Author: E. Gooding, People & Culture Strategist

Date of publication: 10/08/2025

© 2025 E. Gooding. All rights reserved.

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People & Culture vs HR: Is It Just a New Name, or a New Way of Thinking About Work?

A modern white paper on the philosophical and practical differences between Human Resources and People & Culture in contemporary organisations.

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People & Culture vs HR: Understanding the Difference

 

Across modern organisations, leaders are re-examining how they think about work and the people who make it happen. The conversation often starts with a question: is People & Culture simply a modern rebrand of Human Resources, or is it something fundamentally different?

 

This question matters. The way a business defines its approach to people now shapes not only how it performs, but how it operates and how it is perceived. In an era where transparency, values, purpose, and employee experience have become business imperatives, the distinction between HR and People & Culture is more than semantics. It reflects what an organisation truly believes about its people.

 

At the time of writing, if you search for People and Culture vs HR or difference between HR and People and Culture, you’ll find dozens of interpretations. Many describe HR as transactional and People & Culture as strategic; others frame HR as process-driven and People & Culture as people-centred. But none quite capture the depth of the differences.

 

People & Culture is not HR rebranded. It is a different philosophy. It's a philosophy that moves beyond managing employment to intentionally shaping the human experience of work, and even beyond into their lives.

 

What Is HR (Today)?

 

Before we define People & Culture, it’s worth grounding ourselves in what Human Resources actually means in 2025.

 

Human Resource Management (HRM) is widely defined as the strategic and coherent approach to managing an organisation’s people so that they help the business gain a competitive advantage. In practice, HR covers recruitment, performance management, training, pay and benefits, compliance, and workforce planning.

Modern or “strategic” HR goes further. The CIPD defines Strategic HRM as a framework for aligning people policies and practices with the organisation’s long-term goals. This version of HR looks beyond administration to ensure that people strategy supports business strategy.

 

At its best, HR is the infrastructure that keeps an organisation fair, compliant, and operationally sound. It provides structure, consistency, and protection for both the business and its employees. Great HR also ensures a positive employee experience. In evolved strategic HR there is a belief that when you design a better experience for your people, they deliver better outcomes.

 

But as work, expectations, and social values have changed, so too must the philosophy that sits above those systems. The world of work now demands something broader and more human — a discipline that recognises people as the heart of culture, not just as resources within it.

 

What is People & Culture?

 

The real distinction begins with where each approach originates. HR is a function. It's an expert and skilled discipline that operates within the business. People & Culture is a philosophy, a way of leading that starts at the top. HR is driven by HR professionals. People & Culture must be driven and lived by the CEO, founder, and leadership team. Yes, it can be (and usually is) led and shaped by a People & Culture professional, but that professional is implementing a philosophy that already exists. It’s not a department you build beside the business; it’s a belief you build the business on.

 

The People side

 

Core belief: Work should be good for people. It should be genuinely, measurable and without agenda.

 

In the People & Culture philosophy, that belief isn’t a slogan or a nice idea; it’s the foundation everything else rests on. We start from a few simple assumptions: that treating people well leads to better results; that every organisation has a duty to meet a higher bar of decency; and that people are not a means to an end, but an end in themselves.

 

When we say genuinely, we mean that care for people must be real, not performative. It’s not enough to say 'our people are our greatest asset' while overworking them or ignoring their needs. Authenticity means the lived experience matches the brand story. If a company claims to value wellbeing, it has to show that in its workload design, its leadership behaviour, and in how it treats time away from the business (whether that's someone's evening, their weekend, their holiday or leave) not in a slogan, poster, or hashtag.

 

When we say measurably, we mean that being good for people can’t just be claimed; it must be evidenced. Organisations can and should track whether people feel safe, supported, included, and valued. They can measure belonging, fairness, trust, and growth. Accountability makes this philosophy tangible. Businesses shouldn’t simply believe they’re people-centred, they should be able to prove it.

 

And when we say without agenda, we mean that intent matters. People & Culture is not kindness as a productivity hack. It’s not  a case of 'be nice so they’ll stay longer'. It’s doing the right thing because it’s the right thing to do. Yes, better results will follow, but the point is the human outcome, not the corporate return.

 

This is what separates People & Culture from traditional HR thinking. HR often seeks to design experiences that improve performance. People & Culture seeks to create experiences that improve people. It recognises that a business is nothing without its people, and if that’s true, the way you treat them must be genuine, accountable, and guided by values, not optics.

 

People & Culture also honours individuality. It accepts that everyone’s circumstances, strengths, and ambitions are different, and it builds systems flexible enough to allow each person to thrive as both a worker and a human being. Work should add to someone’s life, not just take from it.

 

That is the philosophical heart of People & Culture. It's a belief that decency, growth, and humanity are not side projects of business, but the very conditions that make business sustainable.

 

The Culture side

 

Core belief: In the People & Culture philosophy, we start from the belief that culture shouldn’t happen by accident. It’s a choice, a design which should be unique to each organisation.

 

Culture exists whether you plan for it or not. It begins on day one, with the founder, with their beliefs, their habits, their blind spots, their ways of working, and their way of making decisions. These early choices and behaviours become the DNA of the business. As the organisation grows, that DNA replicates and mutates through every hire, every manager, into the stories the organisation tells itself over time (EG anecdotes, and examples people use about previous situations and teach people what is rewarded - or 'punished').

 

Left alone, culture will evolve on its own terms. It will become whatever the loudest voices or most powerful patterns allow it to be. This can work for a while, but eventually it will shape the company rather than the company shaping it, and the bigger and more complex a business becomes, the harder that is to undo or change.

 

In the People & Culture philosophy, culture is not a soft by-product of HR activity or internal comms. It's a core business system that should be intentionally designed, actively nurtured, and woven into strategy from day one (though we note that this rarely happens).

 

It’s not a mood or a vibe or passing 'fluff'. It’s the invisible architecture that determines how decisions are made, how people behave when no one is watching, and how the organisation responds to pressure.

 

Culture should be owned and championed by the person at the top. Whereas this can be led and contributed towards by others (EG People & Culture leads and or HR), the responsibility for, and championing of the culture should not be delegated or outsourced. Leaders make or break the cultural tone through what they prioritise, tolerate, and reward. Every action either reinforces or erodes it.

 

And critically (but often missed), the reach of culture extends far beyond 'a people thing' inside the company. Culture and brand are two sides of the same coin. How you treat your people inevitably shows up in how your organisation treats its customers, partners, and community. In other words, the reach of the culture is the same as the reach of your brand.

 

It influences every relationship your business has: who wants to work with you, who wants to buy from you, who trusts you enough to invest in you. It determines how decisions get made, how people advocate for your organisation, how they represent the business in rooms you’ll never be in. Culture shapes the tone of your customer service, the honesty of your leadership, and the integrity of your growth. When it’s strong and intentional, it becomes your competitive edge. When it’s left to grow wild, it becomes your biggest risk.

 

This is why, in the People & Culture philosophy, culture isn’t a backdrop. It’s a strategic lever. It's less measurable than revenue, but more defining than almost anything else.

 

Defining People & Culture

 

People & Culture brings together two disciplines that are often treated separately but are, in reality, inseparable: how you treat your people, and the environment they create together. Where the People side is about experience, enablement, and humanity, the Culture side is about design, purpose, and collective behaviour. Together, they form a single philosophy; a belief that good work for people and good business are not competing ideas, but mutually reinforcing ones.

 

People & Culture assumes three things as truth.

1- That people are not resources to be managed, but humans to be trusted, developed, and cared for.

2- That culture exists whether you plan for it or not, and that it’s the organisation’s responsibility to shape it.

3- That how you treat your people will always find its way into your brand, your reputation, and your results.

 

In practice, People & Culture isn’t a new name for HR, it’s a different starting point. HR asks, 'What do we need from our people to achieve the business plan?' People & Culture asks, 'What kind of business do we need to be for people to do their best work, and in doing so, buy into our purpose and deliver our vision?'

 

This isn’t about slogans or semantics. It’s about philosophy in action. It's about designing work that’s good for humans and, by extension, good for business.

 

Why It Matters

 

This is a modern white paper created to challenge how we think about work. The old industrial logic of HR, control, compliance, and containment, simply can’t keep up with the fast-evolving, values-driven, human world we now live and work in.

 

People & Culture is not a fluffy alternative. It’s the next stage of organisational maturity which asks harder questions, demands more honesty, and refuses to separate commercial success from human experience.

 

For founders and leaders, this matters because culture is no longer a nice-to-have. It’s how your business shows up in the world. It's how you attract people, how you keep them, and how you earn trust. In an age where reputation spreads in minutes, how you treat your people is how your brand will be judged. People & Culture is not about being kind instead of commercial. It’s about recognising that the two are now the same thing. When people are well, supported, and proud of where they work, performance follows naturally.

 

The organisations that will win in the next decade are those that design for humanity. Consciously, intelligently, and without lip-service.

 

NOTE: People & Culture doesn’t erase the need for HR. The fundamentals still matter EG fair pay, contracts, legal compliance, policies etc, all the nuts and bolts that protect people and the organisation. But these are administrative essentials, not strategic ones. They sit alongside finance and compliance and are critical to keeping the business running, but not what gives it meaning or direction.

 

Final Thought

 

Choosing People & Culture over HR isn’t an upgrade, it’s an ideological decision. It’s the decision to build a business that treats people as humans, not resources; that sees culture as strategy, not decoration, and it's not for every company.

 

HR and People & Culture are different systems built on different beliefs. HR manages the mechanics of employment and shapes the experience of work through structures and systems. People & Culture shapes it through purpose and intent. HR protects the organisation from risk. People & Culture propels it towards purpose.

 

The point is not that one evolved from the other, it’s that modern leaders now face an ideological choice. Keep operating within the old framework, or commit to something bolder: a business where people thrive and the culture is woven into strategy and intentionally designed to deliver the vision.

 

Sources and Further Reading