Amid a period of prolonged uncertainty, HR leaders are tasked with navigating complex challenges while preparing their people for the future of work.
By Maggie Mancini
Research by Larry Basinait
In 2025, HR leaders face complex challenges shaped by technological advancements, evolving workforce expectations, and ongoing economic and business uncertainty. Organizations are grappling with how to manage rising benefit costs, leverage AI, and keep their employees motivated to do impactful work. As economic instability, political tensions, and declining employee engagement impact productivity and morale, people leaders are navigating rough terrain with resilience and agility.
HRO Today’s 2024-2025 Top Annual Concerns of CHROs Report, sponsored by Hudson RPO, surveyed HR leaders across the country to understand their most pressing challenges and issues they are anticipating within the next year. Here, a group of senior HR executives share how these challenges are impacting their organizations and how they’re working to overcome them.
According to HRO Today’s Top Annual Concerns of CHROs Report, a chief concern among HR executives is the availability of skilled workers, with 59% either concerned or very concerned.
CHRO Concern: Availability of Skilled Workers
According to HRO Today’s annual report, a chief concern among CHROs is the availability of skilled workers, with 59% either concerned or very concerned. In the U.S., 70% of corporate leaders report critical skills gaps negatively impacting business performance. This finding comes as the World Economic Forum estimates that 44% of workers’ skills will be disrupted within the next five years.
When it comes to bridging the skills gap and attracting top talent, many HR leaders often forget to define what top talent is, shares Varsha Vig, CHRO at Aviatrix. While everyone has job descriptions and basic skills required for a position, many organizations stop there.
“What defines ‘top talent’ are the qualities of individuals beyond those skills that make a person thrive in your organization,” Vig says. “Organizations need to clarify what skills and qualities exist amongst their top talent. They need to make those expectations clear in their recruitment efforts. This transparency will ensure that only the best candidates opt-in for those key positions.”
A common response to the skills gap is to hire for it, says Debbie Lawrence, chief people officer at Integris. However, Lawrence believes this is a short-sighted approach. Rather, it’s important to understand that organizations are already staffed with bright, capable individuals that are likely excited to learn.
“HR leaders must move beyond reactive hiring to close skills gaps and adopt a proactive, data-informed talent strategy,” says Paul Winspeare, chief people officer for the City of Providence. To do this, HR must focus on two key areas: Establishing a skills inventory that aligns current capabilities against organizational goals, and investing in internal talent development like structured onboarding, upskilling, and learning pathways to ensure employees can evolve along with their work.
Creating clear growth paths and fostering a culture of development are key to building careers and staying future-ready, explains Renato Razon, CHRO at RNDC.
“The pace of change isn’t slowing down, so we’re helping our people build resilience through what we call the ‘corporate athlete’ mindset,” Razon says. “That means staying agile, prioritizing wellness, and staying connected to purpose and community.”
CHRO Concern: HR Leading for the Future
HRO Today’s report finds that nearly half (43%) of CHROs are concerned about whether HR executives are prepared to lead in the future, according to the report. This has become increasingly important as organizations continue to experiment with and adopt AI technologies to streamline operations and improve productivity.
“HR leaders are tantamount to achieving organizational goals,” Lawrence says. “In the past, many have let themselves be relegated to the back of the room. However, people fuel the organization and, as such, should be integral to strategy.”
To do this, Lawrence believes HR leaders must be skilled in the following.
Business alignment allows HR leaders to provide the manpower to achieve organizational goals and balance financial targets.
Talent architecture enables the CHRO to work effectively across the business to staff current skills and develop employees to shape the future needs of the business.
Executive counsel ensures that the CHRO is a trusted confidante to the CEO, providing coaching and keeping leaders informed on the pulse of the business.
“The CHRO of the future is as much a business strategist as a people leader,” Winspeare says. “They are at the table of leadership in today’s business environment. Senior HR leaders must be fluent in organizational design, people analytics, fiscal acumen, cultural intelligence, and change leadership. These enable HR to lead transformations that align people strategy with business agility.”
Leaders should embed data literacy into the HR function, developing cross-functional partnerships and building leadership pipelines that anticipate disruption, Winspeare says. This, Vig adds, means HR leaders must:
know how the HR function drives business results;
be knowledgeable about their company, its core business objectives, and competitive differentiators; and
understand how core objectives impact employees and the company’s bottom line.
AI is changing the way people work, Vig explains, and HR leaders need to know how this impacts people across the company — not only how it can improve productivity and speed up work, but also how it impacts roles across the organization.
CHRO Concern: HR Fatigue and Burnout
As HR has evolved over the last few years, burnout among HR leaders has become more common. This was very apparent in this year’s Top Concerns Report. Approximately 41% of CHROs say they are concerned about the rise in fatigue, with 91% of respondents acknowledging significant transformations in their roles over the past five years. This evolution has resulted in increased responsibilities and heavier workloads.
While the demands on HR leaders have grown significantly over the past few years, support structures haven’t always kept pace, Vig says. HR leaders are building the employee experience to ensure that the people around them have the support they need, but in doing so, these leaders often take on the emotional labor needed to manage these changes.
“Burnout in HR stems from sustained pressure to be both crisis manager and strategic advisor without adequate support or boundaries,” Winspeare says. “This is amplified when HR lacks alignment with core business objectives or organizational culture undervalues employee well-being.”
The rise in burnout in HR has made it clear that HR leaders can’t just be fixers — they must be builders, Razon says. This means rethinking how HR supports teams, how leaders pace changes, and how they create space for people to recharge.
HR is experiencing a general lack of resilience coupled with a mental health crisis that is converging right now into an influx of resignations, Lawrence explains. Social media buzz does not help either, with trends like “quiet quitting” entering the lexicon.
“They say whenever you board a flight, you need to put on your own oxygen mask first,” Vig says. “I believe the root cause of burnout for any employee, HR or otherwise, is not knowing what truly recharges and gives them oxygen and then making sure that they get it. Businesses should focus on ensuring HR leaders have adequate support, whether that be through coaching, mentoring, resourcing, or peer support networks, to help these leaders navigate the growing demands of the HR profession.”
“As the job market has shifted, overall retention may be less of a concern, but retention of critical top talent remains as high as ever. Engagement and retention start with building the right infrastructure for employees to come in and do their best work by setting clear expectations, providing employees with opportunities for growth, recognizing their impact, and aligning them with managers who inspire and coach them to greatness.” — Varsha Vig, Aviatrix
CHRO Concern: Retaining HR Leaders
While concern about retention among HR executives has fallen since 2022’s Top Concerns Report, it remains on the priority list for 54% of CHROs. While the unemployment rate remains low, a tight job market can make it more challenging for employees to find alternative opportunities. Ongoing economic and business uncertainty can exacerbate this, impacting employees’ willingness to leave their current employers.
“As the job market has shifted, overall retention may be less of a concern, but retention of critical top talent remains as high as ever,” Vig says. “Engagement and retention start with building the right infrastructure for employees to come in and do their best work by setting clear expectations, providing employees with opportunities for growth, recognizing their impact, and aligning them with managers who inspire and coach them to greatness.”
The City of Providence has taken a people-first approach to engagement and retention, anchored in listening, data, and transparency, Winspeare says. The team has implemented continuous listening strategies like pulse-oriented surveying, collaborative goal setting, exit data analysis, and learning system development across the employee lifecycle.
“Retention starts with relevance,” Razon says. “Are we helping people grow? Are we listening? Are we recognizing what matters to them? We’re focused on career mobility, meaningful recognition, and making sure every associate feels seen and supported.”
This means regular check-ins, open door policies, and leadership that’s genuinely interested in employee development. It also means equipping leaders with the tools and feedback they need to grow, since leadership is the foundation for retention.
Over the past year, Integris has transitioned to a remote-first workforce even as organizations across the country are bringing their employees back to the office. Lawrence says that business leaders asked employees what they wanted and acted on it. This is also true of RNDC, which has shifted to a hybrid model, Razon adds.
“We also have a robust time off policy that celebrates diversity and encourages personal time,” Lawrence says. “One of our biggest investments is in personal and professional growth opportunities, including access to learning content, easy understanding of career paths, and a focus on building internal skillsets rather than hiring externally.”
Keeping an Eye Out
Amid a period of profound change, HR leaders are tasked with managing complex challenges and preparing their workforces for the future. To do this, HR must lean into innovation and foster a culture of adaptability. Below, HR officers share some concerns they see within their organizations and how they’re approaching them.
Humans should be at the forefront of AI transformation. RNDC is keeping a close eye on how AI and automation are reshaping roles and how the company can prepare for that shift. “It’s not just about tech adoption,” Razon says. “It’s about human adaptability.”
HR needs to proactively prepare for the future. “The future of work is now, and it requires HR to be anticipatory by building ethical frameworks, digital fluency, and resilient systems that can adapt to shifts in the world of work,” Winspeare says.
Return-to-office mandates may have negative repercussions. For some companies, RTO can result in reduced talent attraction, productivity, motivation, and retention, Vig says. “HR leaders must invest in the tools and infrastructure to demonstrate that employees continue to be just as productive, if not more, in remote-first environments.”
Connecting to the multigenerational workforce is paramount. “With four generations working alongside each other, it’s important to understand how they approach connection and collaboration, Lawrence says.
