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These slides, presented by Stanford economist Nick Bloom at the recent October Heidrick & Struggles CPO Summit, provide insights into three areas relevant to Chief People Officers and HR leaders. First, the Work-From-Home vs. Return-To-Office discussion has reached a steady state: hybrid work is now the most common policy among managers and professionals in Fortune 500 firms, with 69% operating under a structured hybrid model. Most of these (57%) specify a minimum number of in-office days per week, while smaller shares set minimum percentages of time, specific in-office days, or both. Second, HR’s strategic influence continues to accelerate, as the share of S&P 500 firms where the CHRO is among the top-five highest-paid executives has grown significantly over the past three decades—highlighting HR’s increasing role in enterprise value creation. Third, large-scale evidence drawn from 150,000 proxy filings across nearly 19,000 companies shows that organizations with more intentional and well-defined CEO succession processes tend to experience smoother leadership transitions and stronger financial outcomes, including more stable stock performance during CEO changes. The succession planning analysis begins on page 25. As a related resource, I am resharing the July 2025 report CEO Succession: 10 Pitfalls Boards Must Avoid—and the CHRO Practices That Help (by HR Policy Association, now CHRO Association), which notes that one ongoing challenge is limited board visibility into internal CEO candidates—a gap CHROs can help close through structured board exposure and objective talent assessment practices.
