Companies hired a ton of HR workers during the pandemic era—but they’re finally starting to slow down

The early years of the pandemic unleashed a series of crises for companies and their HR teams as employers navigated mass layoffs, the rise of remote work, subsequent return to office wars, and the “Great Resignation.” That turbulence led to a major increase in HR hiring, according to a new report. 

The ratio of HR personnel per 100 employees increased 11% between 2018 and 2023, according to ADP’s analysis of payroll and HR data. Around 2.6 HR professionals were employed per 100 workers in 2023, compared to 2.35 in 2018. 

But within this statistic, an important trend stands out: the surge in HR hires is fueled in part by a massive increase in talent recruiting roles. The share of recruiters on HR teams grew by more than 20% between 2018 and 2023. That play for talent specialists is due to the red-hot jobs market over the past few years. 

“In tight labor markets, organizations will bulk up their HR offices with recruiters and other specialists to gain an advantage in the pursuit of talent,” Jeff Nezaj, director of data analytics at ADP’s Research Institute, wrote in the report. That recruiting was especially crucial in low-wage and frontline industries like hospitality, which have seen exceptionally high turnover rates in the last three years.  

The job market has continued to defy all expectations and still remains hot. But ADP’s data found that year-over-year growth of recruiting personnel fell 6% between 2022 and 2023—a sign that the mad rush for talent may finally be starting to ebb. And Nezaj notes that as a whole, “HR divisions might shrink when labor demand cools.”

“One of the trends I’m seeing in the broader world of HR is: Work has changed, we now can take a breath, because we’re over the pandemic panic of [saying], ‘Ah, what do we do?’” Amy Leschke-Kahle, ADP’s vice president of talent insights and innovation, tells Fortune. She says that when it comes to their own internal hiring, HR leaders should press pause and ask themselves a few key questions:

1. Is the organization serving our external customers well, and are we set up to do that?
2. Is our HR team structured correctly?
3. What skills do our HR personnel need to support our talent strategy?
4. Do we need to reskill or redeploy certain HR employees to other roles?

“Some different questions that we probably, as HR practitioners and HR leaders, have not been asking,” she adds.

Paige McGlauflin
paige.mcglauflin@fortune.com
@paidion

Today’s edition was curated by Emma Burleigh.

Around the Table

A round-up of the most important HR headlines.

- Vice Media plans to fire hundreds of employees after the company’s recent decision to no longer publish on its website. It previously filed for bankruptcy last year. AP

- Mass firings aren’t necessarily reflective of an economic downturn—companies are cutting costs and becoming more efficient in order to woo their investors. Business Insider

- A Mercedes executive used a mandatory meeting this week to advise the company’s Alabama plant workers against joining the United Auto Workers union. Bloomberg

- A man has been charged by U.S. regulators with insider trading and accused of using confidential information he overheard from his wife’s work-from-home meetings. The Guardian

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