As 2024 draws to a close, huge shifts in employment rights and workplace practices are shaping the future. Experts predict that 2025 will bring both challenges and opportunities for HR professionals.

From embracing AI to navigating compliance complexities and redefining work arrangements, here’s what industry experts foresee for the year ahead.

Dayforce Predictions

Amy Cappellanti-Wolf, Chief People Officer at Dayforce, underlines the need for strategic collaboration between HR leaders and executive teams.

“As organisations place greater emphasis on profitability and cash flow, they are actively seeking efficiencies and optimising existing resources. In 2025, strategic HR leaders will need to collaborate closely with CEOs and the C-suite to drive business transformation and fuel growth,” she says.

“As CEOs prepare for continued disruption and uncertainty, HR leaders are an essential voice on the executive leadership team to help balance the business need for efficiency and productivity with creating an environment that attracts, retains, and develops the best talent. HR teams will need to embrace technology and real-time data to ensure they are strategic partners during this period of rapid change.”

Nicole Bello, Group Vice President for EMEA at Dayforce, highlights the increasing compliance challenges.

“In 2025, organisations will need to be prepared for increased compliance complexities due to rapidly changing regulations,” she says. “With Labour’s Employment Bill of Rights potentially changing sick leave and maternity leave policies, rules around redundancy and dismissals, and flexible work legislation, employers need to ensure they are compliant on day one. HR teams will need to embrace technology and real-time data to ensure they are effectively navigating this growing complexity.”

Steve Knox, Global Head of Talent Acquisition at Dayforce, points to a renewed focus on the human element in hiring.

“Employers and candidates have fully embraced the power of AI in the hiring process,” Knox states. “In 2025, the swing back to the human element will be the most important trend in talent acquisition.”

“Talent acquisition teams are relying heavily on AI for sourcing, screening and assessing candidates. In response, job seekers are leveraging the technology to write resumes, prep for interviews, and even to coach them on responses during interviews. With the whole hiring process now being done through tech and leading to a host of mismatches, HR teams need to re-think the human element of their talent strategy to ensure they’re setting up their organisation and new employees for success.”

AI Integration, Upskilling, Flexibility

Laura Fink, HiBob People and Culture Director, anticipates further integration of AI into workplace operations.

While 2024 marked the widespread adoption of AI, Fink believes 2025 will be about refining its role. Companies will focus on seamlessly integrating AI into workflows to enhance decision-making with advanced analytics and insights into productivity and employee sentiment.

Learning and development will also remain a priority, with an emphasis on upskilling employees to use AI effectively and securely. Fink warns that while AI will not replace jobs outright, employees skilled in AI usage will have a competitive edge in the job market.

Fink also predicts resistance to rigid attendance policies as employees push for flexible work arrangements.

“Employees will rebel against rigid attendance policies,” she says. “While many employers believe a mandated return to the office will increase productivity, I would urge them to reconsider the expectation that employees should be working a traditional Monday-Friday, 9-to-5. Employees want flexible work arrangements. If the focus is not on allowing unique working patterns to promote individual productivity and employee satisfaction, employers risk losing employees or decreasing productivity.”

Catfishing, Burnout, and the Death of CVs

Molly Johnson-Jones, CEO of Flexa, warns of “corporate catfishing” becoming more prevalent as flexible working rights expand.

“Many employers want the talent attraction benefits of flexible work, but not all can or want to accommodate different ways of working in reality. This can make for false claims and misleading job adverts,” she says. “The Employment Rights Bill will only increase cases of ‘corporate catfishing’. Since new flexible working rights will give all employees the default right to request and access flexible work, all employers will technically be ‘open to flexible work’. Flexible job seekers will need to be vigilant, whilst employers will face unhappy hires if they aren’t more transparent.

“At the same time, a perfect storm is paving the way for hybrid work to thrive in 2025. Younger workers who studied remotely are helping to drive up demand for a greater level of flexibility than businesses are able or willing to give. But grads won’t be able to live with their parents and hold out for fully remote roles forever. With the economy laying low for the foreseeable, a lot of employees and employers are going to find that they have to meet in the middle and embrace a mixture of home and office based work that works for both sides.”

Khyati Sundaram, CEO of Applied, predicts the end of traditional CVs due to AI advancements. “ChatGPT will be the death of CVs,” Sundaram states, praising the shift towards skills-based hiring processes that offer greater fairness and efficiency.

“Skills-based hiring starts with anonymous applications that consist of skills-based questions. Ethical AI can help hiring teams make this process even more efficient and objective.” she says. “Then, additional tests which don’t easily lend themselves to ChatGPT use – like cognitive ability tests and numerical aptitude tests – can be used to further filter for top talent. For candidates, this will create more opportunities to demonstrate their skills in areas they excel in, and find roles which they will genuinely be able to thrive in. For employers, it will separate out true talent from tech.”

Gareth Burrows, founder of Breathe HR, anticipates a rise in “burnout blocking” technologies.

“Employers will shift from reacting to burnout to creating cultures and policies which proactively safeguard against it. Inspired by the government’s plans, many will introduce right-to-disconnect policies to improve staff’s work-life balance. Research from Breathe HR shows that most workers don’t take their full annual leave allowance.

“So, others will start encouraging staff to take more time off (which is important for wellbeing), using HR software to monitor when employees haven’t taken enough holiday. HR tech will also be increasingly relied upon to ensure compliance, and help teams drive through policy changes that will protect staff’s wellbeing and help them to thrive.”

Global Geopolitical Changes

Karoli Hindriks, co-founder and CEO of immigration and relocation platform Jobbatical, anticipates continued debates around workplace arrangements. She highlights polarised approaches, with some organisations mandating full-time office attendance and others embracing remote work; the ability to attract and retain talent will play a key role in determining which models succeed, she says.

Hindriks expects widespread AI adoption across industries, with some roles replaced and new opportunities emerging for those who embrace ongoing learning and adaptation.

She also expects diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) will be pushed and challenged.

“Highly susceptible to political influences, but also the ideologies of a changing workplace demographic, companies will be challenged on their DEI policies in 2025 and pushed to create programmes that support workers whilst appeasing governments and regulators,” she says. “For example, in the UK this will involve strengthened laws about maternity rights, menopause support and flexible working rights. In the U.S., it’s likely that workers will have some of their rights rolled back under a Trump presidency.”

Skills over Degrees

Mary Alice Vuicic, Chief People Officer, Thomson Reuters, predicts a growing emphasis on skills over degrees in hiring. This shift will lead to a more diverse and innovative workforce, and she expects companies adopting AI to gain a competitive edge in attracting top talent and fostering employee development. Vuicic also foresees the widespread use of personal AI assistants to improve decision-making and productivity in the workplace, presenting both opportunities and challenges for HR professionals.