Mind the gap: CIPD research finds that employers must invest more in HR’s long-term capabilities to deliver performance

The CIPD's new 'HR Pulse Report 2026', supported by Talking Talent, suggests there is a gap between the key priorities people professionals see and the ability they have to deliver them currently.

91% of people professionals surveyed by the CIPD said that improving organisational performance is a priority for their people function. However, the survey identifies a gap between ambition and current capability for improving long-term business performance:

• While 78% of respondents said that workforce planning to build future pipelines is a priority for their people team, only 61% said they can proactively identify future skills needed for the next 1-2 years.

• Relatively few people professionals hold specialist skills in areas such as workforce planning (14%), talent management (13%), and organisational development and design (12%) - areas that have been highlighted as critical for long-term planning and performance.

• While people professionals believe their teams are generally seen by the wider business as collaborative, valuable, and impactful, only 61% said they have clear success measures in place, indicating there's more work to be done to show how the people function directly impacts performance and business outcomes.

Given the significant challenges that businesses are already grappling with - such as economic pressures, restructuring, and the impact of AI - it's clear that the skills and experience needed to navigate this are not the same as the ones that have served the profession well over the past few years.

The CIPD says it's crucial that the people profession is relentless in its focus on meeting the needs of the organisations they serve now, and understanding the factors shaping their organisation in the future. And for people leaders, making the case for investing in long-term, sustainable approaches to the workforce over short-term cost management measures, and putting that in clear commercial terms, will be key.

Neil Carberry, chief executive of the CIPD, the professional body for HR and people development, said:

"People professionals know where businesses need them to focus: boosting performance, great people management, and preparing for the future. But the questions being asked of our profession are more complex than ever, and that demands a shift in our capability.

"The first step is an honest assessment of current skills, so people teams can prioritise training, set clear measures of success, and make the business case for investment.

"But knowing what to do is only half the story. People teams need the backing of their organisations to deliver. Employers can no longer afford a slapdash approach to people planning - it's at the very core of building sustainable organisations. They need to invest in their people teams and follow the organisations leading on performance and productivity, where people management standards are uniformly highest.

"The CIPD will support our members to up their game, and help employers understand what good looks like."

Dr Mary-Clare Race, CEO of Talking Talent, said:

"People teams are under pressure to improve performance, build stronger leaders and prepare organisations for constant change. But having these priorities on the agenda doesn't mean organisations are equipped to deliver them.

"This research is vital because it highlights where gaps remain, from measuring HR's impact and strengthening leadership capability, to building junior professionals' confidence - as well as ensuring teams have the specialist skills and support they need to succeed. We're proud to have supported the CIPD on the HR Pulse Report 2026 and hope it helps organisations look beyond immediate business demands, challenge their thinking and close the capability gap."

The report highlights several areas for the people profession to consider in order to close the gap between expectations and capability:

• Boost line management capability - 91% of respondents agreed that supporting line managers with their people management as a top priority, which would free up people professionals to pursue this more specialist training and more strategic work.

• Think longer term, balancing future planning with the need to manage change and transformation. 

• Strengthen metrics to ensure clear operational and strategic success measures which help demonstrate impact, build credibility, and drive continuous improvement. 

• Partner with the business to support business leaders with people issues that drag on performance and productivity.

• Invest in the function where it matters most through deliberate investment in specialist capability that supports current and future demands.

The CIPD will set out how it will help the profession to strengthen its skills in forward planning and anticipating change, at its upcoming conference in Manchester in November. It will continue to support people professionals in demonstrating their impact of performance through providing high-quality evidence, standards, practical tools, guidance, and a professional community on its website that enables members to tackle the most pressing people questions in their organisations.

Notes to editors

• You can find the full report on the CIPD website.
• The data in this report comes from an online survey conducted by YouGov and supplemented by the CIPD's research panel. The report is based on data from a sample size of 883 UK people professionals, collected between 1 May and 3 June 2026. To make the sample representative of the UK as a whole, quotas were used and subsequent weights based on Office for National Statistics figures were applied to the dataset. The sample is representative of the UK workforce in age, gender, sector, and organisational size within sector.
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