Here’s how long the average CHRO holds onto their job—and why turnover rates are way down

CHROs may not last that long when they take on their roles, but their turnover rate is better than it used to be.

HR chiefs have an average tenure of around 4.5 years, and their churn rate is about 6% every six months, according to Spencer Stuart’s 2023 Fortune 500 C-Suite Snapshot report. That may seem high, but it’s actually much lower than a few years ago—CHRO turnover hit a record high of 28% in 2020, and is now down to about 11% overall in 2023.

Steve Patscot, lead of Spencer Stuart’s human resources practice, says previous high CHRO turnover was due to the stress of COVID, coupled with a renewed emphasis on the HR function following the murder of George Floyd. Great responsibility is placed on CHROs to navigate employees through intense social challenges, and 2020 proved to be especially difficult. “Stress finds the cracks. I think the stress of COVID cracked a lot of HR people,” he said, adding that CEOs were also quick to change their CHROs during that time. 

The tenure and turnover of CHROs in 2023 is on par with the general averages for C-suite leaders of around 4.6 years. CFOs also clock in at around 4.5 years, while chief information officers stay for an average of 4.7 years, and chief marketing officers stay for a total of 4.2 years. 

Within more recent CHRO turnover, companies are promoting more from within their own ranks. Out of the 55 new CHRO hirings at Fortune 500 companies in 2023, 18 were external and 37 were internal promotions. That’s a big difference from 2020, when many enterprises hired externally to acquire more diverse talent.

Despite lower recent turnover, Patscot expects it to pick up again over the next few years. C-suite leaders are typically older and many are nearing retirement. He also expects more CEOs to retire over the next few years as the economy returns to normal, and their tenure is often linked to CHROs. When someone new takes over the company, they often decide they want a different HR leader with a fresher pair of eyes.

“The next twelve months are going to be as interesting—or more interesting—in the world of HR than the 2020 year,” says Patscot.

Emma Burleigh
emma.burleigh@fortune.com

Around the Table

A round-up of the most important HR headlines.

- Jobless claims dropped last week despite the Federal Reserve’s efforts to slow the economy. Unemployment insurance filings reached a total of 187,000—much lower than estimates. —CNBC

- The CEO of AARP says that the organization has seen an increase in age discrimination in the workplace over the past few years. “We believe it’s important to keep older people in the workforce,” she says. —Barron’s

- Workers are getting smaller bonuses this year, according to one payroll company tracking the money, and fewer employees are getting bonuses at all. It’s a sign that bosses aren’t too worried about losing their staff to competitors. —Bloomberg

Watercooler

Everything you need to know from Fortune.

Boohoo Gen Z. Joy Behar, one of the hosts of the TV show The View, doesn’t have much patience for the travails of Gen Z, telling them to “get a job” during a segment covering the young generation’s economic and career anxieties. —Orianna Rosa Royale

Layoff déjà vu. Google has sent an internal memo to employees announcing it will be cutting jobs in order to invest in emerging AI technologies. The new memo echoes one sent out last January when the company cut 12,000 positions. —Eleanor Pringle

AI disruption. No one knows yet how much AI will change the nature of work, but Mustafa Suleyman, one of the founders of AI company DeepMind, warned that unchecked AI development would be “fundamentally labor-replacing.” —Will Daniel

Least powerful. Spotify founder and CEO Daniel Ek trusts his leaders to make the company’s big decisions, and claims he’s “probably the least powerful person at Spotify.” —Ryan Hogg