2025 employee experience trends for HR leaders

What you need to know

• Identify skills gaps across roles to realign growth paths with organizational needs.
• Prioritize equitable engagement opportunities that support generational diversity.
• Deepen a metrics-driven approach and AI adoption to future-proof your employee experience strategy.

In the past five years, HR teams have had to adapt constantly. Updating work from home policies and return to office mandates. Prioritizing diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging (DEIB) strategies. Adopting AI tools and navigating the ethics behind them.

2025 holds similar challenges that demand proactive shifts to attract and retain skilled workers who want to work for organizations that value them.

1. "Skills-based" organizations

HR teams need to build comprehensive inventories of employees’ hard and soft skills. Understanding these strengths helps HR teams identify talent gaps and plan for the future.

Skills-based organizations are 107% more likely to place talent effectively, according to Deloitte. It sets teams up for success with 52% more likely to innovate, and 98% more likely to retain high performers.

A strong inventory also supports organizations moving away from traditional job descriptions. Instead, hiring focuses on individuals based on their skills and potential, not the job title, leading to greater flexibility and adaptability in the workplace.

HR can prepare leadership through training: What should they look for in interviews and reviewing resumes? How can they better communicate responsibilities in job descriptions?

Tips for HR teams

• Align talent strategies with business objectives via collaboration between HR and other departments. 
• Build a skilled and adaptable workforce to drive innovation and achieve business goals.
• Create growth opportunities with career pathing opportunities for employees and leaders.

2. New-collar jobs

Automation and AI are already transforming jobs, streamlining menial tasks and enabling faster data-driven decision-making. New-collar jobs need a blend of technical skills and soft skills, bridging the gap between traditional blue-collar and white-collar roles. These roles developed through non-traditional educational paths like apprenticeships. The upskilling or ongoing education opportunities mean new career paths and titles.

Yet the demand for skilled workers in both blue-collar and new-collar roles means skill shortages and economic opportunities. Organizations need to keep up and invest in learning and development, and adding upskilling and reskilling programs can future-proof your workforce.

HR and hiring managers should understand the value of continuing education and varied skills from candidates, and leadership training can help managers identify potential talent within their teams to nurture career growth.

A 2023 Harvard Business Review article highlights this best: “…leaders who recognize that there is a source of talent they have not had access to are the engine. The CEO push and the HR push are important, but it’s the managers who are going to create sustainability when they see that they can bring this talent in and do great work.” 

Tips for HR teams

• Support career advancement as a way to attract talent and retain great team members.
• Add training and tools to support managers beyond current hiring and training bias practices.
• Adapt strategies to attract, develop and retain talent in both blue-collar and new-collar roles and focus on skills-based hiring and opportunities for continuous learning.
• Redefine your hiring practices beyond job descriptions and helping hiring managers identify potential growth.

3. Multigenerational talent retention

Older workers, who often possess a wealth of experience and knowledge, are remaining in the workforce longer. Today, some 19% of adults ages 65 and older are employed. In 1987, only 11% of older adults were working. Organizations can benefit from the unique skills and perspectives that older workers bring.

Senior-level employees witnessed the business fluctuate firsthand and can offer experienced takeaways on how to approach similar challenges or successes. They’ve also been the “new kids” before, so are great resources to share soft skills or industry knowledge to entry-level employees looking to grow.

Mentorship strengthens workplace relationships, helps junior staffers build confidence and creates a more collaborative company culture. When leveraged successfully, multi-generational teams bring diverse perspectives that make them strong problem solvers and give teams more edge in the industry.

Tips for HR teams

• Implement mentor programs to create knowledge-sharing opportunities and intergenerational collaboration.
• Update policies and benefits that offer equal opportunities that appeal to employees at various stages of their careers, like work from home (WFH), wellness days, and robust health plans.
• Review hiring practices for unconscious bias and incorporate employee resource groups into reviewing existing hiring practices.

4. Increased organizational anxiety

Employees are concerned about AI displacing their roles and, as a result, are feeling decreased job satisfaction. At the end of 2024, many organizations like Tesla and Google laid off thousands of workers, leading to a rippling uncertainty for those remaining and workers in other organizations and industries.

According to a study in the Harvard Business Review, a layoff impacting 1% of the workforce led to a 31% increase in voluntary turnover. Layoffs tend to add stress to the employees who stay and create uncertainty within organizations. Many employees opt to jump ship after a layoff.

It comes down to employee trust—that feeling of confidence workers feel with their organization. When employees feel taken care of or properly supported by their leadership and organization, they're more likely to stay and perform.

Tips for HR teams

• Reward performance with employee recognition or incentives and transparent evaluation systems to showcase progress.
• Promote work-life balance from fair wages to reasonable work hours and employee engagement programs to support well-being and recognition.
• Address concerns with clear communication while staying open to employee feedback.
• Provide learning and development opportunities to help employees acquire new skills.

5. Metrics-based employee engagement

Data gives the ability to analyze historical data and forecast future trends, so you can proactively plan for workforce needs and avoid potential talent shortages or surpluses. This brings more effective, evidence-based decision-making to talent acquisition, development and retention strategies.

Improved data usage and increased data-driven decision-making leads to:

• Increased efficiencies by automating routine tasks.
• Streamlined processes that identify where teams can reduce administrative burdens.
• Better understanding of employee preferences and behaviors, so your organization can tailor initiatives to improve employee satisfaction and engagement.
• Stronger strategies that align to overall business objectives.

By embracing data-driven decision-making, HR departments can become strategic partners to the business. That means more innovation, long-term success and improved employee experience.

Tips for HR teams

• Focus on gathering relevant HR data from various sources, such as HRIS, performance management systems and employee surveys.
• Host recurring employee engagement surveys to gather employee feedback and sentiment.
• Identify and leverage the proper data analytics tools to analyze data, identify trends and translate those outputs into clear and actionable activities.
• Develop strong value or return on investment narratives to justify their technology and programming requests.

Related: Top takeaways from HR leaders in 2024

6. Agentic AI

We'll soon likely see generative AI evolve to agentic AI—which will further transform HR operations. Organizations that leverage these tools will be able to augment their HR teams. With AI's help, HR professionals are free to focus on strategic initiatives and high-value tasks.

By 2025, 25% of enterprises utilizing GenAI will deploy AI agents, with this figure expected to rise to 50% by 2027.

Agentic AI is capable of performing tasks, making decisions and interacting with their environments without requiring direct human intervention. Unlike generative AI which focuses on creating new content based on existing data sets, agentic AI uses goal-oriented behavior and adaptive decision-making. Agentic AI can anticipate employee needs, like potential burnout or skill gaps, and proactively offer solutions.

Here’s a great way to think about it. Generative AI can help you book a flight. Agentic AI can take on the work if your flight has issues and you need to rebook your entire trip.

With increased AI-adoption inevitable, it's essential to address ethical considerations and potential biases. As teams learn more about the impacts of AI, HR departments still need to oversee results. Generative AI is fueled by data, so biased information can employ a single-world view on diverse populations, according to Bloomberg. By responsibly leveraging and understanding AI, organizations can be more efficient, equitable, and employee-centric workplaces. Starting now can set teams up for success for more impactful AI use.

Tips for HR teams

• Streamline recruitment for HR ops by automating tasks like resume screening and candidate sourcing.
• Personalize employee onboarding with generative AI to engage new employees to fill out paperwork, sign up for training and complete any team-specific procedures.
• Analyze performance data using generative AI to identify trends, provide actionable insights and automate routine tasks like performance reviews and goal-setting.
• Use AI to create personalized training paths for an employees’ learning and development based on manager recommendations or individual needs and goals.

How can HR teams prepare for 2025?

In short: Bridge the gap between business and people. By optimizing time and performance using data and new tech, you can drive business growth and employee success in this next chapter.

Learn how a connected culture can increase employee experience and business performance this year.