Why HR deserves a seat at the top table

Liz Jewitt-Cross argues that Human Resources must be a true commercial partner to be effective. As the founder and managing director of Future HR, she brings decades of experience working with major retailers to discuss why the function needs a seat at the top table.

Jewitt-Cross did not initially plan for a career in retail. She describes it as a “family indoctrination” that started with Saturday morning store visits rather than lie-ins. Her late father spent 33 years at Marks & Spencer, eventually moving from store leadership to head office to help shape the food business strategy. Even in retirement, he remained connected to the company, running part of their retired employee network and continuing informal inspections.

This background gave her a specific view of the industry. She saw the “energy, pride, quality, service and obsessive attention to detail” that made the sector work. She started with Saturday jobs in fashion and at M&S Harrow before moving into banking and eventually returning to retail to build her career. She believes HR is the closest role to the CEO without being the CEO. It touches every part of how a business operates, from culture to capability and customer experience.

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Changing the mindset of HR leaders

Throughout her career, she noticed that HR was often viewed as transactional rather than strategic. At the start of her board and C-suite career, fewer than 5% of UK board roles were held by women, and even fewer than 2% of HR leaders had a seat at that level. She became involved in curriculum development with the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development to shift thinking toward more commercially focused leadership.

Her approach focuses on asking difficult questions about strategy and alignment. She asks if the strategy is clear to everyone, if leaders are aligned, and if the organization has the capability for tomorrow, not just today. This lens led her into broader transformation roles across systems, supply chain, and customer experience, always keeping people and leadership effectiveness at the core.

She frequently uses the analogy of a car engine to describe how organizations operate. When everything is connected, it runs smoothly. When it isn’t, it splutters or stalls. Organizations need clarity, cohesion, connection and adaptability. If one of these is missing, performance suffers. Leadership cohesion and organization design have become central to how change is delivered.

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She recalls a specific moment where a leader told her she was different because she asked about the business commercially instead of immediately telling him why his idea would not work. In another instance, she helped steer a change program away from expensive legal advice that threatened to undermine the project by finding a better, less disruptive solution. She believes that if HR does not understand the business and operate beyond policy, the people strategy will not be fit for purpose.

Why HR needs to be at the top table

The CEO–HR partnership is critical for growth and performance. Jewitt-Cross says the most significant shifts in business occur when HR is at the top table as an equal partner and co-creator of strategy. She notes that during major transformations and mergers, having a commercial partner in the room makes a difference.

In growth and turnaround situations, challenges often arise from clarity and alignment rather than effort. She identifies competing priorities, unaligned leadership teams, organizational overload, and ineffective organization design as common culprits. The layer just below the executive team is often overlooked. If that group is not aligned with the mission, performance suffers. When these areas are addressed, the impact can be transformational.

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For businesses looking to support their ambitions, she suggests that organizations need to look at their structure and how people work together. HR must continue to evolve by building commercial acumen and adopting technology. Chief people officers are increasingly viewed as some of the most influential roles in an organization, a trend that will likely continue.

Looking ahead

Jewitt-Cross believes the industry is at a real inflection point. Technology has become a performance engine, and people experience is a commercial lever. She remains involved with the People in Retail Awards, which she says shine a light on the people behind the performance. She is also a returning judge for the awards and a contributor to The Retail Bulletin HR programmes.

She notes that people are the difference between success and failure. Everything else can be replicated, but leadership, culture and teams cannot. Looking at her own work, she emphasizes that getting people right is the only way to accelerate performance. She will be attending the Retail HR Central event in Birmingham on May 14 and will be celebrating the People in Retail Awards.