the most popular resources from the April issues of Talent Edge Weekly.

The resources are organized into three sections:  

  1. AI and Organizational Capacity. Focuses on how organizations can optimize workforce productivity through AI integration, resource redeployment, and elimination of low-value work and ineffective workplace practices.

  2. Talent Practices and Tools. Covers talent reviews, succession planning, critical roles, leadership assessment, performance management, skills-based practices, frontline talent development, and recruiting former employees.

  3. Chief HR Officers. Addresses the evolving role of Chief HR Officers, shares nine recent promotions and hires in the CHRO role, and discusses how HR leaders can take a more strategic approach to HR tech.

This issue has many bonus resources beyond the 15 featured resources!

You can also view an abridged version, which just includes links.

Want to explore talent management practices in-depth with me and other internal HR practitioners? Learn about my new Talent Edge Circle community! Already a member? Login here

⬇️ Ready for my deep dive? Let’s jump in!  

THIS MONTH’S EDGE

I. AI and Organizational Capacity

Focuses on how organizations can optimize workforce productivity through AI integration, resource redeployment, and elimination of low-value work and ineffective workplace practices.

ORGANIZATIONAL CAPACITY

Addresses how organizations can unlock workforce capacity by eliminating low-value work and ineffective work practices.

One objective of workforce planning is ensuring an organization has the workforce capacity to execute its critical goals and priorities. While adding headcount is one way to increase capacity, a frequently overlooked alternative is improving how work gets done. Excessive meetings, low-value tasks, and outdated processes are just a few examples of work practices that quietly erode capacity. This new Deloitte Insights article highlights this challenge, noting that 41% of workers spend time on tasks that don’t add value—often prioritizing “visible” work over valuable work. This aligns with Mercer’s 2024 Global Talent Trends report, which identified “too much busy work” as the top factor draining productivity. From my perspective, while a single unproductive meeting or inefficient process may seem minor, these issues compound over time and drain resources. For example, AT&T saved 3.6 million hours and over $230 million in three years by eliminating inefficient work practices and processes. Chances are, there are untapped opportunities within your team and organization to unlock capacity. To begin, ask: Which tasks should we stop because they add little value to our priorities? And how are our current ways of working—such as excessive decision-making meetings—hindering workforce capacity? Increasing capacity doesn’t always require more people—it often starts by being more intentional about how work gets done. As a bonus, here is my one-page worksheet to identify opportunities to improve ways of working.

RESOURCE ALLOCATION

My one-page worksheet to help managers and leaders identify opportunities to redeploy resources—talent and financial— to high-priority areas.

Now that we are at the end of April 2025 and one-third of the year is complete, leaders have a timely opportunity to reassess, realign, and make thoughtful adjustments to stay on track with annual objectives. One practical way to support this effort is to ensure that resources—both financial and human—are allocated effectively to the most critical areas. My one-page worksheet assists managers and leaders in evaluating key factors for resource deployment by enabling them to 1) list ongoing projects or initiatives, 2) prioritize these based on stakeholder value and alignment with objectives, 3) indicate project status (e.g., on track, behind, ahead, completed, on hold), 4) note the percentage of the project’s budget already used (e.g., $25,000 of a $100,000 budget represents 25% utilization), and 5) track talent utilization for each project (e.g., if 3 of 4 team members allocated to the project are actively working on it, this equates to 75% utilization). With this information, leaders can make informed decisions to shift resources and optimize performance as the year continues. While this worksheet isn’t sophisticated, it can spark meaningful conversations that drive decisions with a tangible impact on performance results.

AI AND WORKFORCE PLANNING

Highlights how AI is reshaping organizational structures and why rethinking human-AI agent collaboration is critical for workforce planning.

Organizations have historically boosted workforce capacity by hiring more people. However, AI now offers additional paths: unlocking workforce capacity by automating tasks, reducing low-value work, and expanding human impact. As noted in this new report, AI will not only unlock workforce capacity—it will fundamentally reshape how work is structured and how organizations operate, with major implications for organizational design and workforce planning. The report highlights how Frontier Firms—organizations that rapidly integrate hybrid human and AI agent teams—are organizing their structures dynamically around outcomes rather than rigid functions, such as finance, marketing, and engineering. Stated differently, traditional organizational charts are giving way to dynamic “Work Charts”—fluid team structures where expertise is accessed on demand and teams assemble quickly around specific goals. This shift challenges organizations to rethink not just workflows but entire workforce and talent strategies, including workforce planning. Leaders must ask: How many AI agents are needed for each role and task? How many humans are needed to guide and oversee them? Managing the optimal human-AI agent ratio, redesigning roles, and preparing employees to lead and collaborate with AI colleagues will be essential. The report also discusses the three phases of becoming a Frontier Firm.

AI AND WORKFORCE

Addresses the opportunity for organizations to scale AI agents as digital collaborators within their teams. I share a bonus resource from McKinsey on AI agents.

AI agents—autonomous tools that can analyze data, generate content, and support decision-making—continue to evolve and reshape how work gets done across organizations. These agents act as collaborative partners with human employees, becoming an extension of the workforce. As this new article points out, rather than simply adding more people to drive results, leaders now have the opportunity to scale intelligence by integrating these digital collaborators into their teams. While AI agents have many implications on aspects of talent management, one relates to workforce planning and how organizations must determine the optimal "human-to-agent ratio" for different contexts to maximize productivity without overwhelming employees. This requires multiple considerations, including identifying where agents can add value, designing workflows where AI agents handle repetitive tasks, redefining roles, updating job descriptions, and preparing employees for these changes through reskilling initiatives, to name a few. What implications will AI agents have on how you conduct workforce planning and other talent practices in your organization? As a bonus, I am including a new article from McKinsey, which provides an extensive overview of AI agents.

Want to explore talent management practices in-depth with me and other internal HR practitioners? Learn about my new Talent Edge Circle community! Already a member? Login here

II. Talent Practices and Tools

Covers talent reviews, succession planning, critical roles, leadership assessment, performance management, skills-based practices, frontline talent development, and recruiting former employees.

TALENT REVIEWS

My one-page cheat sheet with eight example questions that can guide talent review discussions and outcomes.

Most organizations conduct talent reviews to identify and develop employees with the potential to advance into larger, more complex roles. While tools and technology often take center stage, it’s equally important to step back and align on the key questions the review should answer. The right questions guide discussions toward the areas and outcomes that matter most. My cheat sheet includes eight example questions, each paired with a brief explanation of its importance. For example: Strategic Alignment—What are our organization’s key priorities for the next 18-36 months? Purpose: Grounds the review in strategic goals and identifies where leadership and skills are most needed. Developmental Focus—What is the most critical developmental action for each HiPo and successor to accelerate their readiness for more complex roles/work? Purpose: Forces decision-makers to prioritize the most impactful actions over less effective ones. Accountability—Who is responsible (non-HR) for ensuring each action identified during the review is executed effectively? Purpose: Ensures clear accountability so actions are executed and progress is tracked. This cheat sheet can help you craft your own questions tailored to your organization’s needs. Once you determine the questions, you can structure your agenda and facilitate discussions to ensure actionable outcomes.

SUCCESSION PLANNING

Shares five example questions illustrating how organizations can use a continuum of responses to align on key aspects of succession planning.

Succession planning (SP) remains a priority for organizations looking to enhance and redesign their SP practices for greater impact. However, before redesigning SP, aligning stakeholders on key aspects of the organization’s SP philosophy is important. In my cheat sheet of 11 example SP questions, I emphasized the need for clarity on core SP issues. My new one-page slide builds on five of these questions by showing how responses often fall along a continuum to support more focused discussion and alignment. For each, I include three points on the continuum to guide conversation. For example: “What is our philosophy on informing someone they’ve been identified as a successor?” Responses range from limited transparency (successors not explicitly informed of their status), to partial disclosure (general development focus communicated without specific role promises), to full transparency (targeted roles disclosed). This slide is an excerpt from a broader slide deck developed within my new Talent Edge Circle community for internal HR practitioners. The larger slide deck covers additional talent practices, from performance management to internal mobility.

CRITICAL ROLES

Summarizes how firms identify and manage critical roles, highlighting opportunities for improving these practices to achieve greater impact.

Identifying and planning for critical roles remains fundamental to effective talent management. As I've written previously, organizations often stumble into pitfalls when determining role criticality, such as the hierarchical trap of assuming higher-level jobs are automatically more critical, the recruitment fallacy of assuming hard-to-fill positions are critical, and the incumbent bias of basing criticality on the person rather than the position’s strategic value. This new report provides survey insights on how organizations identify and manage critical roles. The good news is that 86% of responding companies identify critical roles, with most using valid criteria; however, only 57% say they place high-potential or high-performing employees in critical roles—a missed opportunity, considering these employee segments can have a disproportionate impact in value-creating positions. Additionally, only half report having "ready now" successors, and just 25% have a development plan for the incumbent. These data points reinforce that unless critical role identification is followed by deliberate talent actions, the entire exercise becomes a wasted effort and a missed opportunity to maximize organizational value. With this in mind, here’s one quick action: identify the percentage of critical roles filled by high-potential and high-performing individuals, and if gaps exist, address them at your next talent review. The actions you take could be the difference maker in business performance in 2025 and beyond.

LEADERSHIP ASSESSMENTS

Allan H. Church and his colleagues explore how organizations can thoughtfully integrate AI into leadership assessment, selection, and development without losing sight of the science.

As HR practitioners, we're excited about AI's transformative potential across talent management practices. However, as Allan H. Church, James Scrivani, Gina A. Seaton, and Janine Waclawski thoughtfully note in their new article, when using AI-based tools for leadership assessment and selection, it's essential to look beyond technological novelty and focus on how these tools enhance decision-making validity. One key insight is the importance of prioritizing what assessment tools measure—not just the "bright and shiny" appeal of new technology. This means focusing on underlying measurement models, using multiple methods for a holistic view, and verifying actual capabilities rather than relying on marketing claims. Validity should never be sacrificed for simplicity or a sleek user experience; assessment tools must accurately predict leadership performance within an organization’s specific context. The authors especially caution practitioners to be wary of vendors unwilling to explain the "black box" algorithms behind their tools, as these decisions directly impact people's careers and carry significant legal and ethical implications. While AI offers powerful opportunities—particularly in automating development follow-through, long seen as assessment's "Achilles' heel"—it should augment, not replace, human expertise.

PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT

Highlights how some organizations have made progress in improving performance management by focusing on culture, technology, leadership, and workplace design.

Many continue to view traditional performance management (PM) processes as ineffective. However, this Deloitte Insights article highlights how some organizations have made meaningful progress by improving PM through culture, technology, leadership, and workplace design. The authors argue that if continually reinventing the PM process doesn’t address the core issues around performance management, organizations may need to move beyond process to a broader set of factors. For example, Deloitte research shows that organizations with stronger business and organizational outcomes define their PM strategy around purpose and mindset, rather than processes and models. Since PM can serve various purposes—including development—organizations should clarify which intents they want their PM to pursue and let go of the rest. One recommendation provided by the authors is to decouple developmental conversations from formal PM assessments and embed them into the regular flow of work. The article features examples from companies such as Rolls-Royce, Roche, and McLaren Racing to illustrate how performance management can be enhanced.

SKILLS & TALENT ACQUISITION

Shares how verifiable credentials wallets help workers communicate the totality of their skills and abilities and translate their achievements into future opportunities.

The 47-page report explores the transformative potential of digital wallets that store verifiable credentials in reshaping education, workforce development, and hiring. These wallets empower individuals to manage their professional identities, communicate skills more comprehensively, and access new career opportunities. By enabling job seekers to present a fuller, verified picture of their abilities, verifiable credentials wallets help employers identify candidates based on relevant skills—not just traditional qualifications. These wallets store digital records of skills and achievements, ensuring they are interoperable, portable, and verifiable, and support lifelong learning by allowing users to collect credentials from multiple sources and receive career pathway recommendations. As these tools become critical infrastructure for a skills-based talent marketplace, employers can begin reviewing their processes and technologies—such as job descriptions, applicant tracking systems, and skill-taxonomy alignment—to request, receive, and interpret verifiable skills data. This shift has implications for how organizations attract, evaluate, and grow talent.

TALENT MANAGEMENT

Highlights how leading companies are investing in frontline workers through innovative talent practices that drive measurable outcomes.

Staying informed about how organizations implement talent and workplace practices is essential for improving our own approaches and learning from their success. A recent McKinsey article highlights the critical role of investing in frontline workers to drive productivity and business performance. The research identifies 56 companies outperforming their peers in labor productivity and total shareholder return (TSR), showcasing innovative talent strategies. For example, Chipotle deployed its Autocado robot to automate avocado peeling, reducing manual labor and allowing employees to focus on quality and customer experience. Disney Parks and Resorts equipped supervisors with mobile tools to engage directly with frontline workers and solve problems in real time, enhancing guest experience and employee engagement. Land O’Lakes redesigned its 12-hour shifts into shorter, flexible roles, doubling applicant interest and improving rural retention. Unilever introduced financial incentives tied to production and morale targets, resulting in a 50% drop in absenteeism, a 10% rise in productivity, and a 20% increase in revenue. These examples show how strategic talent investments can transform workforce management and deliver measurable outcomes. As a bonus, I’m resharing my one-pager featuring five organizations implementing talent practices—from AI in HR to internal talent marketplaces. What talent practices are you currently investing in, and do you know the results they’re driving for your organization?

TALENT ACQUISITION

I share why recruiting former employees can help organizations meet their talent needs. Includes my template to support this effort.

As organizations continue to explore untapped talent pools to increase their talent depth, one group often overlooked is former employees—commonly referred to as “boomerang employees.” These individuals bring the dual benefit of organizational knowledge and a fresh perspective gained during their time away. A study published in the Academy of Management Journal found that, upon being rehired, former employees tend to outperform new hires—especially in roles requiring strong relational skills and internal coordination. And while not all former employees are ideal candidates for rehire, many were high performers when they left and now bring added value. In some cases, these individuals may have exited the organization through no fault of their own—such as during a layoff or company-wide restructuring—yet still hold interest in returning. As the desire to return often intersects with evolving personal priorities and organizational needs, cultivating relationships with alumni talent can make their path back more seamless. While it’s optimal to have technology that helps track and support outreach to this group, I’m sharing my one-page editable template to help managers and recruiting teams start thinking through which former employees their organization may want to re-recruit. Sometimes, the talent you’re looking for is talent you’ve already had.

Want to explore talent management practices in-depth with me and other internal HR practitioners? Learn about my new Talent Edge Circle community! Already a member? Login here

III. Chief HR Officers

Addresses the evolving role of Chief HR Officers, shares nine recent promotions and hires in the CHRO role, and discusses how HR leaders can take a more strategic approach to HR tech.

CHIEF HR OFFICERS

Addresses how the CHRO role is expanding in scope and complexity, requiring mastery in analytics, regulatory expertise, and business management.

The Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) role continues to undergo profound transformation. A new Deloitte analysis—based on 748 CHRO job postings and interviews with CHROs across 20 industries—found that the number of unique skills CHROs are expected to bring has increased by 23% over the past five years—the highest among C-suite roles. More specifically, the CHRO role demands mastery in three pivotal areas: analytical capabilities (with demand for policy analysis skills surging 60%), regulatory expertise (with labor compliance skills soaring 90%), and business management (now required in 64% of job postings). Beyond these technical areas, CHROs must balance competing stakeholder needs, invest in workers’ long-term well-being and development, and connect workforce initiatives to broader business success. Former Johnson & Johnson CHRO Peter Fasolo captures this evolution well: "If you're a profit and loss leader or a CEO, you're thinking about growth, innovation, and capabilities needed to deliver shareholder expectations—and a CHRO needs to think along those same lines." Fasolo also emphasizes that CHROs should focus on delivering value based on what stakeholders—employees, investors, customers, and communities—actually need and expect, rather than how HR traditionally defines success internally. With that in mind, I’m resharing a recent article by Dave Ulrich, where he outlines six key actions to help HR leaders and their teams shift from activities to outcomes that deliver stakeholder value.

CHIEF HR MOVEMENT

My PDF highlights 9 Chief HR Officers appointed to a new CHRO role between March and April 2025.

The Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) role continues to grow in importance across many organizations. According to LinkedIn’s September 2024 Economic Graph report, State of the C-Suite and Executive Report, CHRO is now among the top three fastest-growing C-suite roles, following Chief Data Officer and Chief Legal Officer. Reflecting this trend, we’ve seen numerous notable hires and promotions into the CHRO position across various companies. Over the past 60 days alone, I’ve tracked hundreds of CHRO appointments on CHROs on the Go, my subscription-based platform offering insights into CHRO hires, promotions, and resignations. To provide an overview of recent moves, this PDF includes summaries of nine CHROs hired or promoted between March and April at companies including The Allstate Corp., Caterpillar Inc., Constellation Brands, Fluor Corporation, Microsoft Corporation, Hewlett-Packard Enterprise, Lionsgate, QVC Group, and Spotify. Each summary features a link to the CHRO’s LinkedIn profile. Congratulations to all nine Chief HR Officers on their appointments, as well as to the many others who have been recently appointed.

HR TECH

Highlights the need for CHROs to take a strategic, capability-led approach to HR tech that earns stakeholder buy-in and drives transformation.

HR technology remains a growing area of focus for Chief HR Officers and their teams as they look to unlock its potential in delivering strategic outcomes, enhancing employee experiences, and enabling new ways of working. However, as this Gartner article highlights, only 24% of HR functions report getting full business value from their technology investments. Interestingly, this gap isn’t tied to how advanced the tools are, as half of the high-performing HR teams are using basic tech. The real differentiator is how the technology is applied. With 79% of HR leaders viewing tech primarily as a way to free up capacity, many strategies stay rooted in efficiency gains, creating a cycle where foundational investments are continually reinforced—at the expense of more transformative initiatives. To shift this dynamic, the authors recommend adopting an “augmented HR” mindset that focuses on how technology enables new, high-value contributions. A key strategy is to use technology roadmaps not just for sequencing investments, but as tools to engage stakeholders actively. By organizing roadmaps into “building blocks” tied to critical business capabilities, HR can make tech transformation more actionable and aligned. Figure 4 shows an example from Takeda and how it successfully applied this approach to foster leadership support, prioritize capabilities, and build momentum through smaller, confidence-building wins. Other ideas are discussed.

Want to explore talent management practices in-depth with me and other internal HR practitioners? Learn about my new Talent Edge Circle community! Already a member? Login here

JOB CUTS AND LAYOFF TRACKER

Here is my tracker, which includes announcements from a segment of organizations that have announced job cuts and layoffs since the start of 2023.

Partial view of tracker

A few firms that announced job cuts in April include:

  • ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP). The oil and gas company disclosed plans to reduce its workforce as part of a broader initiative to cut costs and streamline operations following its $23 billion acquisition of Marathon Oil. The company has yet to determine the extent of the staff reductions.

  • Google (NASDAQ: GOOG). The company has laid off hundreds of employees from its Platforms and Devices division, which employs over 25,000 people, houses its Pixel phones and smartwatches, Nest devices, the Android and ChromeOS platforms, and Chrome browser.

  • Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT). The tech giant plans to lay off employees mainly from the middle managerial and non-technical roles. The layoffs are likely to occur in May and are intended to streamline organizational structure and enhance the ratio of engineers within project teams.

  • HP Inc. (NYSE: HPQ). The personal computer and printing company announced plans to cut up to 2,000 jobs as part of its restructuring strategy that includes investments in artificial intelligence.

  • Intel Corp (NASDAQ: INTC). The semiconductor company is reportedly planning to cut over 21,000 jobs—about 20% of its workforce—to streamline management and rebuild an engineering-driven culture.

CHIEF HR OFFICER MOVEMENT

67 Chief HR Officers were hired, promoted, and/or resigned in April. A few headlines include:

  • Caterpillar Inc. (IRVING, TEXAS) [NYSE: CAT]—the world's leading manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, off-highway diesel and natural gas engines, industrial gas turbines and diesel-electric locomotives—announced that Christy Pambianchi has been appointed Chief Human Resources Officer effective May 1. Pambianchi, who will be a member of Caterpillar's Executive Office, succeeds Cheryl H. Johnson, whose retirement was announced in January. Pambianchi currently serves as Chief People Officer at Intel.

  • Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HOUSTON, TEXAS) [NYSE: HPE]—a global technology leader focused on developing intelligent solutions—announced that Stacy Dillow has been named EVP and Chief People Officer, effective May 1, 2025, reporting to CEO Antonio Neri. Dillow joins HPE from Fluor Corporation (NYSE: FLR), where she served as EVP and Chief Human Resources Officer for more than five years. Dan Domenech, who has been serving as HPE's interim Chief People Officer, will remain in his role as Chief Talent Officer. 

  • Hyatt Hotels Corporation (CHICAGO, ILLINOIS) [NYSE: H]— a leading global hospitality company—announced that Malaika Myers will retire as Chief Human Resources Officer at the end of May 2025 after seven distinguished years with the company. Kristin Oliver will succeed Myers as the new Chief Human Resources Officer, effective May 12, 2025. Oliver joins Hyatt from HanesBrands, where she most recently served as Chief Legal Officer, Chief Human Resources Officer, and EVP of Communication during her nearly five years of tenure with the organization.​

Never miss another CHRO announcement. Subscribe to my CHROs on the Go subscription and gain immediate access to +4000 (and growing) CHRO announcements, including hires, promotions, resignations, and board appointments.

If you are already a subscriber to CHROs on the Go, log in here.

I look forward to sharing more resources with you throughout May.

Have a great month ahead, and I’ll see you in next week’s issue!

Want to explore talent management practices in-depth with me and other internal HR practitioners? Learn about my new Talent Edge Circle community! Already a member? Login here

Talent Edge Weekly is written by Brian Heger, a human resources practitioner. You can connect with Brian on Linkedin and brianheger.com.