Each year, the HR Research Scientists at SAP SuccessFactors conduct research to understand the top HR and workforce trends facing organizations. We then share our perspectives on what HR teams should consider as they look to help their companies anticipate and prepare for these trends. This year, we aggregated and synthesized data from 40 global and regional business press sources, which put forward 254 individual trends and predictions that were grounded in their own research and data.

Our analysis resulted in five key themes, or “meta trends.” While our annual report always includes some pointed commentary and critique about each trend based on our expertise in psychology, this year we also called upon our own body of original research to incorporate relevant data points and insights, resulting in a more evidence-based overall point of view.

From what’s next in AI and skills to DEI&B and hybrid, this year’s report delves into what will define success for HR in the year ahead. Is your organization adapting to the fast-changing demands of the future of work?

What should HR focus on in 2025?

This year’s trends are in different stages of maturity and on different trajectories; therefore, the roles that HR needs to play to help businesses capitalize on these trends are often different. We’ve organized the trends into two sections, aligned to the dual roles HR will play in addressing them.

HR as conductor

First, HR will need to act as a conductor, orchestrating a strategy and the associated change management across the business:

1. Reconnecting the disconnected employee

Rates of employee stress, burnout, and distrust of leadership are as high as they’ve ever been, putting many businesses at a tipping point. Compounded by macroeconomic and sociopolitical stressors, a state of total employee disconnect is upon us. This disconnect goes beyond the issue of employee engagement (or disengagement); it can escalate into extreme and highly counterproductive behaviors if organizations don’t act. To reverse course, leaders must prioritize fulfilling their end of the “psychological contract” by understanding and meeting basic employee needs that are currently unmet and supporting people managers in their role as a lifeline for employees seeking support and reassurance.

2. Moving from AI hype to AI impact

Organizations’ focus on AI (including but not limited to AI in HR) is shifting from AI pilot projects to enterprise-wide rollouts, with an accompanying demand for proof of clear value and ROI. In the year ahead, organizations will home in on their key value drivers for AI, because the time to measure AI’s actual impact is now. This prioritization can serve as a guide for businesses to choose use cases that will have strong AI adoption. However, friction between organizations’ and employees’ goals for using AI will undoubtedly emerge: Leaders expect that when employees save time using AI, they will spend that extra time doing more work, but some employees feel they have earned the time back for themselves.

3. Striking a balance to steer skills forward

Organizations are facing growing skills gaps due to rapid AI advancements. This year’s trends call for HR to adopt new or improved skills-based practices, encourage reskilling and upskilling by building stronger learning cultures and designing meaningful learning experiences, and to help employees lean into “human skills” (critical thinking, communication, emotional intelligence, leadership, ethical judgment, and risk mitigation) as their unique differentiator against AI. But to truly achieve skills goals, organizations will need to think flexibly about their skills-based approach, consider making pay a piece of the upskilling puzzle, and prioritize both human and technical skills. Developing AI literacy will be a critical long-term success strategy (both for HR and the workforce at large).

HR as navigator

As always, HR will need to act as a navigator, leading the organization through precarious waters and circumventing obstacles to put policies into practice for the betterment of all stakeholders. But in the coming year, that role will take on even more importance:

4. Divesting or doubling down on diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEI&B)

Some organizations remain committed to DEI&B goals, continuing to ask “How  are we going to do this?” Others plan to divest, instead now asking “Are  we going to do this?” In 2025, we will see many organizations stay the course on their DEI&B investments (and some go even further), while others will shy away from DEI&B goals (though this won’t look the same across the board). In any case, organizations taking a stand on DEI&B will allow for more and better research on the impact of DEI&B; there are certainly a lot of presumptions and predictions about how DEI&B is a causal factor in good and bad outcomes. Why not focus this year on turning this conjecture into hypotheses that can be tested and let the data speak?

5. Plugging into or pulling the plug on hybrid work

Despite a stream of high-profile return-to-office (RTO) mandates, many businesses are sticking to (and even expanding) their hybrid workplace strategies in the coming year. Now that organizations have taken a stand on where their employees will work, it’s time to see if they achieve the outcomes they intended. In 2025, those businesses choosing the return-to-office (RTO) path will see whether their bets paid off; while those choosing the hybrid workplace or fully remote path are expected to take it a step further, integrating autonomy as a core value in other aspects of work design.

More about the top 2025 HR trends

Employee disconnect, AI, skills, DEI&B, hybrid work: These HR trends aren’t just minor shifts; they are foundational workforce strategy mandates that have direct effects on the success of a company’s business strategy. Expect companies who acknowledge and embrace these trends (and the HR teams who help their companies make this happen) to reap significant and tangible benefits—in 2025 and beyond. Download the full report.

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