The 10 Best CHRO in Australia (2025): Profiles and Achievements

Why this list: The CHRO role has become one of the most strategically important seats at the executive table. In Australia’s tight talent market, with wage inflation, skill shortages, and productivity pressure, the best CHROs drive commercial outcomes through workforce strategy, leadership capability, and culture-by-design. To help HR leaders and CEOs benchmark “what great looks like”, we’ve curated and analysed the 10 best CHROs in Australia for 2025, profiling their impact and sharing a repeatable model for assessing top-tier HR leadership.

How we selected the 10 best CHROs

We reviewed ASX leadership teams and major Australian employers across sectors (financial services, resources, aviation, retail, and technology). Leaders were assessed on: (1) scope and complexity (workforce size, footprint, union/IR environment), (2) strategic influence (board/CEO proximity, enterprise strategy integration), (3) transformation track record (M&A, restructures, new capability build, operating-model redesign), (4) EX/people outcomes (capability lift, safety, inclusion, engagement, critical talent metrics), and (5) public evidence (executive announcements, official bios, media, public talks). We emphasised Australian-headquartered or Australia-led remits affecting large domestic workforces.

The 10 Best CHROs in Australia (2025)

Note on scope: This list focuses on leaders with substantial Australian workforce impact in 2025. For example, Rio Tinto appointed Georgie Bezette as CPO effective 1 January 2025 (global role; London-based), an appointment of significance to Australian industry that we continue to watch closely. :contentReference[oaicite:9]{index=9}

Quick-compare: The 10 Best CHROs in Australia (2025)

The “Best CHRO” playbook for 2025

1) Tie people strategy directly to P&L and productivity

• Skills-based workforce planning: Build a skills taxonomy, forecast critical roles, and invest in reskilling where the business model is heading — not where it was.
• Leadership operating system: Codify leadership standards and rhythms (cadence, decision rights, rituals) to sustain performance culture.
• Measure what matters: Link people metrics to financial outcomes (e.g., revenue per FTE, productivity hours, time-to-capability, controllable attrition).

2) Make EX (employee experience) a designed product

• Map employee journeys, then redesign pain points with service design and behavioural science. Treat manager capability as the “distribution channel” for culture.
• Invest in flexible work architectures where operationally feasible; leverage data to protect both productivity and wellbeing.

3) Industrial relations and risk mastery

• Proactively plan enterprise bargaining, labour-model changes, and regulatory shifts. Anticipate downstream operational impacts before they hit customers.
• Design IR strategies that earn trust: transparent consultation, safety-first mindset, and credible commitments on training and progression.

4) Technology and AI, responsibly

• Apply AI to repetitive HR tasks (screening, policy Q&A, learning pathways) with clear human-in-the-loop controls and bias audits.
• Stand up people insights that can withstand board scrutiny: lineage, definitions, privacy, and defensible causality.

5) Transformation governance

• Run people transformation as a program: target architecture, benefits tracking, dependency mapping, and change-capability uplift.
• Build an internal consulting bench: OD, EX design, analytics, IR, leadership, and programme delivery — integrated, not siloed.

FAQ: The 10 most common questions about CHROs in Australia

1) What’s the difference between a CHRO and a traditional HR Director?

In Australia’s largest organisations, the CHRO is a strategy executive: a peer to the CFO and COO, accountable for workforce risk, leadership, and enterprise capability. The HR Director title can be narrower (function leadership), though some companies use titles interchangeably. What matters is scope: board access, P&L-linked metrics, and enterprise transformation ownership.

2) What industries set the benchmark for CHRO complexity?

Financial services (regulatory intensity), resources (safety, remote operations, large-scale capability), aviation (IR and safety), and large-format retail (frontline scale) are typically the most complex environments.

3) What are the must-have CHRO capabilities for 2025?

• Operating-model design and transformation
• IR strategy and regulatory judgement
• Leadership system design (from standards to learning and assessment)
• People analytics and AI enablement
• Stakeholder influence (board/CEO/union/customer interface)

4) How do top CHROs prove value to the board?

They connect people economics to financials and risk: workforce productivity, time-to-capability, succession depth for risk appetite, cost-to-serve, and change velocity — with targets and quarterly variance analysis.

5) Are Australian CHROs paid like other C-suite roles?

At large ASX companies, total remuneration is competitive with other functional CXOs and often includes STI/LTI linked to people and enterprise outcomes. Packages vary by sector, complexity and global vs domestic scope.

6) When should a CEO upgrade their HR leader to a true CHRO?

Triggers include heavy transformation, M&A, IR inflection, digital reskilling, or a culture reset. If the people agenda is central to strategy execution, a CHRO (not a functional HR director) is warranted.

7) What’s the ideal CHRO reporting line?

Direct to CEO, with standing board access (RemCo and, where relevant, Risk or Safety committees). Anything less diminishes execution velocity.

8) Which leading examples to learn from?

Study Atlassian’s distributed-first model, BHP’s global capability and safety lens, Woolworths’ frontline scale strategy, and banking leaders integrating people risk with prudential expectations. :contentReference[oaicite:10]{index=10}

9) What does a strong CHRO “first 180 days” look like?

1. Diagnostic: org design, talent pools, leadership gaps, IR landscape, people technology debt.
2. Design: a three-horizon plan tied to strategy and budget.
3. Mobilise: fix the top three friction points; launch leadership cadence; publish a transparent roadmap.

10) How do we evaluate CHRO candidates?

• Ask for a people economics narrative: how they’ve linked people levers to productivity and risk.
• Evidence of enterprise change at scale (not just policy work).
• References from CFOs/COOs/line CEOs, not just HR peers.

What a CHRO Actually Does (Australian context)

1) Translate strategy into workforce outcomes

• Designs the future workforce: skills, roles, locations, and build/buy/borrow decisions.
• Connects talent and capability plans to revenue, margin, customer and risk metrics.
• Owns leadership effectiveness and succession for critical roles.

2) People risk, governance, and IR leadership

• Ensures compliance with Fair Work and state legislation, and leads proactive industrial relations strategies.
• Owns remuneration governance (STI/LTI principles, pay equity, gender pay gap actions).
• Maintains robust whistleblowing, conduct, and safety frameworks aligned to ASX expectations.

3) Culture as an operating system

• Builds a culture aligned to strategy (e.g., safety, innovation, customer, cost discipline).
• Measures culture through lead/lag indicators: near-miss safety stats, regrettable attrition, time-to-productivity, engagement, inclusion sentiment, ethics hotline trends.

4) Workforce technology, data, and AI

• Implements people analytics for decisions (e.g., attrition prediction, skills adjacency, workforce planning).
• Leads responsible adoption of AI in hiring, learning, and productivity—governed by risk and fairness policies.
• Modernises HR tech stack (core HRIS, talent, learning, performance, analytics) for speed and reliability.

5) Transformation and productivity

• Partners with COO/CFO to redesign structures, spans & layers, and cost-to-serve.
• Delivers change at scale with measurable business benefits (e.g., store labour optimisation, call centre performance, frontline enablement, cross-skilling).
• Builds manager capability for continuous improvement, not one-off programs.

CHRO vs HR Director: What’s the Difference?

CHRO Compensation in Australia (2024/25 Benchmarks)

Base salary (Head of HR/HR Director equivalents)—indicative market data for large organisations, exclusive of superannuation and bonuses:

Notes: These are typical salaries excluding superannuation and incentives. CHROs in ASX-listed companies usually sit above these figures and receive short-term incentives (STI) and long-term incentives (LTI) linked to performance, alongside superannuation and occasionally retention/equity programs. Pay varies by sector, size, complexity, and whether the CHRO is a KMP (Key Management Personnel) with disclosure obligations.

Understanding the total package (TRP) for executive-level HR

• Fixed remuneration: Base + superannuation, sized to market and role scope.
• STI: Typically a % of fixed (often 40–100% at ASX100 KMP level) tied to target/threshold/maximum outcomes; measures usually mix financial and non-financial (e.g., safety, customer, leadership/culture).
• LTI: Equity with 3–4 year performance periods, commonly using TSR and financial hurdles; malus/clawback increasingly standard.
• Benefits/other: Relocation, retention equity, or one-off awards for major transformations are sometimes used—subject to shareholder scrutiny.

Critical Regulatory Changes Every Australian CHRO Must Lead

Pay transparency (ban on pay secrecy)

• Employees can share their pay and relevant terms; pay secrecy clauses are unenforceable in most circumstances.
• Implications: update contracts and policies, train managers, and proactively address pay equity.

Right to Disconnect

• Applies to most employers from 26 August 2024; applies to small business employers from 26 August 2025.
• Implications: update contact protocols, clarify after-hours expectations, adjust on-call and senior role contracts, and educate leaders.

“Same job, same pay” (labour hire)

• Fair Work Commission may order labour hire workers be paid the same as host employees for comparable work.
• Implications: review labour-hire strategy, cost models, and enterprise agreement interfaces.

What the Best CHROs in Australia Do Differently

1. Operate as commercial executives: tie people decisions directly to productivity, margin, and risk; set measurable targets for workforce initiatives.
2. Build skills-based organisations: define critical capabilities, invest in micro-credentials, and enable internal mobility via talent marketplaces.
3. Lift manager effectiveness at scale: equip every people leader with simple playbooks (coaching, feedback, performance), then instrument outcomes (e.g., team health, throughput).
4. Modernise reward with accountability: STI/LTI frameworks that reinforce safety, compliance, customer and culture—not just financials.
5. Win IR the right way: data-led rostering, transparent consultation, and genuine partnerships with employee reps.
6. Govern AI responsibly: human-in-the-loop hiring, fairness testing, and clear usage guidelines to de-risk discrimination and privacy issues.

Illustrative Australian case snapshots

• Enterprise transformation at scale: Telstra’s multi-year transformation (T22/T25) placed people, culture and operating model at the centre of digitisation and simplification—an example of CHRO-level leadership embedded in whole-of-business change.
• Retail workforce modernisation: Large retailers have publicly reported sustained focus on safety, team engagement, and customer experience through culture and people initiatives—core CHRO remit with clear business linkage.

How to Evaluate (or Hire) the Best CHRO

A practical scorecard for boards and CEOs

Search Intent: What Aussie Executives Are Really Looking For

Primary intent: Understand the strategic role and impact of CHROs in Australian conditions—board-level governance, IR changes, and how “great” translates to outcomes.

Secondary intent: Compensation benchmarks (base vs TRP) and how to assess candidates; differences between CHROs and HR Directors; practical playbooks and case snapshots.

Tertiary intent: Career path—what qualifications, experiences, and capabilities are valued for Australian CHRO appointments (especially ASX-listed and large private groups).

Career Path and Qualifications (Australia)

Common pathways

• HR Business Partner → Head of Talent/Reward/IR → HR Director → CHRO
• Line leadership (P&L) → Transformation/Operations → CHRO (increasingly common in large enterprises)
• Consulting or change/transformation leadership → enterprise HR leadership

Qualifications and credentials

• Bachelor’s degree (business, law, psychology, HR) and often a postgraduate qualification (MBA, MHRM, MPP).
• Professional accreditation (e.g., AHRI membership/certification), governance training, and remuneration committee exposure.
• IR/ER depth, reward design literacy, and data/analytics capability are strong differentiators.

Experience that boards rate highly

• Delivered a multi-year transformation with tangible P&L benefits.
• Demonstrated pay equity progress and robust remuneration governance.
• Led complex IR negotiations and materially reduced operational risk.
• Built a pipeline of diverse senior leaders; reduced regrettable attrition.

20 Frequently Asked Questions about CHROs in Australia

1. What is a CHRO? The executive accountable for workforce strategy, culture, people risk, and transformation—directly linked to business outcomes.
2. How is a CHRO different from an HR Director? The CHRO shapes enterprise strategy and board-level governance; HR Directors focus on operational excellence across HR functions.
3. What does a great CHRO deliver? Tangible improvements in productivity, customer outcomes, risk reduction, and leadership bench strength.
4. What’s the current pay environment? Large-company heads of HR in Australia often sit in the $200k–$400k base range by city, with CHROs in listed entities above that and typically on STI/LTI.
5. How are incentives structured? STIs tied to financial and non-financial metrics (e.g., culture, safety); LTIs typically equity with 3–4 year performance periods.
6. What laws are changing that affect CHROs? Pay secrecy bans, right to disconnect, and “same job, same pay” for labour hire are major current themes.
7. How does the right to disconnect affect executives? Policies and contracts must clarify expectations; senior roles may require availability with appropriate compensation.
8. How should CHROs handle pay transparency? Update contracts, train leaders, audit pay equity, and communicate clearly to reduce risk and improve trust.
9. What should boards ask CHRO candidates? “Show me a transformation you led and the measurable business benefits; how did you govern reward, risk and culture?”
10. What are leading CHRO metrics? Productivity per FTE, time-to-productivity, quality of hire, safety, inclusion sentiment, regrettable attrition, succession strength.
11. How do CHROs influence TSR? By improving capability and productivity, lowering risk costs, stabilising leadership, and enhancing execution speed.
12. How do they partner with CFOs? Workforce planning, labour model redesign, ROI of transformation, and reward affordability/elasticity.
13. What tech should CHROs prioritise? Modern HRIS, advanced analytics, talent marketplaces, learning platforms with skills taxonomies, and AI-assisted tools with guardrails.
14. What does good reward governance look like? Transparent scorecards, proportionate risk modifiers (malus/clawback), and clear alignment to strategy and stakeholder expectations.
15. How can CHROs reduce IR risk? Early, authentic consultation; strong EA planning; transparent rostering and data-led workforce scheduling.
16. What’s the path to CHRO? Deep functional leadership, transformation delivery, commercial acumen, board-facing credibility, and cross-enterprise influence.
17. Should CHROs sit on executive committees? Yes—people strategy is business strategy; the CHRO must be part of the CEO’s top team.
18. How do boards measure CHRO performance? A balanced scorecard mixing culture/people risk with capability, productivity, and customer outcomes.
19. What does “best in Australia” look like? Commercial, data-literate, IR-savvy, transformation-capable leaders who deliver measurable benefits and maintain social licence.
20. What’s one action to take this quarter? Refresh your 3–5 year capability and workforce plan (skills, automation, locations) and link it to cost, risk and growth scenarios.

A Simple 90-Day Agenda for a New or Incoming CHRO

1. Diagnose (Days 1–30): People risk & IR heatmap; leadership bench; reward “red flags”; productivity baselines; culture signals; tech debt.
2. Design (Days 31–60): 12-month priorities that move P&L/ risk needles; scorecards; benefits realisation; governance forums.
3. Deliver (Days 61–90): Launch 2–3 high-impact initiatives (e.g., manager enablement, workforce redesign, pay-equity remediation) with transparent measures.

2) What industries set the benchmark for CHRO complexity?

Financial services (regulatory intensity), resources (safety, remote operations, large-scale capability), aviation (IR and safety), and large-format retail (frontline scale) are typically the most complex environments.

3) What are the must-have CHRO capabilities for 2025?

• Operating-model design and transformation
• IR strategy and regulatory judgement
• Leadership system design (from standards to learning and assessment)
• People analytics and AI enablement
• Stakeholder influence (board/CEO/union/customer interface)

4) How do top CHROs prove value to the board?

They connect people economics to financials and risk: workforce productivity, time-to-capability, succession depth for risk appetite, cost-to-serve, and change velocity — with targets and quarterly variance analysis.

5) Are Australian CHROs paid like other C-suite roles?

At large ASX companies, total remuneration is competitive with other functional CXOs and often includes STI/LTI linked to people and enterprise outcomes. Packages vary by sector, complexity and global vs domestic scope.

6) When should a CEO upgrade their HR leader to a true CHRO?

Triggers include heavy transformation, M&A, IR inflection, digital reskilling, or a culture reset. If the people agenda is central to strategy execution, a CHRO (not a functional HR director) is warranted.

7) What’s the ideal CHRO reporting line?

Direct to CEO, with standing board access (RemCo and, where relevant, Risk or Safety committees). Anything less diminishes execution velocity.

8) Which leading examples to learn from?

Study Atlassian’s distributed-first model, BHP’s global capability and safety lens, Woolworths’ frontline scale strategy, and banking leaders integrating people risk with prudential expectations. :contentReference[oaicite:10]{index=10}

9) What does a strong CHRO “first 180 days” look like?

1. Diagnostic: org design, talent pools, leadership gaps, IR landscape, people technology debt.
2. Design: a three-horizon plan tied to strategy and budget.
3. Mobilise: fix the top three friction points; launch leadership cadence; publish a transparent roadmap.

10) How do we evaluate CHRO candidates?

• Ask for a people economics narrative: how they’ve linked people levers to productivity and risk.
• Evidence of enterprise change at scale (not just policy work).
• References from CFOs/COOs/line CEOs, not just HR peers.