Let’s be honest—HR is broken. It’s stuck in old ways of working, tangled in outdated processes, and failing to deliver what businesses actually need. Worse still, the big players in the corporate world are never going to fix it. They’re too slow, too weighed down by legacy systems, and too far removed from what really matters.
But there’s hope—and it’s coming from somewhere unexpected. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are leading the charge in HR transformation. They are the fintechs of the HR world, disrupting the status quo and proving that a better way is possible. Just like challenger banks forced the financial industry to modernise, SMEs are showing what HR can be when it’s built for agility, relevance, and impact.
At DisruptHR Birmingham, I took the stage to explain exactly why SMEs are the future of HR—and why big businesses should take notice.
Why HR is failing
HR, in most organisations, follows the same tired one-size-fits-all approach. We talk a big game about employee experience, diversity, and engagement, but in reality, we’re just pushing people through the same generic processes.
Think about it. Marketing wouldn’t treat all customers the same, yet HR does this to employees every single day. We cluster people together, ignoring individual needs and expecting the same policies, benefits, and experiences to work for everyone.
But that’s not how people work.
“Essentially that’s what most of the HR world is doing at the moment. They’re creating customers and you’re shoving people through the same old employee experience over and over again.”
The four critical changes HR needs
If we want HR to actually work, we need radical change. There are four non-negotiable shifts we must make.
1. Employees should leave as advocates
Let’s face it—nobody stays in a job for life anymore.
But here’s the kicker: how people leave matters just as much as how they join.
When employees walk out the door, they should leave as advocates. They should be:
- Recommending the company to others.
- Buying from the business as customers.
- Considering coming back in the future.
If that’s not happening, we’re failing them and the organisation.
2. HR data is a mess (and we need to fix it)
HR teams love talking about data, but let’s be real—our data is a disaster.
It’s fragmented, scattered across different systems, and completely disconnected. We don’t understand our own workforce.
Meanwhile, marketing teams are running laps around us with customer insights. They track every interaction, predict behaviour, and create personalised experiences.
HR should be doing the same.
3. Stop treating diversity as a box-ticking exercise
Every employer brand out there loves to shout about diversity.
“We hire people from all backgrounds!”
“We value different perspectives!”
But what happens once they’re in? We treat them all the same.
It’s a waste of time and money to hire diverse talent just to squeeze them into a rigid system. If we actually care about diversity, we need to design experiences that cater to different needs, aspirations, and ways of working.
4. HR needs to prove its value (or be replaced)
HR has a reputation problem. It’s seen as a cost centre, a department that exists to burn money rather than create value.
Why? Because we fail to prove our worth.
- We don’t measure impact effectively.
- We don’t link HR strategies to business outcomes.
- We don’t market ourselves well enough.
If HR wants a seat at the table, it needs to act like a business function that drives results—not just a compliance-driven support service.
“Everyone assumes that HR is just the department that is burning money. And why is that? Because we don’t demonstrate our own value and then what value we’re offering to our employees and what value we’re offering to the business either.”
The customer experience playbook (for HR)
So, what’s the solution?
Stop thinking like HR. Start thinking like marketing.
Customer experience (CX) is decades ahead of employee experience (EX). The best companies don’t treat customers like a homogeneous group—they segment, personalise, and optimise every touchpoint.
HR should do the same.
The five Fs framework
To fix HR, we need to rethink the entire employee journey. That’s where the five Fs framework comes in.
1. Fascinate
People should be excited to join your company. Your employer brand needs to be compelling, authentic, and magnetic.
2. Fit
Recruitment shouldn’t be about filling seats—it should be about finding the right match for both employer and employee.
3. Fuse
Onboarding isn’t just about paperwork—it’s about seamlessly integrating new employees into the business.
4. Flourish
Stop focusing on performance management and start focusing on performance enablement. Employees should have everything they need to thrive.
5. Five stars
When people leave, they should leave positively—as advocates, not as detractors. This is how you build an employer brand that attracts the best talent.
“Everyone assumes that HR is just the department that is burning money. And why is that? Because we don’t demonstrate our own value and then what value we’re offering to our employees and what value we’re offering to the business either.”
Why SMEs are leading the way
Here’s the truth: big corporations will never get this right.
Why?
- Their HR teams are too fragmented. They have separate departments for every HR function, each working in silos with disconnected data.
- They’re built on outdated tech. Legacy HR systems are clunky, slow, and impossible to integrate properly.
- They’re too slow to change. Even if they recognise the problem, they take years to implement solutions.
SMEs, on the other hand, can move fast. They don’t have the baggage of corporate bureaucracy.
- They can experiment with new approaches.
- They can adopt modern HR tech without legacy constraints.
- They can actually design HR for the people who work there.
Just like fintechs disrupted banking, SMEs are disrupting HR.
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