HR trends 2025: less HO, more AI, ESG falling apart

Based on an annual trend analysis of 100 business press products, data collected from more than 270 HR professionals, and information obtained at 16 different SuccessFactors events between April and October 2024, the SAP HR research team established a nine-point priority list.

“A few years ago, a change took place when HR moved from a service function to a strategic area. This trend is expected to intensify further, in addition to ensuring the current operation of companies, their future success will also be determined by the changes they are able to initiate in their HR area in a timely manner”

– commented Szabolcs Pintér, Managing Director of SAP Hungary, on the conclusions of the survey.

Artificial intelligence at work

At the top of the priority list – just like a year ago – is artificial intelligence, which is demanding an increasingly greater role in all areas of life. For companies, the practical application of AI is one of the biggest challenges of the coming year, they are now starting to quantify its expected effects, formulating the return on AI investments as an expectation. Employees must also adapt to the unstoppable digitalization, and it is expected that more and more of them will also have to acquire artificial intelligence-related skills and integrate them into their everyday work.

Not everything will be virtual

However, interest in hybrid and remote work has fallen significantly, from third to eighth place. Employers have mostly crystallized and communicated their position on this issue over the past year, and now employees must decide whether to adapt to the model chosen by their employer or find a new place for themselves. In any case, even if there is a realignment in terms of the specific location of work, ensuring the competitiveness of the skills and qualifications necessary to perform the work remains the second most important factor in workforce management, after AI readiness.