What’s keeping CPOs up at night?
What are the biggest challenges faced by HR leaders in the next 12 to 24 months?
In 2022 LACE Partners asked 30 CPOs from a wide variety of industries and company sizes, to provide the answer to a simple question on “what their ‘one big thing’ is for the next 12 to 24 months”.
This exercise was conducted through a variety of methods, including face-to-face
interviews, online interviews as well as through a focus group held in July 2022.
Download our latest whitepaper
Why ask this question?
The amount of change at work, in the economy and society, is making the working lives of Chief People Officers and their HR teams more complex. The conflict in the Ukraine in 2022 continues to be an issue and will remain so for the foreseeable future. Covid remains a daily part of our lives. A recession is starting to take hold; energy prices are skyrocketing, and the cost-of-living crisis is becoming a reality across the UK and other parts of the globe.
The pandemic and the economic situation across the globe has forced a radical rethink on the employee/employer dynamic and nature of work itself. At LACE Partners we seek to understand and help our clients deal with the biggest business and people issues they are facing. To gain insight into these issues, we have conducted this research and will continue to deep dive into the core themes which have emerged.
What this report covers
In this initial launch piece we explore the top three ‘one big thing’s that are on CPO/CHROs agenda and as we move in to 2023 the team at LACE will be focusing on how HR teams can tackle these pressing challenges through a variety of different content themes and channels (videos, webinars, blogs, podcasts and networking events – all designed to help bring HR teams from a variety of sectors together to learn how to tackle those ‘one big thing’ issues. Download the report today to find out about the top three themes and get in touch with our team today to talk to us about what your ‘one big thing’ is that is your focus right now.
Meet our authors:

Chris Horton
Director

Cathy Acratopulo
Co-founder and MD

Emma Leonis-Hughes
Client Executive Director, HR Transformation
Emma is an experienced, highly skilled HR transformation director, specialising in HR strategy and operating model design and implementation. She has led complex, global change programmes to effectively optimise how organisations deliver HR services and redefine the employee experience for both a ‘connected’ and ‘unconnected’ workforce, with clients across a multitude of industries within the Private Sector and Financial Services. Emma spent over 10 years at Deloitte before joining LACE Partners in early 2018 as Executive Director of HR Transformation. She brings a pragmatic approach to transformation, working with clients to develop change plans which are simple, effective and always tied back to clear business outcomes.
Read our other whitepapers below:
Catering for the needs of a remote and disparate workforce: easyJet
Chris Howard and Emma Leonis were recently joined by Simon Cunniffe from easyJet to discuss how they engage workers who are unconnected, remote or – by their very nature of the job they do – often difficult to reach. This was a follow-on podcast from the webinar held...
What is the myth of normality and what is HR’s role in it?
How can HR professionals help to change the 'myth of normality'? In this latest podcast we talk to Maria from our partners at The Clear Company to talk about a blog she wrote which relates to supporting LGBTQ+ professionals in the workplace. Read the blog from the...
What are the hidden costs of the digital employee experience?
In 2021 Applearn produced a report looking at the Hidden Costs of the Digital Employee Experience. Chris and Emma from LACE Partners recently sat down on a podcast with Andrew Avanessian from Applearn to discuss the key findings and ways companies can actually go...




