HR and People Operations are at the center of driving business success in 2025 – an era of change that’s only speeding up! With AI reshaping how we work and workforce needs evolving, organizations are doubling down on developing leaders and managers, mastering change management, and building organizational culture.
Our outlook for 2025 is shaped by our work with innovative companies around the world, input from HR and People Ops leaders, and insights from trusted sources like Gartner. These trends spotlight where to focus your energy in the year ahead to set your team and organization up for success.
Trend 1: Manager Training That Feels Human
What: In 2025, manager training gets a makeover. Instead of one-size-fits-all lectures or generic courses, the focus will be on human-centered (or learner-centric) development – training that’s flexible, collaborative, and tailored to real-world challenges. Think peer learning, team exercises, and real-time practice that feels relevant and fun. This kind of training meets managers where they are and helps skills stick.
Why: Managers are shouldering more than ever before – larger teams, hybrid work dynamics, and increasingly complex processes. It’s no wonder 75% of HR leaders say their managers feel overwhelmed. Yet, traditional training methods like seminars and lectures fall short of addressing these challenges. Despite investing more in leadership development, only 25% of HR leaders believe those programs work.
How to embrace this trend: To truly make training stick in 2025, shift the focus to training that builds lasting leadership habits, not just short-term skills proficiency. Here’s how:
- Get real: Connect training to real-world challenges managers face, like navigating hybrid teams or handling burnout.
- Keep it fun: Create opportunities to learn and practice through interactive experiences that feel fresh and relevant (no boring lectures!).
- Go small but mighty: Focus on behaviors that pack a punch. At LifeLabs Learning, we teach impactful habits like ‘Q-stepping’ (asking more questions) and ‘linking up’ (tying actions to goals). These small, actionable changes lead to big improvements in communication, relationships, and team outcomes.
Tools and resources:
- The Great Managers Playbook – Get the secrets behind the systems, tools, and skills that set manager excellence apart.
- From Overwhelmed to Overachievers – Read this blog to identify the training strategies that will take your managers from feeling stretched thin to thriving.
- Learning & Development Toolkit – Equip yourself with practical resources to clarify your manager training goals and design a high-impact curriculum.
🤖 Get ahead with AI: AI enables the creation of human-centered learning experiences by analyzing workforce data to identify skills gaps and personalize training. Smarter insights equal targeted training that drives long-term impact.
Trend 2: Leaders Who Confidently Lead Change
What: The upcoming year will be about building leaders who can effectively steer teams through ongoing change. Whether adopting AI, tackling market shifts, or restructuring teams, the secret is fostering a change-ready culture. Leaders who engage teams in the process, set clear goals, and create psychological safety don’t just survive change – they shine. And teams with solid change leadership are twice as likely to hit their goals.
Why: Change fatigue is real (and exhausting). Gartner reports that 73% of HR leaders feel their employees are burnt out by constant change. It’s not just employees – managers are struggling too, with 74% unable to lead through transitions effectively. They struggle to overcome team resistance, maintain motivation, and spot and address burnout early. This gap in leadership ability means productivity, engagement, and trust all take a hit.
How to embrace this trend: To lead change effectively in 2025, managers need practical tools and habits that work in the moment. Here’s how to build change leadership skills that stick:
- Keep it human: Focus on empathy. Normalize change, validate feelings, and encourage managers to lead with transparency and compassion.
- Get curious: Teach managers to ask what we call needs-forward questions during transitions to build trust, surface concerns, and navigate resistance to change.
- Spot the signs: Help managers identify early signals of burnout. A proactive approach to addressing these issues can keep teams motivated and resilient.
Tools and resources:
- Leading Change in Uncertain Times Playbook – Download our guide to the strategies and behaviors that help managers navigate and lead change confidently.
- Change checklist – Use this tool before and after change initiatives to make managing them easier.
- The Resilient Leadership Conundrum: Decoding the Secrets to Change Resilience – Read this blog to learn the key traits of resilient leaders and how they manage through tumultuous times.
🤖 Get ahead with AI: AI tools can help leaders analyze employee feedback during times of change by quickly identifying themes and sentiments from surveys and social media. By automating this process, leaders get timely insights into how their teams adapt to change, where resistance may be brewing, and what support is needed.
Trend 3: Cultures that Boost Retention
What: In 2025, organizations will put more energy into creating cultures that support their values and help retain great talent. This means giving managers the tools to lead by example; when leaders consistently model organizational values, teams are more engaged, connected, and committed. It pays off: research shows companies with a strong culture are 4x more likely to keep their employees.
Why: Building a culture that sticks is tough, especially with modern challenges like hybrid teams and disengagement. Many companies struggle to embed culture into day-to-day work. Managers are key here, but 57% of HR leaders say managers aren’t enforcing the culture they want, and over half feel their leaders aren’t held accountable for demonstrating those values. In times of change – like shifting priorities or mergers – maintaining a strong, consistent culture becomes even more crucial yet challenging.
How to embrace this trend: To build a strong culture in 2025 that helps keep folks around, here’s what to focus on:
- Be inclusive: Champion diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) to see higher engagement and lower turnover – 78% of employees say DEI is an important company value. Give managers training to promote DEI daily, like how to conduct fair interviews, create accessible systems, and encourage diverse voices in meetings.
- Give bias-free feedback: Use fair feedback to build a culture of trust and belonging (71% of employees feel their performance reviews are unfair). At LifeLabs Learning, we teach managers how to run a FAIR check.
- Lead with purpose: Encourage leaders to talk regularly about the company’s purpose and how each employee contributes to it (especially in hybrid or remote environments). Purpose-driven companies have a 40% higher employee retention rate.
Tools and resources:
- DEI Playbook – Get the guide for building a diverse, equitable, and inclusive culture within your organization.
- Navigating Hybrid Work: Strategies for a Balanced and Resilient Workforce – Watch this LinkedIn Live event for actionable tips on maintaining a unified team culture in a hybrid workplace.
- Performance Reviews Can Make or Break Company Culture. Here’s How to Get Them Right – Read this blog to learn the critical role of performance reviews in shaping company culture, plus strategies to ensure your process is fair and inclusive.
🤖 Get ahead with AI: A well-aligned and engaged team boosts retention. AI solutions can craft job descriptions that attract values-aligned candidates and spot biases to help build an inclusive workplace.
Thoughts on AI for HR in 2025
AI is no longer a trend – it’s a workplace essential. In the coming year, HR teams will embrace AI to streamline hiring and L&D, reduce bias, and boost retention. From analyzing vast amounts of employee data to reducing administrative tasks for cost savings, AI is now crucial to efficient People Operations, empowering teams to focus on strategic initiatives and employee engagement.
Here are a few tools and resources to help you integrate AI seamlessly in 2025:
- AI in HR Playbook – Download our step-by-step guide to integrating AI into HR and People Operations, from high-impact applications to essential, future-proofing skills.
- AI Meets HR: Leveraging AI in People Operations – Watch an engaging discussion on the intersection of AI and People Ops; get your AI questions answered and explore its possibilities.
- Embracing AI in HR: Practical Strategies for Ethical, Fair, and Impactful Implementation – Read this blog for strategies on integrating AI responsibly, including legal, ethical, and fairness considerations.
Turning Trends Into Impact
Trends may come and go, but investing in your people creates lasting impact. In 2025, that means focusing on three key areas: equipping managers with human-centered training that builds long-term habits, empowering leaders to navigate change with confidence and care, and creating a culture where people feel included, connected, and motivated to stay.
By embracing these trends thoughtfully, you’re not just adapting to the times – you’re setting your team and organization up for success today and for years to come.
Dive deeper into the top trends shaping workplaces in the year ahead. Join our upcoming webinar, 2025 HR Roadmap: 3 Priorities CEOs and HR leaders Can Agree On, with our CEO Priscila Bala and Ethena’s CPO Melanie Naranjo. Make this the year you align with your CEO to drive impact across your organization!
