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How aligned are CPOs to the business?
Do they have the right level of experience?
Are CPOs being preferred from outside of the discipline?
And perhaps most importantly, what do their CEOs really think of them?
It feels like these questions have both never gone away, but are also (still) some of the most prescient questions being asked of chief people officers right now.
First time CHROs remain the preferred choice…
An interesting statistic that the Russell Reynolds data revealed was the fact that first-time CHROs accounted for the majority of appointments during 2025. Some 60% of incoming CHROs were first-timers.
First time CHRO number in the S&P 500 have now hit a seven-year high, with 63% of CHRO appointments going to first-time CHROs, up from 57% in 2024.
…and most are appointed from within
Notably, most first-time appointments come from within. This continues a trend that have been rising since 2019. In 2025, 45% of all appointments were first-time internal CHRO promotions (up from 35% in 2024).
By contrast, externally hired first-time CHROs fell to 15% (from 28% in 2024).
The same data found that overall, outgoing CHROs left their organisations after 5.2 years’ of tenure – although in the technology sector – arguably displaying higher levels of disruption – it had fallen to 4.7 years.
But how can these questions be answered?
Here at HR Grapevine we’ve decided to pull together a selection of recently released data that reveal insights into exactly how CHROs measure up, and – perhaps more importantly – how they’re perceived by the rest of the C-suite.
And, perhaps depressingly, it still suggests that however strategic, important, and transformational HR professionals are, the appreciation needle doesn’t seem to be moving quite as fast when it comes to boardroom assessments of CPOs.
So, what is this data, and what does it show?
Turnover of CHRO roles is UP… and could it be that CEOs want greater CEO-CPO ‘fit’?
Some of the most interesting new data has been released from by Russell Reynolds – which has recently produced its Global CHRO Turnover Index (for the year ending Dec 31st 2025). This analyses CHRO turnover (and the reasons for it), as well as hiring trends in 2025, across a number of indices.
The initial, most striking finding, is that there were a total of 155 CHROs appointed globally in the indices it tracked. This number is up a significant 25% compared to the same in 2024 – suggesting turnover of chief human resources officers has increased.
It was the S&P 500 in particular that really drove turnover growth - with 64 CHROs appointed, up from 49 in 2024.
The FTSE 250 also saw a significant increase to 16 CHRO appointments from nine in the year prior.
