2025-2026 CHRO Compensation: The Minority Report

Research by Alexis Whyte

As part of the 2025 CHRO Compensation study, HRO Today surveyed HR executives from North America and EMEA, asking questions that cover racial and ethnic minority groups’ compensation and representational diversity within the workforce, and compiled publicly available CHRO compensation data. This information was used to expand upon the CHRO Compensation Report, adding context and insights to compensation trends and shifts from a racial and ethnic minority perspective among senior HR leaders.

Overall, HR is becoming increasingly impactful to company performance and metrics. HR’s top position, typically the CHRO, is now a crucial part of the C-Suite. With higher levels of responsibility, HR executive compensation should accurately reflect the industry’s growth. But how do HR executives feel about their compensation compared to their growing roles? And how do these insights change with company size, perceived levels of representational diversity, and comparability, or fairness, in compensation by race or ethnicity?

The Impact:

Several studies show diversity within the workforce leads to more inclusive practices, higher employee retention, and better overall financial success. However, as some US-based companies repeal their DEI initiatives, the perceived importance and value of representational diversity could shift, along with levels of compensation. On average, organizations with a diverse leadership team see a 19% increase in revenue compared to organizations with below-average levels of executive diversity. Though the impact of representational diversity has been proven, senior HR compensation hasn’t caught up quite yet. This study analyzes trends in HR executive compensation and perceptions of diversity among racial/minority groups to provide an overarching view into HR executive minority compensation and workforce composition.

Key Takeaways from this Research:

• Based on publicly available compensation data for CHROs in the Fortune 1000, compensation is comparable between racial/minority ethnic groups and Caucasians. HR executives from racial and ethnic minority groups earned more total compensation but Caucasians earn more in salary, by 4.3%.
• Fewer HR executives believe racial/ethnic minority groups in executive roles are compensated on par with other executives compared to last year’s findings. The level of agreement here decreased from 75% to 73%.
• Senior leaders’ perceptions of representational diversity within their HR department fell year-over-year.
• HR executives from larger organizations are more likely to agree their HR leadership team and department are diverse and that compensation is comparable between racial/ethnic minority groups and Caucasians.

Read the full report here.