When HR is Broken: It’s Time to Evolve, Not Eliminate
I read a lot of posts about emerging HR trends, many of which (spoiler alert) focus on AI taking over HR. I have plenty of thoughts on that topic, but I’ll save those for another post (because no, ChatGPT can’t replace your entire people team). But a recent post from Ryan Breslow, CEO of Bolt, really stopped me in my scroll. In it, he announced that Bolt had eliminated their HR department.
At first, I thought it was just clickbait. But as I kept reading, it stuck with me. Why would a CEO decide that an entire function designed to support people and the business was no longer necessary? I started writing a short post to share my thoughts, but quickly realized I had too much to say for a single LinkedIn comment. So here’s the first installment of what may become many more.
Let’s go back to Breslow’s announcement. In his post, he describes HR as “middlemen getting in the way,” which led to the decision to cut the function entirely. Ouch. But honestly, it’s not the first time I’ve heard HR described this way. We’ve all heard it: the HR police. The department that only exists to tell you what you legally can and can’t do.
But is that what HR really is? Or is the model he experienced broken from the start?
In my career, I’ve worked in both large enterprises and fast-growing startups. I’ve seen HR done well, and I’ve seen where it gets it wrong. I've even found myself stuck in those reactive, policy-driven models where you’re more focused on putting out fires than lighting a path forward. That version of HR? It's exhausting. And honestly, it does feel like it gets in the way.
But here’s the thing: the best HR leaders I’ve worked with, and been lucky to learn from, showed me that HR can be so much more. When HR is done right, it’s not about telling people “no.” It’s about helping leaders find the right “yes.” It’s about partnering with the business to shape strategy, support performance, and drive culture. It’s about asking hard questions, offering solutions that work for people and the bottom line, and knowing when to push back and when to build a bridge.
What Breslow’s post tells me isn’t that HR is the problem. It tells me that HR’s role was the problem at Bolt. That’s not just an HR issue. It’s also a company leadership one. The role HR plays is shaped by how leadership chooses to leverage it. Business strategy and people strategy are intertwined. Treating them as separate or sequential is a costly mistake.
When HR is reduced to a compliance checkpoint, it will always feel like a roadblock. But the solution isn’t to eliminate it. It’s to evolve it. That starts with shifting from a traditional, siloed HR function to a business partner model where HR is fully aligned with the company’s goals.
That means:
HR goals tied to business KPIs—not just headcount and handbook updates, but things like engagement impact on productivity and retention of top talent.
Strategic partnership with leadership—HR should be in the room when business strategy is being set, not brought in afterward to clean up the implications.
Using data, not just gut instinct—to measure what’s working, course correct what isn’t.
Being proactive instead of reactive—building systems and culture that scale, not just patching issues as they arise.
Let’s be honest: sometimes it’s not the HR team that’s broken, it’s how business leaders view and engage with the HR function. If leadership sees HR as purely administrative, that’s likely what they’ll get. But if they invite HR in as a strategic thought partner, someone who understands both people and business levers, they’ll unlock an entirely different level of value. Breslow’s decision has only compounded his people and culture problems.
You can't expect HR to help shape the future of the business if they’re consistently left out of the conversations that determine it. When people leaders are in the room where it happens, they can help ensure business decisions consider employee impact, change management, organizational design, and long-term sustainability. Leave them out, and you miss the opportunity to build intentional culture and talent strategies alongside your product or growth plans.
When companies eliminate HR altogether, they don’t just lose a department; they lose the connective tissue between their people and their purpose. They offload people issues onto managers who may not be trained to handle them. They risk missteps in culture and communication. They lose guidance on compliance. And over time, they chip away at trust.
So no, I don’t think HR is broken. I think too many companies have built it on the wrong foundation, and too many leaders have misunderstood the value it can bring.
We don’t need to dismantle the function. We need to reimagine it.
And it starts by asking the right question, not “Do we need HR?” but “Do we have the right HR, in the right conversations, at the right time?”
That said, HR leaders also need to take ownership and ask themselves regularly, “Am I supporting the business, or am I policing it?” That self-awareness is critical if we want to move from being seen as a blocker to being valued as a partner.
This is the conversation I hope more business leaders will have. And it’s the one I’m going to keep writing about because people strategy is business strategy. And HR, when done right, is one of the most powerful drivers of performance and growth a company can have. It’s what fuels high performance.
More to come…
