What HR Trends Should Leaders Know in 2025?

What HR trends are important in 2025? People teams play an essential role in shaping the future of the workplace. They must adapt to changes in real-time to ensure that turnover goes down and employee satisfaction remains high.

But the HR landscape is changing all the time. From leveraging analytics for better decision-making to embracing inclusive policies that foster a diverse workplace, the role of HR is evolving. In this article, Mo’s employee experience experts break down the most talked about trends to help you decide which innovations to incorporate into your people strategy – and which ideas are nothing but hot air.

To provide you with the best insights into HR trends, we spoke to a small focus group of HR professionals, analysts and senior managers about their expectations for the road ahead. Let’s dive in.

Mo’s HR Trends Survey: What Did We Learn?

In June, we asked a focus group of HR professionals about their opinions on trends in their industry. The survey results revealed that while employee experience is a high priority for HR professionals, engagement surveys are underutilised.

Engagement Surveys Are Not the Focus

Only 50% of respondents had participated in one and just 20% had organised one. Beyond engagement surveys, there is a greater focus on improving management skills to boost performance. The results highlight the lack of action created by engagement surveys, causing disappointment and stagnancy. After all, insights are useless without realistic strategies.

Key trends for 2025 include the continued emphasis on employee experience and remote/hybrid work, with generative AI rapidly gaining importance. Although the enthusiasm for a 4-day workweek has waned, mentoring as an alternative to managing is the second most popular trend.

Generative AI is Interesting in Principle, Not Practice

Notably, 100% of respondents rated employee experience as crucial for work performance and culture, and 30% are exploring AI in HR policies. They also told us that ‘mental health’ is the most important HR trend in 2025, despite not being listed in our questionnaire.

The Future of HR Trends in 2025: Our Verdict

Our experts have broken down the most important HR trends for our focus group and analysed their pros and cons, helping you decide what to prioritise for your teams.

1. Managing or Coaching?

In their recent article, Gallup found a solution for improving poor management practices. Their new research claims that a model with a focus on coaching is more effective than traditional 1-1 meetings. The method emphasises regular mentoring sessions, rather than micromanagement.

Gallup’s analysis reveals that the most effective managers are essentially coaches. This insight is really important for HR leaders who want to increase engagement levels in their teams.

70% of the differences in employee engagement levels can be traced back to managerial influence, which highlights a significant opportunity for improvement.

The evidence is becoming clear: organisations that adopt coaching over managing report not only higher employee satisfaction but also a significant increase in productivity, as workers feel more supported and valued. We’re excited to see how this HR trend develops in 2025 across different sectors, especially in an era of hybrid and remote work.

Verdict: Great idea

2. Generative AI Tools

Generative AI tools promise efficiency in tasks like recruitment, onboarding and employee management. But is there a catch? These tools can seemingly do it all. Experts claim it will save time and money. But there is a costly environmental impact.

Is Generative AI important for HR? Based on investment, you might think so. The question is whether they are really useful for your organisation. Let’s break down some different use cases.

Companies that use AI for candidate screenings have cut the average hiring time by 30%. As this technology advances, it will make processes faster and more data-driven. That said, there is a glut of new AI software on the market. Many have been rushed to market and don’t live up to their ambitious promises. We will probably see many of these products fail before the real AI winners emerge

Verdict: Keep investigating

3. Four-Day Workweek

Have you been part of a four-day workweek trial? This popular idea had been gaining traction in many industries, such as retail and office-based work, in the years after the pandemic.

Some companies have invested a lot of money in testing its impact on productivity and the all-important work-life balance – but does it actually work?

Microsoft Japan reported a productivity boost of around 40% during its four-day workweek trial. But not everything has been positive.

However, with recent trials at Asda being scrapped and its importance for our focus group falling compared to other trends, we wonder if the 4 day work week will fail to have a real impact.

Verdict: A great idea losing momentum

4. Employee Engagement Surveys

Employee engagement surveys have become the measure of how engaged your people are. With many providers promising to help HR teams monitor employee satisfaction and identify when things are going wrong, they seem like a great idea.

But what these statistics don’t reveal is the action it takes to turn low scores into genuine improvements. Surveys are useless without a strategy to improve your employee experience. Leveraging recognition, for example, can unlock engagement when implemented correctly.

Verdict: Great – if you take action

5. Skills Over Degrees

Barely a day goes by without someone on LinkedIn claiming that university was “a waste of time”. But what’s behind this trend? It’s the idea that skills are more important than degrees. Supported by thought leaders like Scott Galloway, businesses are looking for candidates with practical abilities that align closely with job requirements.

As university degrees become more expensive, this shift is driven by the rapid pace of industry change. Google and Apple have removed the college degree requirement for many positions, focusing on relevant skills and experiences instead. This approach not only widens the talent pool but also emphasises continuous learning and professional development, crucial in today’s tight labour market.

Verdict: Great idea

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Mo Helps HR Leaders Achieve Success

Thanks for reading the results of our HR Trends survey. Mo is a culture and engagement platform that uses data insights to drive real improvement in engagement scores while reducing staff turnover. We strategically help people teams create great places to work through continuous, positive action.

If you’re looking for ways to take action on measuring employee engagement, learn more about how to shift the dial at the manager level and transform insights into action. To find out if you’re eligible for our money-back guarantee, book a demo with our team.