Executive Summary

HR Trends Report 2025

EMBRACING DISRUPTION

From AI Adoption to AI Adaption

AI in HR: Overhyped or Underestimated?

A Tipping Point for the Skills Mismatch

Blue-Collar and “New-Collar” Jobs Bloom

The Golden Age of the Silver Worker

Looming Organizational Anxiety

HR Execution is King

The Embedded HR Professional

The Antifragile Worker

The Women’s Equity Effect

Employee Engagement 2.0

INTRODUCTION Embracing Disruption

Walt Disney famously said: “Times and conditions change so rapidly that we must keep our aim constantly focused on the future.”

2025 will be a year of transformative change — with disruptive forces set to reshape the world of work.

Technology and AI are now the business reality transforming how organizations function at every level.

Shifting talent dynamics create both challenges and opportunities to build a resilient and motivated workforce.

The tactics organizations use to respond to disruptions in talent and technology will determine who will succeed and who will struggle in 2025.

To help their organizations thrive under these conditions, HR must embrace these disruptions and craft strategies that enhance technological advancements with a human touch.

We conducted hundreds of hours of research, surfacing three themes - and the 11 underlying trends - that will impact Human Resource Management in 2025.

These insights will help you turn disruption into a driving force for innovation and reinvention.

Wishing you growth, resilience, and success!

Erik van Vulpen Founder of AIHR

Dieter Veldsman Chief Scientist, HR & OD at AIHR

11 HR trends for 2025

Theme 1

Page 4.

1. From AI Adoption to AI Adaption

Love it or hate it, AI is everywhere, and it’s putting HR in a tough spot to balance cost efficiency with workforce anxiety over AI disruption. Page 5.

3. A Tipping Point for the Skills Mismatch

AI is massively impacting how we work, yet most organizations struggle to identify the critical skills needed to cope with this change. Page 9.

2. AI in HR: Overhyped or Underestimated? 4. Blue-Collar and “New-Collar” Jobs Bloom

While HR is expected to lead the AI technological transformation, it fails to enable its own AI uptake, sacrificing its full potential.
Page 7.

Page 13.

GenZ is opting for the security of skilled, blue collar work while emerging high-tech fields are giving rise to 'new collar' jobs.
Page 11.

Theme 2

5. The Golden Age of the Silver Worker

Increasing life expectancy and low birth rates make the over seventy-five population the fastest-growing
workforce segment.
Page 14.

6. The Women’s Equity Effect

Closing the gender equity gap would increase GDP and bring stability to a faltering economy, yet women continue to face unique challenges at work. Page 16.

Theme 3

Page 20.

8. HR Execution is King

Strategic HR is often seen as the pinnacle of HR work, but smart execution of HR policies and initiatives is equally critical to organizational success. Page 21.

9. The Embedded HR Professional

HR teams are actively participating in business solutions rather than pushing HR solutions to the business, creating productivity gains. Page 23.

7. Looming Organizational Anxiety

Everyone in the company is feeling the stress of an uncertain future, and watercooler talk is triggering “the big stay”.
Page 18.

10. The Antifragile Worker

Organizations are fostering growth through challenge, with HR at the helm of pivotal efforts like upskilling, reskilling, and continuous learning. Page 25.

11. Employee Engagement 2.0

A back-to-basics approach shows promise for declining employee engagement after a decade of policy and investment failed to move the needle. Page 27.

Theme 1

Technological transformation is the business reality

Technology and AI are no longer a future trend—it’s the current business reality, transforming how organizations function at every level. The pace of change continues to accelerate, making the effective integration of technology and AI critical for organizations to stay competitive.

This tectonic shift requires a strategic rethinking of roles, skills, and processes, prompting HR to consider how these transformations reshape the organization, workplace, and people management. Beyond adopting new tools, HR must focus on instilling a mindset of innovation, agility, and antifragility in their employees to take full advantage of these tech advancements.

Trends

Trend 1:

From AI Adoption to AI Adaption

Trend 2:

AI in HR: Overhyped or Underestimated?

Trend 3:

A Tipping Point for the Skills Mismatch

Trend 4:

Blue-Collar and “New-Collar” Jobs Bloom

From AI Adoption to AI Adaption

There’s untapped value in AI to increase employee productivity. A recent study showed that BCG consultants achieved a 40% increase in their quality of work by using ChatGPT. To unlock these gains, employees need the confidence to explore its potential without fear of mistakes.

AI technostress

The accelerated adoption of generative AI (GenAI)– and resulting integration into everyday work processes– has quickly changed how jobs are performed. Regulatory bodies are struggling to keep up with the realities of AI on the ground and company policies are similarly lagging behind. Employees worry their roles will become obsolete because of AI adoption.

Balancing interests

As a result, HR is pulled in multiple directions as it manages the organizational need for cost efficiency with workforce anxiety. HR has the opportunity to be the expert in the room. Leading edge HR teams are taking control enabling the organization to achieve AI readiness and adapt to unavoidable technological shifts.

Trend 1

Key takeaway: Guide the workforce through the shift to AI

Encourage experimentation and training

Offering comprehensive training boosts skills and reassures employees that AI is meant to augment their work and productivity. Robust training and upskilling helps allay fears so employees adapt and thrive in AI-enhanced roles. This includes HR professionals improving their own understanding of AI and its impact on work so it can continue to support employees and the business.

Establish an AI strategy

Although 79% of leaders agree that AI adoption is critical to remain competitive, 60% admit their company lacks a vision and plan to implement it. Spearhead the creation of a clear AI strategy and collaborate with leadership to align it with company goals. This should include transparent communication about AI’s role, potential, and impact on jobs.

Create governance systems

Guardrails ensure safe organizational adaptation and help employees to shift their view of AI from threat to growth tool. Ensure responsible AI use by creating playbooks that define accessibility, set boundaries, and provide guidance on how to make– and monitor– AI-driven decisions. This helps employees view AI as an asset rather than a threat.

Meta’s AI investments coincide with layoffs

Meta cut about 25% of jobs while increasing spending on AI infrastructure by \$10 billion. Headlines highlighting layoffs linked to AI are driving the fear of job displacement.

The BYOAI phenomenon

AI usage is already prevalent across organizations — three in four knowledge workers now use AI at work, with 78% bringing their own AI without any official guidance or oversight.

Trend 2

AI in HR: Overhyped or Underestimated?

HR is missing key opportunities to improve efficiency and effectiveness with AI. Traditionally rooted in compliance and risk management to protect the organization from biased decision-making, legal liabilities, and data breaches, this has also slowed the adoption of new technologies.

AI adoption lag

HR professionals haven't integrated AI into their workflows. While 34% of marketing departments regularly use GenAI, only 12% of HR departments have adopted it, and just a third of HR leaders are exploring potential GenAI use cases.

Unblocking AI

AI has the potential to transform key functions, from recruitment to talent management and beyond. Low AI adoption in HR is concerning given HR’s role in leading this organizational change. Addressing AI adoption blockers like insufficient digital skills, uncertainty about which tools are suitable, and a lack of clarity on AI's potential benefits are critical.

The state of AI in HR

of HR professionals fear falling
behind if their organization does
not adopt AI tech the next
12-18 months.
Source: Gartner
of HR professionals have
the competencies to keep
up with HR digital
transformation.
Source: AIHR

Key takeaway: Lead AI practices by example

Adopt an AI Growth Mindset

Develop competence and confidence through hands-on learning and practical experience. Start practically integrating GenAI into work and develop a mindset of experimentation that uses AI to solve problems and make decisions with a human expert in the loop.

Develop a risk framework

It’s important to recognize that avoiding AI is a risk. HR teams leveraging risk management expertise establish strong AI governance. Use a risk framework for AI adoption in HR that offers a clear roadmap for safe and effective use, identify key areas where AI can enhance operations, prioritize ethical considerations, and form a cross-functional committee with experts in AI, HR, and legal to evaluate tools and establish best practices.

Monitor AI performance

In order to understand the effectiveness of AI technologies in enhancing productivity and decision-making, it’s critical to analyze performance and outcomes to ensure the technology meets productivity and quality benchmarks. Regular assessments and adjustments optimize AI applications for an increasingly wider array of tasks and maintain alignment with organizational goals.

A Tipping Point for the Skills Mismatch

Employers believe 44% of workers’ skills will be disrupted by 2030, and that six in 10 workers will require additional training before 2027. Solving the skills gap is imperative for HR as 70% of company leaders see the skills gap at their company negatively impacting business performance.

New standards

The skills needed in the workplace are rapidly shifting as new technology emerges. Organizations are struggling to clearly identify and anticipate the skills needed in the medium and long term. This leaves them vulnerable to decreased productivity, innovation, and competitiveness in the evolving market.

A widening gap

AI is reshaping labor markets and 60% of jobs will be automated or augmented. Bridging such a severe skills gap requires organizations to fundamentally rethink their approach to workforce management. Strategies must be in place before the end of 2025 if organizations hope to avoid massive operational disruptions as a direct result of skills mismatches.

Prioritizing training investments where they will yield the highest returns achieves rapid progress..

Trend 3

Key takeaway: Pivot to a genuine skills-based approach

Identify core skills gaps

Collaborate with the business to define and forecast skill requirements based on industry trends and technological advancements. Create a detailed skills taxonomy to identify both current and future skill requirements that drive success in each role. This taxonomy will serve as the foundation for all talent management practices, helping HR align workforce capabilities with evolving business needs.

Acquire, develop, and deploy the right skills

Establish development opportunities and hiring practices that address skills gaps. Prioritize training investments where they will yield the quickest results and highest returns. Align talent acquisition, development, and performance management with your skills-based approach. Allocate and redeploy employees to different roles or projects as needed, and help employees explore new career paths.

Integrate technology solutions and implement talent marketplaces

Underpin strategies developed to close the skills gap with technology. AI and automation can standardize skills taxonomies, infer skills from job roles and training, help maintain an up-to-date skills inventory, and identify emerging gaps and training needs. Talent marketplaces offer an immediate solution to address skills gaps by enabling flexible work models and skills-based internal mobility.

Competence vs. credentials

There is a four-fold increase in job ads without degree requirements. But only one in 700 hires annually is actually a ‘skills-based’ hire.

Talent marketplace reality

Despite 40% of executives believing AI will drive growth, only 26% of companies use talent marketplaces.

Trend 4

Blue-Collar and “New-Collar” Jobs Bloom

Younger workers are prioritizing job stability, fair pay, and upskilling opportunities over new technology disrupted jobs. Gen Z, for example, increasingly favors stable sectors like government and healthcare for jobs with security, purpose, and are less likely to experience layoffs.

Blue collar is back

The blue-collar job market is once again booming with opportunities, higher pay, and increased interest from younger generations. While the tech sector cut jobs, manufacturing job postings went up 46%. There is a high demand for skilled physical labor from manufacturing to sanitation and construction.

New collar explained

"New-collar" jobs require advanced skills in high-tech areas like AI and cybersecurity but not necessarily advanced degrees. These jobs provide significant opportunities for skilled workers who have the necessary soft skills, or mindset to learn new skills through practical experience or occupational training.

Trend 4

Key takeaway: Level the playing field for all types of workers

Rethink job definitions and requirements

A strategic workforce plan accommodating these shifts focuses on skills-based hiring. Adapt job descriptions for skills rather than traditional qualifications. Rethink how work is defined and what the job requirements are. Skills-based hiring practices tap into a broader talent pool by focusing on practical skills over degrees, creating opportunities for those overlooked by traditional hiring.

Fix the fundamentals

Redefine the employee value proposition (EVP) to reflect changing priorities. Blue- and new-collar roles are vital to infrastructure and customer-facing operations, but compensation often doesn’t reflect their value. Reevaluating the measurement of job worth, fair wages, overtime pay, improved benefits and flexible working conditions will level the playing field, fostering long-term retention.

Improve employee experience

Implementing accessible tools for training, performance management, and career development boosts engagement, productivity, and skills growth—key elements of talent attraction and retention. This is especially important for deskless workers, who lack access to resources and feel disconnected from advancement opportunities.

A shift toward trades Due to increasing college costs and student loan debts, we expect to see more and more youth choosing artisanal trades.

Deskless workers make up 80% of the global workforce, yet they receive only 1% of business software spending, lack sufficient training, and have limited growth opportunities.

Theme 2

Shifting talent dynamics

Economic uncertainties, demographic shifts, and modern societal expectations are redefining the workplace. These changes have now reached a crossroads, with new expectations and work styles emerging across the workforce. Women continue to push for true equity in the workplace, and the presence of older workers is growing. With these factors at play, organizations face both challenges and opportunities in building a resilient and motivated workforce.

Understanding why all roads have led us here will help HR adapt to these shifts. More importantly, it will help their companies get ahead of these trends in 2025 and contribute to organizational success in the years ahead.

Trends

Trend 5:

The Golden Age of the Silver Worker

Trend 6:

The Women’s Equity Effect

Trend 7:

Looming Organizational Anxiety

The Golden Age of the Silver Worker

Workers aged 75 and up comprise the fastest-growing segment of the workforce. In fact, workforce productivity improves when companies have a mix of ages and experience levels. Employers hiring older workers say that they consistently match or exceed the performance of younger hires.

Staying longer

Whether it’s because they cannot afford to retire or don’t want to retire, retiree-age employees are here to stay, and their presence in the workforce will only grow. Mature workers are looking for purpose and recognition of their value. Organizations that recognize this shift have a strategic opportunity.

Accomplishing more

Silver workers bring new levels of productivity, facilitate knowledge transfer, and enhance team dynamics. Nike recently rehired Tom Peddie—a veteran executive who retired in 2020 with 30 years at the company– with the goal of restoring retail relationships and turning slumping sales around.

Multi-generational

teams accomplish

tasks more

homogenous groups

struggle with.

Key takeaway: Harness the power of an aging workforce for competitive advantage

Acknowledge older workers play vital roles

Nike is just one example of how older workers offer invaluable expertise and leadership, especially during periods of transformation. Implement mentoring programs and knowledge-sharing initiatives to encourage intergenerational collaboration, help bridge skills gaps, and support the ongoing development of organizational capabilities.

Extend policies across five generations

Flexible work options and ergonomic office designs and accommodations tailored to ‘unretired’ workers integrate older employees into the fabric of the business. Revisit employer branding to be age inclusive, reflecting the values of older workers and the meaning and impact of their work to combat ageism and strengthen generational diversity throughout the organization.

Removing barriers to work

Unlock aging workers' potential by creating inclusive workplace cultures that value older employee contributions. Offer benefits and perks that address the diverse needs of employees at every career stage, like comprehensive health plans, part-time roles, project-based work, and phased retirement plans. In addition, continuous learning programs help older workers stay competitive.

The missing piece of DEIB strategies

Only 8% of organizations include age as part of their Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEIB) strategy.

A new model for engagement

A ‘micro-goal’ program can match retirees’ skills with short-term projects or community initiatives, keeping them engaged and contributing.

Trend 6

The Women’s Equity Effect

Closing the gender equity gap would increase global GDP by a staggering 20%. Yet persistent issues like inflexible work practices, inadequate recognition of menstrual and menopausal health challenges, fewer leadership opportunities, and pay inequity continue to hinder progress.

Gender diversity pays

Companies in the top quartile for gender diversity are 39% more likely to financially outperform their competition. This requires measurable goals for gender diversity, especially within leadership where women represent only 10% of Fortune 500 CEOs and 28.2% of management positions globally.

Gender reality today

Inflexible work practices and a lack of leadership opportunities remain critical issues. 95% of women believe requesting flexible work will negatively affect their chances of promotion and 67% of women who experience menopausal symptoms report a negative impact on their work.

Women’s experience at work

of women believe requesting flexible work will negatively impact promotion opportunities

Source: Deloitte

Trend 6

Key takeaway: Take the lead to champion women’s rights

Support women’s advancement

Building a gender-diverse workforce requires ambitious, sustained investment. Create targeted leadership development programs and promotion frameworks that help women advance into leadership roles. Establish KPIs to track progress and hold leadership accountable for gender diversity goals, including transparent progress reports to show genuine commitment to gender equity.

Remove structural barriers

Ensure flexible work arrangements, and establish and normalize return-to-work programs for women after caregiving breaks. Offer resources like menstrual leave, menopausal leave, and fertility assistance while ensuring women feel empowered to use them without fear of stigma. Confront underlying perceptions that limit women like unconscious bias and career penalties for caretaking.

Foster equal opportunities

Cultural transformation is essential for women to thrive at every level of the organization. Regularly review talent pipelines and address gender imbalances. Revise performance reviews to remove subjective criteria for objective standards. Leadership must champion gender-blind and transparent recruitment, advancement, and compensation.

Wage parity pioneer

Starbucks demonstrates gender equity can be reached. It achieved wage parity for its U.S. partners in 2018 and continues to work towards this goal worldwide.

Over the Glass Cliff

For many women, promotion to leadership happens in a time of crisis and leads to the Glass Cliff, with shorter, more stressful, and heavily scrutinized tenure.

Looming Organizational Anxiety

Jittery CEOs are eager to please Wall Street and their boards, bringing immense pressure and risk to their companies. Decreasing consumer confidence, ongoing economic uncertainty, and underperformance fears fuel pervasive concerns that affect businesses and their employees.

Everyone is anxious

Poorly managed layoffs are harming organizational performance. Companies are extending work hours to "inject a sense of crisis" into workers and increase productivity. Add a tight job market and shrinking pay for job switchers, and we see the Great Resignation has given way to the Big Stay.

An employer’s market

The employer-employee relationship is expected to swing decisively back in favor of employers as economic pressures and job market uncertainties give companies more control. The risk? Long-term employee disengagement if companies fail to maintain meaningful connections with their workforce.

Employer-employee relationships are

‟expected to swing back in favor of employers.

Source: AIHR

Trend 7 Key takeaway: Balance costs with employee support

Implement people-centric work policies

Strike a balance between creating a lean, cost-efficient workforce and preserving employee morale and the unique culture that defines success. Develop policies for positive work conditions, such as fair wages, reasonable hours, and job security. Offer programs that support physical, mental, and financial health to build resilience and help employees cope with uncertainty and change.

Reward performance

Establish a culture that rewards performance using a fair and transparent performance evaluation system to measure progress. Invest in high-performing employees through upskilling, reskilling, and development programs.

Provide transparent communication

Promote clear communication through accessible communication channels to keep employees informed about company performance and future plans. Creating open forums where employees can voice concerns and ask questions without fear of repercussion reinforces trust.

The performance paradox

79% of in-office workers and 88% of remote workers feel they must use performative tactics to show they are working.

The layoff landscape

Fears of recession and high interest rates drive companies to pursue cost-efficient growth, resulting in over 135,000 job cuts in the tech sector alone.

Theme 3

Tactics for the organization to thrive

The way organizations respond to disruptions in talent and technology will determine who will succeed and who will struggle in 2025. Businesses must focus on creating an adaptable, agile workplace and proactively develop strategies to anticipate future challenges and opportunities.

Effectively executing these tactics will be essential as businesses seek to harness disruption as a catalyst for innovation and growth. In adopting forward-thinking approaches, organizations can thrive by turning disruption into a driving force for reinvention.

Trends

Trend 8:

HR Execution is King

Trend 9:

The Embedded HR Professional

Trend 10:

The Antifragile Worker

Trend 11:

Employee Engagement 2.0

Trend 8

HR Execution is King

Strategic HR is often seen as the pinnacle of HR work. But the tactical execution of HR policies and initiatives is equally critical to organizational success. Tactical HR teams bring strategic ideas to life, transform them into actionable results, and ensure the success of people-related initiatives.

When execution goes wrong

Great execution draws little attention and tactical HR drives business outcomes. But when execution is poor, it shows. Uber’s failure to address sexual harassment in 2017 led to significant damage to the company culture, the CEO's subsequent departure, and several public reputation scandals.

The year of great execution

2025 is the year HR’s true impact is realized when strategy and execution work hand in hand. Strategic HR provides direction and long-term goals, while tactical HR ensures these are implemented through well-executed policies, processes, and daily practices that resonate with employees at all levels.

HR’s true impact is realized when strategy and execution work hand-in-hand to reinforce each other.

Trend 8

Key takeaway: Give tactical HR the tools and support to implement key strategic goals

Promote cross-functional collaboration

Reshape the narrative around tactical HR. Encourage teamwork across HR specializations, such as talent acquisition, employee relations, and learning and development to break down silos and create tactical solutions that address complex challenges. An integrated approach creates cohesive people practices across the employee life cycle, resulting in less fragmented HR service delivery.

Broadcom merger backfires

Broadcom’s merger–and subsequent poorly managed policy shifts and layoffs–led to employee dissatisfaction and operation disruption, contributing to a \$600M revenue drop.

Chatbots drive efficiency

Boston Consulting Group cites balanced human and AI strategy boosts HR productivity by 30% and dramatically improves self-service capabilities.

Build T-shaped competencies

Develop HR professionals with deep expertise in one area combined with a broad understanding of related HR functions and the overall business. This results in HR professionals who are able to facilitate collaboration with stakeholders outside of the HR function. This means combining business acumen, digital agility, data literacy, people advocacy, and executional excellence with specialist competencies.

Resource tactical HR teams effectively

Ensure tactical HR teams have the necessary resources, including time, headcount, software tools, and budget. Adequate staffing allows teams to manage workloads effectively, while the right technology streamlines different HR processes and procedures. With a sufficient budget, HR can successfully execute key projects and address business needs swiftly.

Trend 9

The Embedded HR Professional

CHROs regularly attend board meetings, and 43% report an increase in their interactions with the board. In addition, CEOs agree that HR will be more important to business in the future. 2025 is the year HR is going beyond advisor to an integral part of the team they support.

Unrealized potential

A gap persists between HR’s strategic potential and its perceived contribution to business outcomes. To close this gap, we are seeing a rise in HR teams actively participating in business solutions rather than pushing HR solutions to the business.

Driving excellence

HR's role is increasingly intertwined with business units' core operations. By embedding in operational processes and the day-to-day decision-making of teams, HR is ensuring solutions and policies are integrated with business processes and aligned with business goals.

HR as an integral part of business

of CHROs regularly
attend board
meetings.

Source: Spencer Stuart

of CEOs agree that HR will be more important to business in the future

Source: Personio

Trend 9 Key takeaway: Become part of the business value chain

Upskill beyond core HR skills

Effective upskilling means developing T-shaped HR professionals who possess both deep expertise in specific HR areas and a broad understanding of business operations, culture, and data. This blend of skills will allow them to create tailored, people-centric solutions that align with organizational goals and drive business performance. Implementing cross-department rotations facilitates first-hand experience in various aspects of the business.

Move away from generic HR programs

Intentionally break down silos between HR and business by collaborating with managers. Tailored initiatives that meet the unique needs of different departments or business units and data-driven insights that empower leaders to make informed decisions develop strategic partnering relationships rather than order taking as a support function.

Clearly define roles and responsibilities

Establish a new working relationship with line management and delineate the responsibilities of line managers versus HR. Ensure people management remains a core responsibility of managers, with HR providing support and guidance rather than taking over these tasks.

By working closely with line managers and other leaders, HR can help drive people excellence and enhance organizational effectiveness, employee engagement, and strategic business alignment.

Responsibility shift

55% of CHROs want to shift decision-making power in HR processes to line managers.

Misaligned perceptions

80% of C-suite members believe their

managers are able to manage employee

relations issues, but only 40% of HR

managers share that view.

Trend 10

The Antifragile Worker

Constant change, overwork, economic uncertainty, high cost of living, and job insecurity are taxing employees who are exhausted and stressed. Antifragility is rising to the top as the answer to developing a workforce that grows stronger through challenges.

Antifragility gains traction

The concept of antifragility can help navigate these challenges. Unlike traditional resilience, antifragility doesn’t withstand shocks. Rather, it actively gains strength from turmoil, capitalizing on disruptions and using challenges to grow in strength.

Antifragility as a workforce strategy

Antifragility addresses social and structural factors turning adversity into an opportunity for growth. HR is implementing antifragility strategies, and the goal is an environment in which growth and adaptability are prioritized, empowering employees to thrive throughout their careers.

HR must reshape workplaces to help current and future generations thrive in a fast-changing world.

Trend 10

Key takeaway: Develop a workforce that grows stronger through challenges

Upskill beyond technical skills

Focus on developing employees’ soft skills like adaptability, emotional intelligence, collaboration, problem-solving, and a growth mindset to support long-term employability. Equip employees to anticipate future challenges through scenario planning and encourage risk-taking and active experimentation through cross-functional projects and innovation labs.

Re-evaluate performance and foster a safe environment for innovation

Organizations that promote a culture where failure is seen as a learning opportunity will encourage rapid iteration. Create a safe space for risk-taking, incentivize resilience, recognize continuous learning, and reward innovation instead of just traditional outputs. This creates an environment where employees feel safe to experiment, take calculated risks, and learn from failures. Some examples are innovation labs, pilot projects, and cross-functional team collaborations.

Encourage healthy work life boundaries

To create antifragile workplaces, organizations must recognize the link between wellbeing and productivity. Stress and burnout at work result in depression and anxiety, costing \$1 trillion in losses. Provide your employees with the space to recharge and maintain their productivity and antifragility over the long term.

A growing workplace crisis

More than four in 10 people report feeling burned out at work.

Employee satisfaction declines

Only 43% of workers say their organizations have left them better off than when they started.

Trend 11

Employee Engagement 2.0

Over the past 25 years, engagement has become a focal point of HR strategy. Since Gallup started measuring engagement in 2000, the needle hasn’t moved. Global engagement levels remain at 23% despite decades of HR policies, best practices, and billions in investments.

Driving engagement

If HR wants to impact engagement and productivity, it needs to understand the drivers of employee engagement and inform its approach. Highly engaged employees are three times more likely to feel heard at work (92%) than their highly disengaged counterparts (30%).

Meaningful changes

However, surveys alone don't make employees feel heard—seeing meaningful changes based on their feedback does. Making impactful changes based on employee feedback is still not the norm, and 86% of employees believe their organization doesn’t hear everyone fairly or equally.

The value of engagement

of highly engaged employees feel heard at work

Trend 11

Key takeaway: Redefine engagement and what employees truly care about

Support managers with development and automation

Line managers face numerous challenges, from heavy workloads to insufficient resources and budget constraints, causing difficulty engaging their teams. Equip managers with targeted development programs that enhance their leadership and people-management skills. Provide them with tools to streamline administrative tasks, freeing up time they can dedicate to coaching and employee engagement.

Design balanced roles and clarify contributions

Employees see through superficial perks. Address the deeper, structural issues that impact engagement, like fair pay, safe working conditions, and clear expectations. Clearly define roles with manageable tasks aligned with the employee’s skills and the organization's needs, and benchmark them against competitors. Guarantee individual contributors understand their contribution to the overall organizational strategy and goals to boost motivation.

Communicate transparently and promptly

Fully understanding, validating, and improving the employee experience within an organization keeps employees connected and committed. Adopt a deliberate employee listening strategy to uncover genuine insights. A robust employee listening strategy includes various feedback channels, such as stay and exit interviews. Redesign the employee value proposition (EVP) accordingly and implement policies that ensure it's truly reflected in employees' experiences.

The high price of disengagement Disengaged employees are costing \$8.8 trillion in lost productivity worldwide.

Managers make or break teams

Gallup data shows that 70% of team engagement variance is determined solely by the manager.

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AIHR HR Trends Report 2025