As we step into the new year, HR professionals face an ever-evolving landscape of fresh mandates, regulations, and laws. Federally, EEOC reporting requirements have been broadened, and there are updates to FLSA overtime calculations that impact bonuses and commissions. And at the state level, there are expanded pay transparency requirements (CA), paid-time-off laws (IL), and enhanced requirements for flexible work arrangements (WA). Additionally, we must continue to adapt to rapidly changing technology, balance the needs of five different generations in the workplace, and refine policies that address the on-site vs remote work balance.
Sometimes it’s easy to forget that even as we embrace change, the core mission for HR professionals remains unchanged: To support and empower people to do their best work. The key is finding the right balance between leveraging tech and maintaining the human touch that makes what we do special.
In 2025, we have an amazing array of choices when it comes to driving innovation and impact. These are the top ways we can drive strategic value, improve the employee experience, attract and retain talent, and navigate the complexities of today’s business world.
Leverage AI-powered solutions
The democratization of AI has transformed what’s possible in many industries and fields, including HR. Deploying some of these tools will give you time and space to connect with others on a human level—and isn’t that what this industry is all about?
- Let AI handle the resume shuffling with smart applicant tracking systems (ATS) that actually work. Goodbye, spreadsheets! Explore a tool like Greenhouse or Transformify to expertly manage your applicant workflow and communications.
- Leverage chatbots for common employee questions and administrative tasks, freeing you up to focus on more strategic and complex tasks that require a deft human touch. Tools like HireVue can create interview questions and streamline your candidate engagement; Eightfold helps you unravel talent and resource management tasks; and Leena enables you to create a customized repository of answers pulled from your company’s own knowledgebase.
- Predictive analytics can help us stay ahead of the curve on workforce planning trends and retention strategies. I like Visier for workforce planning and forecasting, and Beqom and Syndio which use advanced learning and regression models for unbiased, data-driven compensation analysis and decision-making.
Optimize employee self-service
With an increasing number of remote workplaces, companies can differentiate themselves by providing employees with the tools and resources to be more self-sufficient. Plus, empowering employees with self-service tools helps to significantly reduce the HR workload of administrative or repetitive tasks.
- Embrace automation where it counts. Large companies have long used automated systems, but many small and mid-sized companies wrestle with routine administrative tasks like manual timesheets, PTO tracking, expense reporting, and benefits enrollment. Today’s options for affordable HR platforms (JustWorks, BambooHR, or Gusto) can help you automate those tasks without decimating your budget.
- Create a user-friendly, one-stop-shop HR portal where employees can access information and complete common tasks. AI solutions can help you build this in a way that is unique to your company’s and employee’s specific needs.
Make better decisions with data analytics
In almost every industry, smart use of data analytics leads to better outcomes. We can use data to remove subjective bias from decision-making or to find patterns that humans might miss. With data analytics ROI calculations become more precise, and over time we can use historical data to demonstrate long-term impacts of specific initiatives.
Automated reporting helps us to focus on interpreting results, rather than gathering data—and savvy use of data can help HR leaders make better decisions, and have greater impact, with limited resources.
- Use workforce analytics to identify trends and potential issues before they become problems. Think: retention and tenure patterns, correlations between training programs and productivity, most successful sourcing channels, emerging skills gaps across teams, or team collaboration patterns.
- Track what matters with KPIs that measure the effectiveness of your programs and actually tell you something useful like employee satisfaction scores, retention rates across different demographics, and time-to-hire metrics. Move beyond basic headcount data to analyze trends that reveal opportunities for strategic workforce planning
- Monitor employee engagement through regular pulse surveys. Has a certain team shown significantly lower engagement since your last survey? Or is there a consistent pattern on another team that might influence reorganization decisions? Having that data on hand will help you frame the business need more effectively.
Build strategic partnerships
External partnerships can help extend HR capabilities without increasing headcount.
- Partner with specialized vendors for non-core HR functions, including benefits brokers, payroll managers, and tax compliance specialists. Leveraging the expertise of others in these areas will enable you to focus on your own.
- Cross-functional collaboration is important for all organizations. But as an HR professional, you have to master breaking down barriers on another level. Being able to see past departmental silos and share resources and information (and gather the information that you need!) with the broader team is foundational to an HR professional’s success.
- Build relationships with educational institutions for talent pipeline development, or consider starting an internship program to help train tomorrow’s workforce. Partner with local colleges and technical schools to design curricula that align with industry needs, provide mentorship opportunities, and create clear pathways from education to employment. These partnerships can also help diversify your talent pool while giving students valuable real-world experience.
As we navigate what 2025 has in store, remember that every tool implemented should serve to enhance—not replace—human connections. We can create more time for what we do best: being present for our people when they need us the most.