For HR M&A leaders, this creates a familiar tension: more deals, more complexity, and less room for error.
We're seeing organizations deal volume increasing over the next year, even as economic and geopolitical uncertainty continues to cloud the picture. Our M&A Barometer Study shows that 54% of companies expect to execute more deals in 2026.
For HR M&A leaders, this creates a familiar tension: more deals, more complexity, and need for speed.
Yet many HR M&A teams we work with are operating with unprecedented constraints. The challenge of “having limited internal resources” has surged to 47%, a 12% increase year over year—clear evidence that HR teams are being asked to deliver more impact with less capacity.
When deal activity increases, the instinctive response has often been to add more headcount. In today’s environment, that approach is proving inefficient and ineffective. Simply adding bodies does not increase speed to impact or desired outcome.
Instead, HR M&A teams need access to the right capabilities at the right moment. Those capabilities may include deep experience in a specific transaction type (e.g., carve-out, divestiture, etc.), or expertise to rapidly stand-up HR operations for newly independent entities or country-specific total rewards and compliance knowledge. At the same time, business expectations for the HR M&A teams are changing. Especially for the talent deals, where retaining the skills are critical to deal success, high-touch and hyper personalization is an important driver for stakeholder engagement and talent experience.
In addition to challenges related to capability, our research shows this pressure is compounded by persistent data challenges: 68% of survey respondents report struggling with data completeness and integrity during due diligence, when ability to take decisive action with confidence and speed matter most. When bandwidth is stretched and inputs are imperfect, the margin for error becomes razor thin.
More importantly, HR teams are being asked to solve new problems. This shift is already being recognized by forward-thinking leaders. As Davo Lafreniere, VP of Strategy and Impact at Plusgrade, shares, , “We’ve had a seat at the table, now it’s time to show why we’re still here. HR needs to solve business challenges, not HR problems, and add value to improve business performance to continue to be a true partner.”
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The deals where we [HR] add the most value aren't the clean ones, they're the messy ones. Building a function that can make a clear call at 70-80% information is a capability. You have to train for that."
Davo Lafreniere
VP of Strategy and Impact at Plusgrade
Lafrenier adds, “The deals where we add the most value aren't the clean ones, they're the messy ones. Building a function that can make a clear call at 70-80% information is a capability. You have to train for that.”
Speed to impact will not be achieved by doing more of the same. We need to solve for challenges related to capacity and capability in an imperfect deal environment. It will come from changing how the work gets done despite the imperfect deal environment.
The shift underway is from building capacity to orchestrating expertise, accelerating speed to impact, and solving business problems.
The shift underway is from building capacity to orchestrating expertise, accelerating speed to impact, and solving business problems.
Pillar 1: Define what is “good enough” and “must get right” when leveraging AI
In our experience, HR teams rarely have complete, clean, and consistent data when critical M&A decisions must be made. In reality, that moment rarely arrives. Waiting for “perfect” information can slow the deal or forces decisions to be made too late to matter.
AI offers a way forward—but only if leaders are clear about its role. The most effective HR M&A teams are not using AI to replace judgment. They are using it to absorb complexity so humans can focus on what truly matters: Making the decisions.
In M&A, training AI does not mean waiting for perfect data. As a practical example, the high-performing HR M&A teams we work with start with bounded, high‑value use cases for repeatable tasks—such as workforce risk assessment or benefits side-by-side analysis—where directionally right insights matter more than precision. AI is used to ingest fragmented inputs (HRIS extracts, benefits files, policy documents) and surface inconsistencies, gaps, and outliers, not final answers. HR leaders then focus their judgment on the highest‑risk areas rather than reconciling every data point.
Over time, we have seen teams improve results by labeling decisions, not data; capturing which assumptions held, where data misled, and which indicators best predicted outcomes like attrition. Clear guardrails define where human sign‑off is required. The result: faster, more confident decisions despite imperfect information.
Pillar 2: Build repeatable frameworks that remove friction
Every deal has unique features—but we see too much HR M&A work is unnecessarily bespoke. When teams reinvent core elements of the process for every transaction, speed suffers and cognitive load increases.
For example, through our work with divesting organizations, we've developed frameworks that demonstrate what becomes possible when repeatability and expertise are embedded into the operating model. Our Divestiture in a Box (DIAB) approach, for example, helps organizations achieve HR stand-up readiness in approximately 20 weeks—compared to the 6–12-month industry average—by combining a global playbook, pre-negotiated vendor ecosystem, and single point of coordination. This allows internal HR leaders to focus on value realization rather than operational rebuild. With a repeatable framework that provides a single point of coordination across payroll, benefits, HR technology, and employee experience, tools like our DIAB helps organizations accelerate Day One readiness, reduce Transition Service Agreements(TSA) reliance, minimize risk, and free internal HR leaders to focus on value realization and change leadership.
More broadly, every HR M&A team should ask: what should never be a blank page again? Standardizing core assumptions, minimum data standards, and repeatable execution approaches allows teams to move from reactive delivery to deliberate leadership.
Pillar 3: Build confidence under ambiguity
In today’s imperfect M&A environment, we see HR’s most valuable capability is confidence under ambiguity. High-impact HR M&A leaders distinguish themselves by making clear calls without perfect data, translating business goals into people decisions, keeping leaders focused on value realization, and equipping managers to lead through uncertainty.
As an example, upskilling for ambiguity is less about formal training and more about decision readiness. High‑performing HR M&A teams we work with shift from checklist‑driven execution to scenario‑based working sessions, where leaders rehearse decisions with partial data—such as unexpected attrition risk, leadership misalignment, or delayed inputs.
Teams build confidence by explicitly defining which decisions can proceed with incomplete information, what risks are acceptable, and when escalation is required. This creates shared language and reduces hesitation when uncertainty arises.
Finally, from what we’ve seen with the high-performing clients we work with, is experienced deal leaders actively coach less seasoned practitioners during live transactions, accelerating learning through real decisions—not hypotheticals. Over time, this builds a bench of HR leaders comfortable operating with ambiguity, grounded in experience rather than process alone.
The strategic mandate
The next wave of M&A activity will not wait for HR teams to feel ready—or for conditions to become clearer. Capacity must be built now, by intentionally orchestrating expertise, tools, and decision support to move faster in imperfect conditions.
The most effective HR M&A leaders are shifting their focus from effort to impact. We have helped them use AI to surface risk and signal where judgment is required, deploy repeatable frameworks to eliminate unnecessary reinvention, and bring in targeted skills and experience at the moments that matter most.
Speed to impact is no longer about doing more work. It is about making better decisions sooner, with clarity on what must be right, what is good enough and where human judgment creates the greatest value. HR leaders who embrace this model with us will not only accelerate deal execution—they will help organizations retain critical talent, realize value faster, and navigate ambiguity with confidence.
The future of M&A will continue to be imperfect. HR’s role is not to eliminate that ambiguity, but to lead through it—human‑centric, technology‑accelerated, and relentlessly focused on business outcomes.
Asumi Ishibashi is a senior director in the Employee Experience (EX) business and the M&A lead for Canada. Her background is in organizational transformation, change management, and she serves as the employee experience solutions architect for M&A.
Elise Freeman, senior director in EX, is a key contributor to the article.
