What does the BP
in HRBP mean?
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In your company directory, someone's job title says HRBP. HR means human resources—everyone gets that. But what's the BP? BP stands for Business Partner. Put simply: a teammate at your side.
But a partner to whom? And why? Let's first look at how HR used to work. Picture a company as a football club. Each department is a team, and the department head is the coach. HR used to sit in an office in the club building. Contracts, payroll, new hires, departures.
When a team needs a player, the coach sends a form. HR hires to the form, and sends the player back to the pitch. The paperwork is fast and accurate. But from the office, you can't see the pitch. Who's been off lately? Which two players aren't getting along? What kind of player will next season need?
In 1997, Dave Ulrich, a professor at the University of Michigan, published a book. He argued HR can't just process paperwork in the back. It has to go stand beside the business. That book is where the term HR Business Partner took off. Later, many large companies split HR into three parts.
Part one handles the paperwork in one place: contracts, payroll, benefits. Part two is the experts: they work out pay and reviews, and design plans for the whole company. Part three is the BP: out of the building, with one team, on the sideline every day.
He shares a bench with the coach. The coach is there to win; he looks after the people: who to hire when a spot opens, how to bring new players along, and getting to the bottom of a falling-out. Some Chinese companies do this too. Alibaba calls this person the commissar, paired with a business manager. The manager owns the results; the commissar looks after people and the team. Everyone on a team reports to the coach. The BP doesn't: he sits beside the coach every day, but he still reports to HR.
So he knows the team, but doesn't just answer to the coach. If something seems wrong, he can say so. Back to the directory. The HRBP is the HR person posted to your department, partnered with your boss. Thinking of switching roles, or not getting along with the team? For people stuff like that, you can talk to him first.
For paperwork, still go to the desk. And the BP idea spread beyond HR. Finance sends people out to the teams too: the finance BP. What other kinds of BP does your company have?
BP means “partner”
BP stands for Business Partner. Put simply: a partner.
An HRBP is the HR person who works as a partner to one department’s boss.
From the office window
to the sideline
Think of a company as a sports club: each department is a team, and its boss is the head coach.
In 1997, Dave Ulrich, a professor at the University of Michigan, wrote that HR can’t just do paperwork in the back; it has to work right beside the business. The term “HR business partner” spread from that book.
HR split into three parts
Not every company splits it this way. In a 2007 survey by CIPD, the UK’s HR professional body, 38% of employers had BPs.
What the person
on the bench does
who to hire
sides first
Sits next to the boss,
but doesn’t report to them
stays in HR So they know the team, but don’t only answer to its boss, and can speak up when something seems off. Alibaba calls this role the “commissar” (zhengwei, a word borrowed from army units, where one officer looks after the troops): the business manager owns results, the commissar looks after people and the team.
the HR person
sent to your team
to partner your boss.
Quick check
What does the BP in HRBP mean?
Like a club sending someone to sit on the bench beside the coach: a BP is a partner, not a plan, and not the coach's boss.
