You Canβt Rely on HR - Five Questions HR Should Be Asking Their CEO about Inclusion
Jan 19, 2026
If inclusion only lives in HR, it will never truly live in your business.
I have been thinking about this for some time now. After years of working with organisations at every stage of maturity, I’ve learned this the hard way.
I’ve watched organisations approach inclusion in very different ways.
Some house it within ERGs. Some treat it as a series of campaigns or calendar moments. Some lead it directly from the CEO’s office.
And many, perhaps most, place it firmly within HR or “People” space and sometimes it sits everywhere. Which usually means it sits nowhere lol
There’s a common argument that there is no right or wrong place for inclusion to sit, that as long as someone owns it, the work will get done.
Technically true, but I'm not sure I agree.
In practice, inclusion often ends up in HR with a very full agenda, high expectations and very little budget
And that’s where the problem begins.
Why Inclusion Fails When It’s Left to HR
This isn’t a criticism of HR. It’s a reality check about how organisations actually work.
HR is a critical function in any business. In recent years, it has rightly been repositioned as a strategic partner influencing talent, progression, learning and development, reward, wellbeing, and increasingly, inclusion.
But inclusion is not an HR issue.
It is a business culture issue. A leadership issue. A risk and dependency issue.
And when inclusion is left solely with HR, three predictable things tend to happen.
First, responsibility is quietly abdicated. Leaders begin to see inclusion as “being handled”. HR becomes the owner, the conscience, the fixer, while the business continues largely unchanged.
Second, HR is expected to influence decisions it does not actually make.
HR does not hire most people.
HR does not line-manage teams.
HR does not decide who is sponsored, stretched, or backed.
HR does not write succession plans, give performance ratings, or make restructuring decisions.
Yet HR is often asked to explain the outcomes.
Third, good intent outpaces capability. Many HR teams care deeply about inclusion, but have not been equipped to embed it meaningfully into systems and processes. That gap is rarely acknowledged, and even more rarely addressed.
We often assume that if someone works in HR, they automatically “gets” inclusion.
They don’t, for the same reason, being good at governance doesn’t automatically make someone a good leader.
Inclusion Needs to Be Led, Not Delegated
Inclusion must be owned by leaders, driven by the CEO, and woven into business strategy, not treated as a separate agenda item or delegated downward.
HR’s role is vital, but it is an enabling role, not a cultural one.
HR implements. Leaders decide.
Culture is shaped by:
- who leaders hire
- whom they promote
- whom they back
- whom they tolerate
- and whom they listen to
When inclusion sits solely with HR, we’re really protecting leadership from accountability.
I'm seeing this in real time..
We are currently working with a client who has just crossed the 250-employee threshold and is now required to publish a gender pay gap report.
Until now, inclusion had not been a strategic focus, not through malice, but because in high-growth businesses, growth took precedence. Now that reporting is a legal requirement, the CEO is asking, 'What’s our story, and how do we address this?'
When I spoke to the CEO, I could already tell the gap would be significant.
When I first met the HR team, the intention was clear, they wanted to do the right thing.
What was missing was the know-how.
I see this often.
HR teams are asked to diagnose and resolve issues that are the cumulative result of years of leadership decisions they did not make.
That isn’t fair. And it isn’t effective.
What HR Can and Should Be Enabled to Do
If inclusion is to be embedded properly, HR must be equipped, not burdened.
When leadership genuinely owns inclusion, HR becomes a powerful lever for change.
In practice, this looks like:
- Interrogating criteria, not just outcomes. Examining how potential, performance, and readiness are defined — and who those definitions advantage.
- Standardising decision-making, not personalities. Reducing reliance on subjective judgment in hiring, pay, and progression.
- Designing systems for difference, not conformity. From recruitment to flexible working to wellbeing — asking who the system works least well for.
- Building inclusion capability, not just compliance. Investing in inclusive design, cultural intelligence, and system-level bias, not only legislation.
- Partnering with leaders, not protecting them. Creating the conditions for challenge, not cushioning accountability.
Five Questions HR Should Be Asking Their CEO
If HR is to be effective, its role is not to own inclusion — but to challenge leadership to own it.
That begins with asking better questions.
- How does inclusion show up in your personal leadership decisions — not just in our values?
- Where are our systems most likely excluding people by default?
- Which leaders are rewarded for results that undermine culture — and why?
- How is inclusion embedded in business strategy and executive accountability?
- What do you expect HR to enable — and what do you personally own?
These questions reposition inclusion as a leadership and governance issue, not an HR task.
HR should not be carrying inclusion on its back. It should be holding the mirror up.
The Bottom Line
Inclusion fails when it’s treated as an HR project.
It succeeds when it’s understood as a leadership responsibility, a business risk, and a strategic advantage.
HR is not the culture. HR enables the culture.
And until leaders fully own that distinction, we’ll keep repeating the same patterns — with better language, but the same results.
At The Inclusive Foundations Programme, we support HR teams, internal comms functions, diversity councils, and leadership teams to move beyond intention and into system-level inclusion — embedding it directly into the fabric of how organisations operate.
