Why HR belongs at the top table

Liz Jewitt-Cross has spent four decades in retail HR, starting with Saturday jobs in fashion and later holding senior people leadership roles at Sainsbury’s, New Look, Jaeger and Joules. The founder and MD of Future HR, a consultancy specialising in HR strategy and transformation, says her path into the sector was shaped early by family. Her late father spent 33 years at Marks & Spencer, moving from store leadership into head office, where he helped develop the company’s early standalone food store strategy.

“Retail wasn’t so much a career choice as a kind of family indoctrination and in the best possible way,” she said. Saturday mornings meant store visits rather than lie-ins, and she saw the energy, pride and attention to detail that stayed with her. After starting in HR in banking, she returned to retail to build her career in earnest.

From Transactional to Commercial Partner

Jewitt-Cross recalls a time when HR was seen largely as transactional. Early in her board and C-suite career, fewer than 5% of UK board roles were held by women, and fewer than 2% of HR leaders had a seat at that level. That experience pushed her toward a more commercially focused approach to people leadership.

She became involved in Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development curriculum development and lectured at business schools, helping shift thinking toward HR as a true business partner. Her focus settled on a few core questions: is the strategy clear to everyone, does it translate into roles and ways of working, are leaders aligned, and does the organisation have the capability it needs for tomorrow.

That lens led her into broader transformation work across systems, supply chain, customer experience and operating models, always keeping people and organisational effectiveness at the centre. She describes herself as never being a “business as usual” HR leader, gravitating instead toward roles where transformation and change were central to the agenda.

Why the CEO–HR Partnership Matters

Jewitt-Cross argues that HR must operate as a true commercial partner. “A genuine partner to the CEO, and an equal contributor and accountable to business outcomes,” she said.

Leadership cohesion and organisation design have become critical, particularly as businesses scale and roles become more intertwined. Historically, she says, that wasn’t always prioritised, but today it is central to how effectively change is delivered and sustained.

If you don’t understand the business and can’t operate beyond policy and process, she says, your people strategy won’t be fit for purpose.

People Challenges in Growth and Turnaround

When businesses hit trouble during growth or turnaround, Jewitt-Cross says the issue is rarely effort. It’s usually clarity, alignment and prioritisation. Too many competing priorities, leadership teams that aren’t fully aligned, capability gaps and ineffective organisation design all play a part. Programme governance can be weak, performance management underutilised, and middle management often underdeveloped.

One of the most overlooked areas is the layer just below the executive team. If that group isn’t aligned and engaged with the mission, performance suffers. When businesses address these areas properly, she says, the impact can be transformational, sharpening focus and building high-performing cultures.

Through Future HR and her work with The Coaching Solution, Jewitt-Cross provides board advisory, project consulting and executive coaching. Over the past year, she has supported around 150 individuals on a pro bono basis, helping them work through what she calls one of the most challenging job markets she has seen. In 2026, part of the company’s profits will go toward the Fashion & Textile Children’s Trust and St Luke’s Hospice.

She also notes that the pressures of have made the role of HR in supporting frontline staff even more essential. Technology has become a performance engine, people experience a commercial lever, and organisation design is more critical than ever. She expects chief people officers to become one of the most influential roles in an organisation, with more cross-pollination between HR and broader business leadership positions.

Jewitt-Cross remains a returning judge for the People in Retail Awards, which she says shine a light on the people behind the performance. “Every year I’m struck by the creativity, resilience and commitment across the industry,” she said. Retail faces real challenges, including increasing pressures on frontline colleagues, but she says recognising and celebrating the people behind the industry has never been more important.

“I still get a buzz walking the stores,” she said, adding that she still sends clients photos when she spots their products in the wild. “At Future HR, the focus is simple: accelerating performance through people. When you get that right, organisations don’t just improve, they take off.” She is due to attend the next Retail HR Central event in Birmingham on 14 May.