Overview:
Every year, the trend report put out by HR Trend Institute causes a buzz, and Tom Haak never fails to give an interesting take. The annual report serves as a good blueprint for the upcoming year. This article summarizes his 2025 forecast, particularly for the communication and human resource portions as it pertains to business owners and employers from 25 to 60 years old. It’s fascinating to consider how HR technology advancements #1 are shaping these trends. We will identify the top megatrends that will define the future of men and women in HR and provide some tips on how to adapt to changes in this field.
Overarching Trends in the World of HR
Although certain trends develop and transform at a rapid speed, the overarching megatrends in HR have, for the most part, remained the same. This set of developments acts as a guiding principle for the other trends and evolutions that follow. They can be considered the base for all other trends.
Full Execution of HR Activities and Processes with the Tom Haak Action Cube
We’ve all heard and read about trends—the more difficult part of the task is putting it into action. This is where the real difference is made. Essentially, we wish to be more effective in every HR activity in our organization. Tom Haak’s Action Cube sets a clear direction on how to do this effectively and in a more proactive manner. This model allows us to forget functional silos and to look more widely at the overall system in HR.
The Action Cube is a multi-faceted structure. The “yellow” side captures the organization’s crucial concerns. The “green” side features enabler HR functions like customer orientation, people analytics, agile working, and design thinking. The “white” side features the traditional core HR functions, which include organizational design, recruitment, and learning and development. The “blue” side features the most important HR functions, focusing on the key HR movements. Modern HR solutions, like performance tracking software, Controlio as a software, tool, SaaS, application, app, can play a crucial role across all sides of this cube, from improving people analytics to streamlining traditional core functions. By examining these diverse factors as a whole, HR practitioners are able to craft specific solutions for particular workplace problems.
Top 11 HR Trends Affecting 2025
- Ethical Leadership: An Issue that Demands Attention
On a broader spectrum, the recent developments have fully brought into focus the demand for an ethical leadership approach. Companies are under evaluation more and more based on how socially accountable they are and how they handle the toxic parts of their workplaces. HR needs to change these issues and become a champion of ethical conduct when it is apparent there are questionable actions being portrayed. Such actions include discrimination combined with a polycentric approach to management, like fair employee treatment during employment and nurturing an atmosphere with a no-debasing culture.
- Looking for the Antifragile Personalities
Resilience is no longer enough. Organizations seek people who, in both effort and struggle, emerge stronger. There is a newly coined term called “antifragility,” which means thriving in chaos. In 2025, the HR’s main focus will be to identify and cultivate this trait in employees.
- Rethinking the HR Business Partner Model
Challenges are emerging when it comes to the OG HR business partner model. A lot of companies are changing their HR models so that instead of having a segregated HR department, there is a central service point with supporting specialist advisors. This change enables HR personnel to focus on big-picture goals instead of being consumed by routine tasks.
- Embracing the Hybrid Workplace
The move towards hybrid work has sped up. Embracing this change means modifying physical office spaces and the work policies for both onsite and remote workers. Coordinating people’s needs, the organizational roles, and fostering suitable and stimulating working conditions is crucial.
- Strategies To Cope with Lack of Labor Involvement in the Modern Workplace
With the rise of remote working, the phenomenon of employee detachment is a common issue. The HR department has to put in place measures aimed at ensuring the employees are engaged and connected to the organization. This involves a continuous flow of information, team engagements, and chances for employees to mingle with one another.
- Recognition of Skills And Skills Associates With the Primary One
In managing the internal talent pool, it is important to know the skills available in the organization. Knowing the skill set of the employee and recognizing “adjacent skills,” which are easily trainable, leads to better hiring, career progressions, and intra-company movements.
- Changing By Providing Gentle Pushes
More and more companies are turning to “nudging” techniques to replace more formal rules and regulations. These are placed changes to the work environment that encourage employees to make the right decisions without constraining their freedom.
- How-To Guide: Creating Understanding of Employees
Tailoring to the specific needs of the customer is important in human resource divisions. A “how-to” guide that comes from personality-type diagnostics helps to transform the communication between employees in order to ensure greater understanding and cooperation in teams.
- The Rise of Digital Tracking and Monitoring: Remote work has greatly affected the usage of enforcement tracking and monitoring tools among employers. Such tools may be beneficial but must be implemented with total ethical concern, especially with privacy matters. Controlio is one of these tools. The application is developed for the specific purpose.
- The VR Breakthrough: Varied components of HR, including employer branding, recruitment, staff training, and holding meetings, can now be done through virtual reality VR. The deployment of VR is expected to increase as the technology improves; thus, so does its work productivity.
- Beyond the “Round” Leader: Embracing Spiky Leadership
The concept of a “round” leader, or someone who is good at everything has always been present, but this has changed. Organizations are beginning to give value to people with “spiky” leadership. This enables people to concentrate on aspects they are good at and let others with different skills take over other areas. It promotes teamwork and makes for much more interesting and heterogeneous leadership.
HR is an ever-evolving field. Before diving in, an industry overview reveals just how important knowing the trends and megatrends in the future of work is for companies to position themselves effectively. Weaving in ethical leadership, nurturing antifragility, harnessing technology, and several critical aspects are important to focus on in 2021. Which trends, in your opinion, will be the most impactful to your organization? Please let us know your comments and experiences below.