A qualitative study* of ten senior HR leaders in large UK&I organisations confirms that HR has more to do than ever before. Asked about their key priorities for the year ahead, responses covered virtually the entire spectrum of business performance: skills, engagement and employee financial wellbeing, DEI, reward and benefits, retention, productivity, and growth.
There was also a clear sense that the people function is entering a renewed period of change: that employee priorities are shifting; that goals are being revised; and that HR will play a central role in steering the adoption of innovation, enabling robust data protection and privacy frameworks.
Suffice it to say, 2025 is set to be another busy year for the people department. But what are HR leaders planning to prioritise?
Here are three themes that will dominate the agenda:
1. Skills: striking the right blend
In speaking to our panel, the topic of skills presented a common thread and possibly the strongest consensus too. One of our interviewees described skills as “the fuel on which a business runs” – a quote that captures the criticality of effective upskilling in today’s rapidly evolving workplace.
The opportunity for skills-based organisations to set themselves apart is hard to deny but doing so requires time, strategic planning, and the right tools. In fact, skills present both the biggest opportunity and the biggest challenge for HR leaders as we head into 2025. Assessing skills capabilities, identifying gaps, validating the right blend of skills, and pre-empting future skills requirements in a fast-moving, tech-enabled environment is no mean feat. Yet with several of our panel citing business growth as a significant (or even the primary) aspect of their role, solving the skills conundrum presents the most obvious path to supporting HR’s bottom line remit.
The answer, as another of our HR leaders pointed out, lies in data: “If we want to invest in talent and skills, we need data, otherwise [we’re] making decisions in a vacuum.”
2. Equity of opportunity
Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) are now an integral part of HR strategy. This is also where HR leaders have seen the most positive impact. In just a few short years, the value of DEI as a strategic growth driver has come into sharp focus – and far from being the add-on responsibility of recruitment managers that it once was, the leaders we spoke to agreed that DEI is now very much its own discipline.
An awareness of the need for diverse views, and for a strategy that puts inclusivity at its heart, has become the default setting. Our panellists also spoke about the positive impact of diversity and equity of opportunity in performance terms: “When you look at companies that are really commercially viable, really progressive, they understand that we live in a diverse and multicultural world. You get the best innovation when you understand that.”
This is why equity of opportunity also sits on the HR priority list. A key success factor in this, according to our panellists, is to seek out different perspectives as a means of driving improved performance through personalised goal setting. Why? Because if organisations understand that goals must always be tailored to the individual, and that the right challenge is crucial if they want to unlock that person’s full potential, then equity of opportunity must be an essential figure in that equation.
3. Responsible AI adoption
And then, of course, there’s AI.
Generative AI is creating new opportunities to drive efficiency and productivity at work. At the same time, though, HR leaders are having to navigate this new era with caution, adopting a responsible approach and leading with integrity: “HR is trusted with people’s data. That’s as it should be, but developments like AI make it even more important that we act responsibly and as a responsible business would expect us to.”
Encouragingly, several HR leaders were ready to embrace the role of gatekeeper when it comes to implementing new technologies – and not just within the HR function but across the organisation. The importance of having at least one of these voices at the top table was also evident: the leader who will ask the pertinent questions, challenge, guide, and validate that the appropriate guardrails are in place. HR’s new and evolving role here is to stay attuned to both the potential gains and pitfalls posed by AI, sharing practical guidance and helping their organisations to avoid bias and discrimination resulting from poor application of AI.
With AI, skills, and DEI all featuring heavily on this year’s agenda, HR is uniquely positioned to drive growth and transformation – perhaps more so than ever before.
Today’s people department, its initiatives, priorities, and expanding remit is transformed from the one we knew only five years ago. But one thing remains unchanged: the importance of putting people – an organisation’s greatest asset – at the heart of HR and business strategy. And if organisations are serious about getting this right, their second biggest asset is the HR department.
