By Jamie Thomson, AI consultant with 25 years' experience in HR and L&D. Published 23 October 2026.
A CHRO can use Microsoft 365 Copilot or Claude to prepare for a board meeting by setting up purpose-built agents, known as skills, that interview them for context and then draft board-ready work. The five skills below cover the board people paper, people KPIs, attrition analysis, people strategy and high-stakes staff communications. All five are free to copy from the CHRO AI Playbook, and each one takes a few minutes to set up.
Key findings
- Microsoft 365 Copilot's Agent Builder lets a user create an agent by selecting New agent, then Skip to configure, and pasting in a name of up to 30 characters, a description of up to 1,000 characters and instructions of up to 8,000 characters (Microsoft Learn).
- Microsoft states that Copilot only surfaces organisational data to which an individual user has at least view permissions, and that prompts and responses are not used to train foundation models (Microsoft Learn).
- Claude supports custom skills on its Free, Pro, Max, Team and Enterprise plans, provided code execution is switched on (Claude Help Center).
- Provision 29 of the UK Corporate Governance Code 2024 requires boards to review all material controls, including operational and compliance controls, and applies to accounting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2026 (Financial Reporting Council).
- Any employer in Great Britain with 250 or more employees on its snapshot date must report its gender pay gap each year (GOV.UK).
Which 5 AI skills should a CHRO use before a board meeting?
| Skill | Skill file | What you get | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| All the Right Answers | chro-board-people-report | A board paper, scorecard, risk view, Q&A brief and a two-minute opening script | The people section of a board or committee pack |
| Metrics with Meaning | chro-people-kpis | 6 to 12 people KPIs with definitions, formulas, owners and thresholds | Replacing a bloated HR report the board ignores |
| Whys not Wheres | chro-people-analytics | A decision-ready analysis of drivers, costs and options | Explaining why something is happening, not just where |
| Get Focused | chro-hr-strategy | 3 to 5 costed priorities, measures and a stop list | Setting or refreshing the people strategy |
| Set the Tone | chro-executive-communication | A communication plan, messages, an all-hands script and an honest Q&A | Announcing a restructure, closure or leadership change |
Each skill works the same way. It asks for the context it needs in one go, states its assumptions if you skip a question, and then produces a draft built for directors rather than for HR.
How can AI help a CHRO prepare a board people paper?
The All the Right Answers skill (chro-board-people-report) drafts the people section of a board or committee pack. It interviews you about the forum, the decision you need, the people headlines and the challenge you expect. It then produces a concise paper with a scorecard, issues and risks, a confidential Q&A brief of the questions directors are likely to ask, and a two-minute opening script.
The Q&A brief is the part most CHROs value. It means you are not caught out by a left-field question from a director who skim-read the paper.
Try asking:
- "Draft our people and culture paper for next month's board. Sales attrition is up."
- "Give me the 20 hardest board questions on our restructure and how to answer them."
Which people KPIs should a CHRO report to the board?
The Metrics with Meaning skill (chro-people-kpis) builds a focused set of 6 to 12 people KPIs tied to the business strategy. It produces a KPI framework, a definition card for each measure with its formula, owner, target and thresholds, a scorecard layout, and a briefing that links the top measures to cost for the CFO.
A short, well-defined set is more useful to a board than a long report, because every measure on it has an owner and a threshold that triggers action.
Try asking:
- "Our monthly HR report has 40 metrics and the exec ignores it. Cut it to what matters."
- "Write definition cards for turnover, time to fill, absence and internal mobility."
How do I find out why employees are leaving?
The Whys not Wheres skill (chro-people-analytics) turns a business question and your workforce data into a decision-ready analysis. It frames the question, agrees definitions, checks data quality, protects privacy by suppressing small groups, finds the drivers, sizes the cost using your own figures and sets out options with a recommendation.
Agreeing definitions first matters, because inconsistent definitions of leavers or headcount are the quickest way to lose a people investment argument with a finance director.
Try asking:
- "Here is our leavers data. Tell me why we lose people in their first 18 months and what to do."
- "Test whether promotion rates differ by gender and ethnicity across our grades and how to present it."
How do I build a people strategy the board will fund?
The Get Focused skill (chro-hr-strategy) builds a multi-year people strategy that starts from the business strategy rather than from HR's existing programmes. It produces 3 to 5 priorities, each with an owner, cost and outcome measures, plus a risk view, a governance cadence and a stop list of what HR will stop doing to fund the priorities.
The stop list is what makes the strategy credible to a CFO, because it shows where the money and capacity come from.
Try asking:
- "Build a three-year people strategy for my organisation. Interview me first, then give me 3 to 5 costed priorities, measures and a stop list."
- "Our new CEO wants to know what HR is for. Draft a two-page people strategy summary for the next ExCo."
How should HR communicate a restructure or site closure?
The Set the Tone skill (chro-executive-communication) plans and drafts high-stakes people communications, including restructures, redundancy proposals, TUPE transfers, leadership changes and pay decisions. It produces a communication plan, the messages themselves, an all-hands script, a manager pack and an honest Q&A.
It flags UK legal constraints, such as collective consultation duties, so you can take legal advice before anything is announced. It does not replace that advice.
Try asking:
- "We propose closing a site affecting 140 roles. Draft the communication plan and message to affected staff."
- "Our CFO is leaving unexpectedly. Draft the internal announcement and manager talking points."
How do I set up a skill in Microsoft 365 Copilot?
- Open Microsoft 365 Copilot at microsoft365.com/chat, or in Microsoft Teams on desktop or the web.
- Select New agent, then Skip to configure. This opens the Configure tab.
- Copy the Name, Description and Instructions for the skill from the CHRO AI Playbook and paste each into the matching field.
- Optionally, add the example requests as Starter prompts so they appear as buttons.
- Select Create.
Agent creation depends on your organisation's Microsoft 365 licence and settings, so check with your IT team if you do not see New agent.
How do I use a skill in Claude?
The quickest way is to create a Project in Claude, paste the skill into the Project instructions and start a chat in that Project. To make a skill available in every chat, download the skill as a .zip from the playbook and upload it under Customize, then Skills. Custom skills need code execution switched on in Claude's settings.
Is it safe to use AI with HR data for board papers?
It is safe when you use the tools your organisation has approved and follow its AI and data protection policies. Microsoft states that Microsoft 365 Copilot only surfaces data a user already has permission to view and does not use prompts to train its foundation models. Even so, keep personal data to the minimum the task needs, aggregate or anonymise workforce data where you can, and involve your Data Protection Officer before analysing special category data such as health or ethnicity.
What these skills do not do
These skills draft; they do not decide. They work only with the information you give them or that your approved tools can already access, so a skill cannot check figures it has not seen. They do not replace legal, tax or pensions advice, and every output should be reviewed by you before it reaches a board.
Frequently asked questions
Are the CHRO AI Playbook skills free?
Yes. All five skills in this release are free to copy from the CHRO AI Playbook, with no sign-up needed.
Do I need a Microsoft 365 Copilot licence to use these skills?
You need access to Agent Builder in Microsoft 365 Copilot, which depends on your organisation's licence and settings. If you cannot create agents, you can use the same skills in Claude instead.
Can I edit the skills to fit my organisation?
Yes. Each skill is plain text, so you can change the wording, add your own terminology or remove sections before you paste it into Copilot or Claude.
Do the skills work for organisations outside the UK?
Yes. The skills default to UK employment context and British English, and they adapt when you tell them which jurisdiction you are working in.
Where do the skills come from?
The skills were compiled by Jamie Thomson from open-source skills published under the MIT licence, then rewritten as guided workflows for CHROs with UK employment context added and unsourced statistics removed.
Will there be more skills?
Yes. The CHRO AI Playbook releases new sets of five skills on themes including the Employment Rights Act, AI governance and workforce planning.
Want these running in your HR team?
I run a half-day workshop that sets up your top 5 agents in your own Microsoft 365 Copilot, for £799 fixed price. Book a free call.