McLean & Company, the trusted partner of HR and leadership professionals worldwide, has released its HR Organizational Alignment (HROA) & HR Management & Governance (HRMG) Benchmarking Report 2025. Drawing on responses from over 3,000 organizational leaders and nearly 1,000 HR professionals, the report delivers benchmarks and expert insight across nine core HR functions. Findings reveal a clear trend: While HR excels in operational delivery, strategic partnership continues to lag, underscoring the need for HR to expand its influence and alignment with organizational priorities in the years ahead.

TORONTO , Oct. 7, 2025 /PRNewswire/ – McLean & Companya global HR research and advisory firm, has released its HR Organizational Alignment (HROA) and HR Management & Governance (HRMG) 2025 Benchmarking Report, providing HR leaders with evidence-based insights to evaluate performance, identify organizational priorities, and strengthen HR’s alignment with business goals. The report is based on diagnostic data from 50 organizations and 3,078 organizational leaders (hroa) and 32 organizations and 971 HR respondents (HRMG). It benchmarks satisfaction, effectiveness, and alignment across nine core HR functions. Percentile rankings and cross-survey comparisons further illustrate how organizational leaders, HR leaders, and HR teams view HR’s role and performance.

McLean & Company’s findings outline a recurring gap: in 49 of 50 organizations, leaders rated HR’s operational support higher than its ability to act as a strategic partner. This insight underscores the opportunity for HR to extend its influence beyond day-to-day execution and strengthen its role in shaping organizational strategy.

“Strategic alignment starts with understanding. This benchmarking report connects the dots between what organizational leaders value and how HR executes,” says Amanda Chaitnarinepractice lead, HR Research & Advisory Services, at McLean & Company. “Organizations should use benchmarking data as a guideline and feel empowered to set attainable, data-driven goals that help them stay focused on improvement. This will help organizations move faster while earning trust and making better decisions.”

Key findings from McLean & Company’s 2025 Benchmarking Report

• Strategic partnership remains limited. Only 30% of leaders are highly satisfied with HR’s consultation, and just 24% are highly satisfied that HR programs support organizational goals. These moderate averages indicate room to elevate impact.
• Talent Management is underperforming where it matters most. Talent Management was ranked 1st in importance by leaders but 8th in satisfaction (avg. 6.61/10), with only 20% highly satisfied. Leaders cited succession planning, performance management, and internal mobility as persistent challenges.
• Organizational Effectiveness shows critical misalignmentranked 3rd in importance but 7th in satisfaction (avg. 6.90/10), with feedback pointing to weak HR involvement in strategy and ineffective change management.
• Talent Acquisition continues to be a top concernranked 2nd in importance but 6th in satisfaction (avg. 6.93/10). Only 26% of leaders are highly satisfied, citing slow processes, poor candidate pools, and unclear employer branding.
• Perception gaps persist between HR leaders and teams. Just 13% of HR leaders rated their function as highly effective, compared with 28% of HR team members, suggesting leaders see greater unmet strategic potential and the need to define what excellence looks like.
• HR Technology & Analytics is underleveraged. Although ranked lowest in both importance and satisfaction (avg. 6.57/10), qualitative feedback shows technology and people data are central to improving decision-making, efficiency, and HR’s credibility as a strategic partner.

Using the report to turn insight into action

Beyond benchmarking performance, McLean & Company’s report is intended to be a practical decision-making tool. It provides HR leaders with a framework to interpret results in context, identify which gaps matter most, and translate diagnostic findings into targeted actions that reflect organizational priorities.

The 2025 HR Organizational Alignment (HROA) & HR Management & Governance (HRMG) Benchmarking Report guides organizations to:

1. Review results in context. McLean & Company emphasizes that HROA and HRMG results should be reviewed alongside the overall benchmarks included in the report, to understand where the organization stands. Internal importance ratings should remain the most reliable guide to reflect organizational realities.
2. Assess gaps carefully. Findings from the report note that large gaps between results and benchmarks may highlight opportunities for improvement or areas of strength. However, being below the benchmark is not necessarily negative if the area is not a current organizational priority.
3. Prioritize based on organizational needs. Benchmarking insights are most valuable when applied to an organization’s specific context, with areas of HR performance and alignment prioritized according to strategic objectives.

As organizations navigate rapid change, McLean & Company advises that HR’s ability to connect operational excellence with strategic influence will be essential. By leveraging these benchmarks, leaders gain the evidence needed to prioritize what matters most and position HR as a trusted partner in driving organizational success.

As organizations navigate ongoing change, HR’s ability to connect operational excellence with strategic influence will determine its long-term effectiveness. By leveraging diagnostic and benchmarking insights in partnership with McLean & Company’s Strategy Workshops and Executive Servicesorganizations can move beyond measurement to meaningful impact.

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About McLean & Company

McLean & Company pairs evidence-based research and immediately applicable tools with deep HR expertise to position organizations to meet today’s needs and prepare for the future. The global HR research and advisory firm’s member organizations enjoy comprehensive resources, full-service diagnostics, workshops, action plans, and advisory services for all levels of HR professionals, from executive leadership to HR leaders to HR team members, that help shape workplaces where everyone thrives.

McLean & Company is a division of Info-Tech Research Group.

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SOURCE McLean & Company