Ryan Breslow, the CEO of Bolt, said the company laid off its entire HR team during a restructuring process. He also claimed that some problems disappeared after this decision, sparking a wider debate in the global business world about the role of Human Resources departments. More than questioning the need for HR, this discussion brings forward questions about how HR is positioned within companies, how closely it works with business goals, and how it contributes to employee experience and leadership processes.
In today’s business world, HR responsibilities are no longer seen as limited to recruitment, payroll, procedure management, and employee relations. Companies are focused on making faster decisions, increasing organizational agility, improving efficiency, and retaining key talent. For this reason, HR’s value is now measured through both its operational effectiveness and the tangible business impact it creates.
At the center of this debate is not the existence of HR, but its area of impact. When HR is perceived only as a rule-setting department, a layer that slows down decision-making, or a bureaucratic barrier between employees and management, it naturally becomes open to criticism. On the other hand, a strong HR department structure is positioned as a strategic business partner that improves leadership quality, builds the right talent strategy, aligns company culture with business goals, and approaches employee experience together with performance.
Topics such as AI, hybrid work, generational differences in expectations, and talent competition require companies to reassess their approach to people management. The priority today is to help managers lead more effectively, increase teams’ ability to adapt to change, and make employee engagement a part of sustainable performance.
At this point, the future of HR depends less on preserving its current role and more on its ability to transform that role. For companies, the goal should not be to eliminate HR entirely. Instead, HR should be moved toward a leaner, more data-driven, more strategic structure that is closely connected to business results.
An effective HR department exists to help the company operate in a healthier and more sustainable way. A HR department that creates value protects the employee perspective while also considering the realities of the business. It supports leaders, strengthens culture, places talent in the right roles, and makes change more manageable. Therefore, the real question today is not whether HR is necessary, but how clearly and measurably HR contributes to the company’s future.
