The people agenda

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The pressure on your people agenda is coming from all sides.

You’re balancing workforce expectations, rapid advances in technology, cost pressure, increasing scrutiny and regulatory reporting requirements. At the same time, you’re expected to drive transformation, reduce cost, build capability and demonstrate measurable impact.

Many organisations have clearer strategies than ever before. But delivery is where progress is slowing and where risk is building.

The challenge is no longer knowing what to do, but delivering it consistently at scale.

This hub brings together the issues shaping the people agenda right now with insight, evidence and practical actions to help you focus on what matters most.

What are organisations focusing on now?

The 2026 HR Leaders Barometer shows a consistent set of priorities across sectors:

Managing people and behaviour risk more actively
Shifting towards skills-based workforce strategies
Embedding AI and digital in a practical, usable way
Addressing fairness, transparency and equal pay
Demonstrating clear return on workforce investment

But the gap is clear: strategy is stronger than ever, but execution is falling behind.

Start with what matters most

Every organisation faces a different set of pressures. Focus on the area where progress will make the biggest difference.

We work with HR leaders across the People agenda to create change that makes a difference to their business.

Get in touch

Katie Nightingale

Director

Contact Katie Nightingale Learn more about Katie Nightingale

Does HR have a delivery problem - or a credibility crisis?

Strategy is not the issue. Execution is. In this environment, execution is becoming the defining measure of HR’s credibility.

Equal pay: risk organisations can no longer ignore

More than two-thirds of organisations are managing live equal pay issues. Fairness is no longer just a compliance issue, it’s a business risk.

Headcount tells you what you've got. It doesn't tell you what you need. You need to understand the skills gap between the two, build a strategy that copes with today's pressures and tomorrow's change, and link every decision back to business performance. We can work with you to:

Define your workforce and skills strategy
Strengthen talent, succession and early careers pipelines
Use workforce data to drive better decisions
Build AI capability to make the most of technology in line with your strategy

Future skills

Your people are one of your biggest costs and one of your biggest assets. It’s critical to link workforce decisions to business performance, so you can show what's working and manage what isn't. We can work with you to:

Revise or redesign your operating model
Embed new technologies and rebalance your workforce
Improve cost efficiency and workforce productivity
Align people strategy to business priorities
Track benefits and measure outcomes

Culture isn't something that happens to you. Left unmanaged, it creates risk. Managed well, it drives performance. See how behaviours really show up across your organisation, then build the leadership capability to shape them. We can work with you to:

Understand your current and desired culture
Assess your current culture and behaviour risk
Assess and develop leadership capability
Strengthen inclusion and your employee value proposition

Culture and Change Management

Leadership and Change learning programmes

Pay decisions carry more scrutiny than ever, from regulators, employees, trade unions and the market. Get reward right and it protects you from risk. Get it wrong and it costs you your best people and introduces financial liability. We can work with you to:

Build a reward strategy that stands up to scrutiny
Close pay gaps and build fair, transparent pay structures
Develop job architecture that brings clarity to pay and career pathways
Design benefits that support attraction and retention

Equal pay

Employee benefits

Most organisations are constantly changing something. Too often, the impact doesn't last, because people weren't set up to make it stick. Get your structure, behaviours and ways of working pointing the same direction, and keep momentum as programmes evolve. We can work with you to:

Lead change and communication effectively
Drive adoption of new technologies
Navigate mergers, acquisitions, integration, TUPE, restructuring and HR due diligence

Change Management

Good People strategy is only as strong as the function delivering it. If HR is stretched thin on admin, it can't show up as a strategic partner. Fix how the function operates and build the capability to influence decisions, not just process them. We can work with you to:

Redesign your operating model so HR adds strategic value
Build HR business partnering capability that earns a seat at the table
Free up capacity by fixing the processes that hold you back

HR function transformation

HRBP programme

CPO Room

Explore more insights

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Are your benefits right for your people? Our employee benefits consultancy team can help you make the right choices.

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Future skills

Employee benefits

Are your benefits right for your people? Our employee benefits consultancy team can help you make the right choices.

HR Function transformation

Transform your HR function with Grant Thornton. We help you modernise operating models, processes and technology to drive growth and efficiency.

The CPO room

The CPO room is a facilitated session that gives you a structured, confidential space to reflect, challenge your assumptions and leave with a clear plan for moving forward.