CHRO Priorities and Perspectives: February 2025 EN:Insights Forum

Editor’s Note: SHRM is committed to providing insights into key actions and developments from the Trump administration that are impacting HR leaders. Read our recent articles, The First 50 Days: 3 Key Actions HR Leaders Should Take and Trump’s Second Term Ushers in ‘Sea Change’ in Workforce Policy. On April 16, the EN:Insights Forum will return to its regular schedule of meeting the third Wednesday of each month at noon ET. 

For the February EN:Insights Forum, EN members got a first look at SHRM’s latest research into the key priorities and challenges CHROs and other HR leaders face in 2025, presented by SHRM Lead Researcher Derrick Scheetz. 

“When we asked CHROs to pick their top HR priorities in 2025, one topic clearly stood out as the most common priority: leadership and manager development,” Scheetz said. “This points to a shift occurring within organizations, where a greater emphasis is now being placed on leadership and managerial development itself.”

Here are five critical insights from the research.

Research Insight 1: Leadership and management development is a top priority for CHROs by a substantial margin.

CHROs’ top HR priorities in 2025 (respondents could select up to 3 options):

• Leadership and manager development: 51%
• Organization design and change management: 30%
• Employee experience: 28%
• Talent management: 27%
• Learning and development: 24% 
• Performance management: 24%
• Recruiting: 23%

“These top priorities point to a strong emphasis within HR that is being placed on people-centric initiatives, especially those that align with broader organizational objectives,” Scheetz said. “This underscores HR’s increasing influence in crafting strategic organizational initiatives while showcasing a deepening alignment between HR objectives and overall business goals.”                                                                                                       

Research Insight 2: Most CHROs who are prioritizing leadership and 

manager development this year say their top priority is developing basic skills

in these areas. Leadership skills are the top priority for 40% of CHROs who are prioritizing this practice area in 2025, while 39% cited management skills as their top priority.

Top priority themes within leadership skills:

1. Basic leadership development training.
2. Adaptability and change management. 
3. Empathy and soft skills.

Top priority themes within management skills:

1. Foundational management training.
2. People management development.
3. Succession planning and workforce readiness.

“CHROs focused on prioritizing leadership development emphasized the need for programs or initiatives aimed at equipping current and future leaders with the basic leadership skills,” Scheetz said. “Those addressing leadership development in particular are placing an emphasis on those human-centered parts of leadership, such as empathy or other soft skills recognized as being crucial to ensure smooth communication and conflict resolution across the teams.”

Research Insight 3: Top macroeconomic and organizational concerns among CHROs for 2025 are the economic and financial challenges facing their organizations. 

Top 5 macroeconomic challenges for CHROs:

• Wage inflation as a challenge: 61%
• Wage inflation as the greatest challenge: 27%
• Inflation or rising costs as a challenge: 47%
• Inflation or rising costs as the greatest challenge: 9% 
• Economic uncertainty as a challenge: 37%
• Economic uncertainty as the greatest challenge: 12%                                                                                                              
• Increasing competition as a challenge: 31%
• Increasing competition as the greatest challenge: 12%
• Technological advancements as a challenge: 28%
• Technological advancements as the greatest challenge: 7%                                                                                                         

Top 5 organizational challenges for CHROs:

• Rising operational costs as a challenge: 45%
• Rising operational costs as the greatest challenge: 18%
• Pressure to achieve financial goals as a challenge: 38%
• Pressure to achieve financial goals as the greatest challenge: 19% 
• Fostering clear/effective communication as a challenge: 34%
• Fostering clear/effective communication as the greatest challenge: 7%                                                                                                              
• Adapting to technological advances as a challenge: 29%
• Adapting to technological advances as the greatest challenge: 5% 
• Balancing flexibility/operational needs as a challenge: 29%
• Balancing flexibility/operational needs as the greatest challenge: 7% 

Research Insight 4: SHRM’s survey found that the overwhelmingly majority of CHROs believe AI will become more prevalent throughout the workplace in 2025.

Where AI will become more prevalent in 2025:

(Combined percentage of CHROs who rated the trend as “much more prevalent” or “more prevalent”)

• Integration of AI into the workplace: 90%
• Use of AI to increase workforce productivity: 87%
• Use of AI within HR processes: 83%
• AI skill requirements for current and open roles: 76%
• Applying AI to tasks traditionally performed by employees: 76%
• AI as autonomous agents to supplement workforce: 69%

“The survey results showed that across the more than 30 workplace trends we asked about, CHROs were most optimistic about the increasing prevalence of AI in the workplace throughout 2025,” Scheetz said. “As this technology continues to become more integrated and evolved, it’s vital for CHROs to become informed about emerging trends in this space, which in turn equips the organizations they serve to harness AI effectively and responsibly.”

Research Insight 5: Other rising trends that the new research identified included an increasing focus on how the employee experience is perceived and changes to workplace policies.

Employee experience and changes to workplace policies:

(Combined percentage of CHROs who rated the trend as “much more prevalent” or “more prevalent”)

• Focus on employee well-being and mental health: 59%
• Reduce/eliminate inclusion and diversity (I&D) efforts: 55%
• Rapid skill development: 53%
• Return-to-office mandates: 50%
• Emphasis on human-centered leadership: 50%

“Beyond AI, CHROs are also predicting several other trends gaining prominence in the world of work this year, especially those related to the employee experience and workplace policies,” Scheetz said. “More than half of CHROs anticipate an increase in the number of companies scaling back or eliminating inclusion and diversity initiatives in 2025. And it’s important to note that this data was collected before the new administration took office and began enacting changes targeted at these areas specifically.”

Key research takeaways:

• Top CHRO priorities for 2025: More than half (51%) of CHROs identify leadership and manager development as a top priority, making this the most frequently cited focus and reflecting a shift in HR priorities toward fostering sustainable business practices. Other priorities include organization design and change management (30%), enhancing the employee experience (28%), and optimizing talent management strategies (27%).
• Top CHRO challenges for 2025: From macroeconomic factors to the HR function itself, many CHROs identify economic and financial pressures among their most significant challenges. Among them, 61% of CHROs cite wage inflation, while 45% point to operational costs as a key challenge. 
• Top CHRO anticipated trends for 2025: 90% of CHROs expect AI integration to become more widespread, and 83% predict AI will have a larger role within HR functions. However, CHROs remain committed to prioritizing the human side of work. Over half (59%) anticipate greater focus on employee well-being and mental health, while 53% expect increased rapid skill development to ensure workforces adapt to emerging technologies.

Lakeesha Brown and Jeff Lindeman: In a new world of constant change, bounce forward, not back

February forum participants heard from Lakeesha Brown, vice president and CHRO for the University of Connecticut and UConn Health. Previously, Brown was vice president of human resources at Mountainside/Aura Healthcare and held HR positions at several agencies in the Connecticut government’s executive branch, including director of HR for the state Department of Labor. 

Listeners also heard from Jeff Lindeman, SHRM-SCP, chief people, culture, and capability officer for the WD-40 Company. Lindeman also serves on the SHRM Certification Commission. In his prior roles, he worked as senior director of talent and engagement at San Diego International Airport and as director of human resources at Pier 1. 

Here are a few excerpts from comments by Brown and Lindeman during the February EN:Insights Forum.

What are the key workplace challenges you are anticipating this year?

Brown: A few of our challenges have escalated since January, when new leadership took over in the White House. DEI is going to be a challenge in terms of how we serve our folks and how we even talk about those opportunities, and how we embed it in the bedrock of our institutions so that we don’t have to use certain terms that are now problematic.

The No. 1 thing we’re focusing on is how to support our folks in terms of morale and well-being coming out of the pandemic. We have huge burnout in the health care part of our organization. The question is how do we help our folks in a way that’s work-appropriate and related to what an employer can do.

Lindeman: During the pandemic, many of us heard people saying, “I can’t wait to get back to normal.” But normal is not the way it was in 2019. Normal is a whole new world with always-on disruption. 

Our leaders think that change is riding a wave. You pick the wave, you use all your skills, you get to shore, and you’re done. In fact, the world we live in now is like whitewater rafting. It is always in a state of disruptive change. And I think shifting into that mindset is really important.

We’re shifting our focus away from the concept of change management, which makes it sound like you can control change. The reality is that what we need is change readiness. How do I show up and adapt and pivot as the world around us changes? For us, it’s a subtle shift to what we can do to increase our change readiness.

What are your organizations doing to increase morale and well-being?

Brown: Over the last two years, we’ve been talking about professional well-being and how to identify what that is. On the health care side of our organization, we’re establishing an office of professional well-being and engagement just to start to frame what people can expect from an employer. I just asked, “What are you looking for from us?” and received some throw-spaghetti-at-the-wall responses. People want a little bit of everything. Someone said they wanted nap pods, and that’s never going to happen.

Lindeman: Prior to the pandemic, we would’ve talked about bouncing back with resilience. And now we talk about, “How do we bounce forward? How do we bounce into the opportunities that exist in front of us?” 

Even in leadership development, we’re helping leaders understand how they can help their people bounce into the future, rather than bounce back from some setback, so it’s really fitting in with the mindset shift that I mentioned earlier. 

What are your thoughts on the idea that AI will be more prevalent this year?

Lindeman: I think we will look back to this time and frame it in a Dickensian way of it being the best of times or the worst of times. And the only difference is our mindset. You can think about AI and everything else happening in the world in terms of disruptive change: We are either all-in because we love this, or we are hesitant and concerned because our worldview is this is too much. And that mindset shift is really important. 

Brown: AI is here whether you like it or not, and change readiness is spot on. Whether we like it or not, we’ve got to move forward. Some people didn’t like the fax machine, and here we are so far past that, but now we’ve got the same people who didn’t like the fax machine holding onto it while they’re white-knuckling through the implementation of AI. 

We are going back to basics with new leadership and management training to refocus on the competencies that are important for now and moving forward. We can’t lean on the skills we had in 2019 or what people knew in 2019. We weren’t managing people from remote locations using technology in the way that we use it now, and in the cultural, internal, and external environments we have now. It’s something that hit us as CHROs. We survived the storm, and now what do we do to reset?

Lakeesha, you’ve said workplace culture is the only thing you could do to turn the corner toward more productivity. Can you elaborate on that?

Brown: There was a huge shift in terms of power, balance, and employee expectations from the employer to the employee going through COVID-19, especially in health care. Just having rules and regulations and policies to keep people productive doesn’t necessarily work. And frankly, I don’t know that it ever has. 

Creating a culture where people want to come to work and where they feel they contribute to something that is bigger than themselves is the best way that I can get people to be productive. People don’t want to work hard for an employer where they don’t feel welcome, where they don’t feel they belong, where they don’t feel valued. We can’t change the atmosphere, the culture that surrounds us, but within our organizations, we can create something that’s good for all of our folks.

Lindeman: It really comes down to people wanting two things in the workplace. One is to know that they matter. If I don’t show up for work the next day, is anybody even going to care? And the second is that my work matters, that you’re giving me something to do that advances the organization or the business or the team in some way, shape, or form. 

If we can solve those two things, that I matter and that my work matters, it goes a long way to creating environments where people are going to deliver their best work and make their best effort.

How do we support employees harmed by the White House executive orders, either by direct or indirect job loss or other consequences? 

Brown: I was on vacation for five days, and I was bombarded by peers and colleagues sending me text after text and email after email about something that been released, and the generalized response feels like horror over how could this be happening. 

I think regardless of whether we call it DEI, affirmative action, or a respectful workplace, we need to bake it into the bedrock of our organization. We treat people well, we treat people like equals, and we do the best that we can to create a workspace that is good for our folks. The rest of it’s going to happen, and we’re going to navigate our way through it. We’re going to choose when we’re up in arms, and the other times, we’re going to navigate it together.

Lindeman: I started working for the WD-40 Company in Europe right after the Brexit vote [in 2016], and we didn’t know for five years what Brexit actually meant to the business, so I couldn’t teach Brexit and I couldn’t teach navigating the disruption. But what I could do is bring skills around situational adaptability — how do you stay grounded in the core of who you are but be prepared to pivot as things happen.

If we think about this concept of change readiness, we don’t know what the future is going to hold, so we talk about it in the context of the global disruption that occurs around the world. We can’t prepare for every eventuality, but we can do some scenario planning, we can do some work to provide resilience on teaching people how to bounce forward rather than bounce back. With Brexit, we focused more on what the thematic skills were that we could bring to the organization so people could be prepared to navigate whatever those rapids are in the future.

What would be the one takeaway that you’ve learned along your journey?

Brown: Stay calm. Be able to anchor and focus.

Lindeman: Love. Authenticity. I once thought that you had to be this extroverted leader, the stereotypes that you see. The reality is I’m an introvert, but I use that as my superpower. So be authentic, be true to yourself.

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