Digital workplace technologies and changing demands of the workforce drive digital workplace transformation (DWT). In response, the human resources (HR) function implements people analytics (PA), which can either enable traditional HR reporting or facilitate novel personalized employee experiences. This either/or in leveraging PA induces a shift in the HR function’s identity. Building upon paradox theory and using the concept of identity, we investigate the occurring tensions due to the implementation of PA. We use a two-staged qualitative research approach, consisting of an ethnography at a company undergoing DWT, extended to insights from 18 expert interviews from the field of PA for theoretical generalization. We make two contributions. First, our findings suggest two HR identity archetypes: HR as resource managers vs. HR as growth catalyst. Second, we extend the paradoxical tension between these two archetypes to DWT literature questioning the pertinent view of identity metamorphosis.