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Are You Doubling Down on HR in 2027?

Are You Doubling Down on HR in 2027?

Lesesne Phillips, is the founder of Opsana HR, which provides fractional CHRO leadership to growing companies. Drawing on more than 20 years in HR, talent strategy, and workforce development, she helps founders and CEOs build the people strategy, leadership structure, and hiring models they need to scale without losing the culture that got them there.

Budget season is here, which means every department is making its case for why it’s the winning hand for 2027. Sales wants more reps. Operations wants new equipment. Marketing wants a bigger campaign. And of course, there’s AI.

Meanwhile, for many companies, people are the largest expense on the books, and that cost climbs every year with rising benefits, turnover, and quiet quitting. Yet when it comes to investing in stronger employee programs that reduce those costs and improve retention and engagement, HR tends to take a back seat until the expense is too big to ignore.

When the numbers come in, the CEO has to make a judgment call for every department. More often than not, HR hears some version of: “Employee costs already came in higher than we expected, so I can’t put any more money there,” followed by, “I need you to work with what you have this year; we’ll revisit those programs next year.”

I understand that, and it comes from a real place. But over the past 20 years in HR, I’ve seen how much waiting can cost companies. Every time HR gets pushed to next year, the company is gambling that the problem will fix itself.

So let me introduce two companies. Fingers Crossed, Inc. is a compilation of real situations I’ve seen over the course of my career. Blue Chip, LLC is what those same companies looked like when the CEO and leadership team made HR a true partner. One hopes for the best. The other plays its cards wisely. Here are four bets Fingers Crossed made, and how Blue Chip played its hand.

Bet #1: “Turnover is just the cost of doing business.”

Fingers Crossed was losing nearly half its people every year, with 45 percent turnover. Blue Chip’s leadership team made retention a shared priority. Working with HR, they widened recruiting, built a real onboarding process, and invested in keeping their people. Turnover dropped to 25 percent, even as the company grew, and billable utilization climbed from an average of 63 percent to 85 percent.

Bet #2: “We’ll fill the seat when someone leaves.”

When every employee is billable, an empty seat isn’t an inconvenience. It’s lost revenue every single day. Fingers Crossed took an average of 45 days to fill an open role. At Blue Chip, hiring managers and HR tightened the process together and brought that down to 21 days, putting nearly half a million dollars in revenue back on the books in under six months.

Bet #3: “Someone’s keeping an eye on that.”

At Fingers Crossed, an employee went out on workers’ compensation after an accident. The 12 weeks of FMLA came and went, and nobody followed up. Twelve months later, that employee was still on leave, still on the books, and a revenue generating position had been sitting empty the entire time. For a single $80,000 role, that empty seat cost more than $100,000 in lost billing, before counting the nine months it takes to recruit, train, and get a new hire fully up to speed. At Blue Chip, leadership gave HR the time and support to stay on top of it. HR worked with the insurance carrier to resolve the claim, closed out the leave, and got the position filled and billing again, with the workers’ comp exposure off the books.

Bet #4: “Our structure will keep up as we grow.”

Fingers Crossed grew quickly, and its products, services, and clients shifted along with it. Its HR systems and organizational structure didn’t. Over time, roles no longer matched the work, and the company had to right size through two rounds of layoffs that affected 14 people. Blue Chip’s CEO brought HR to the table before and after every major event: rapid growth, new clients, new products, and acquisitions. Instead of reacting after the fact, it was ready before the change arrived.

You don’t have to fix everything this year.

Blue Chip didn’t get there by writing one big check or by leaving it all to HR. Its leaders picked one area, did it well, and built on it the next year, and the year after that. That’s how a strong foundation works. Each layer makes the next one stronger.

As you head into 2027 budget planning, ask yourself one question: which bet is my company making right now? Pick that one. Fix it this year. Next year, pick another.

At the end of the day, running a business is always a bit of a gamble, and we all hope we’re getting it right. But when you sweeten the pot at the right time, your odds of a strong return go way up.

Which bet do you see companies make most often? I’d love to hear your stories.