As we head into 2025, HR is no longer just supporting the business; it’s helping to shape its direction. According to Gartner’s latest research, HR leaders around the world are aligning around five key priorities: leadership development, organisational culture, strategic workforce planning, change management, and HR technology.
These areas reflect a deeper shift in how organisations view talent, growth, and future readiness. So, what do these priorities really mean in practice, and why do they matter now more than ever?
1. Rethinking Leadership Development
Leadership programmes have changed, but the results haven’t kept up. Despite 76% of organisations updating their development strategies and increasing budgets, only 36% of HR leaders feel confident these programmes are preparing managers for future challenges.
Part of the problem lies in delivery. Traditional methods still dominate: lectures, one-off workshops, and passive learning, while real development depends on connection, feedback, and context.
We recently spoke to an HR manager who shared that their newly promoted team leads were struggling, not because they lacked training, but because the training hadn’t prepared them for day-to-day leadership dilemmas, like navigating team conflict or giving hard feedback.
Some companies are seeing results by embedding leadership development into day-to-day experiences. Organisations like Nedbank take a practical approach to workforce planning, building it into their annual people-strategy reviews. This means aligning their talent plans with the business’s most important goals, ensuring their efforts stay focused and measurable.
2. Making Culture Tangible
Culture remains a top concern, with 97% of CHROs wanting to shift their organisation’s culture in some way. Yet, less than 25% of employees say they understand what the values actually mean in practice.
When culture isn’t embedded in behaviours, processes, and expectations, it becomes an idea, not a reality.
At one organisation we know, the leadership team proudly displayed their company values in every hallway, but when employees were asked to describe what those values looked like in action, most couldn’t say. Culture isn’t what’s printed on the walls; it’s what’s felt in the meetings, the feedback, and the day-to-day choices.
Gartner’s research shows that organisations with strong cultural embeddedness see a 63% boost in engagement, 35% higher performance, and 25% greater retention intent. Tangible action, like helping employees connect values to daily work, makes culture something people live, not just hear about.
3. Going Beyond Headcount in Workforce Planning
Too many workforce plans still focus solely on headcount, with 66% of HR leaders admitting their planning is limited to filling seats rather than building capability.
That’s risky in a fast-changing environment where 23% of global jobs are expected to be reshaped within five years, largely driven by AI and business model shifts.
A talent director we spoke with shared how their business missed a critical digital transformation goal; not because of budget constraints, but because they hadn’t forecast the tech skills needed in time. “We hired fast,” she said, “but we didn’t hire smart.”
Strategic workforce planning means identifying skills your future business needs, understanding where gaps exist, and building or buying talent accordingly.
4. Tackling Change Fatigue with Insight
Change is now constant, and it’s exhausting. Gartner reports that 73% of HR leaders are dealing with employee change fatigue, and 74% say managers aren’t equipped to lead through it.
This fatigue has a real business impact. Fatigued employees are 35% less likely to be engaged and 44% less likely to stay or feel psychologically safe at work.
A global HRBP described their team’s reaction to yet another software rollout like this: “You could almost feel the energy leave the room when we announced it. It didn’t matter how useful the tool was. We’d simply asked too much, too fast.”
The solution isn’t more change. It’s better change. That means identifying peer influencers, supporting bottom-up communication, and helping managers build resilience instead of just cascading information.
5. Turning HR Tech Into Strategic Advantage
HR tech adoption is growing, but the impact isn’t always clear. Over half of HR leaders say their current systems don’t meet business needs, and just a third receive executive support for tech that doesn’t deliver immediate efficiency.
True growth requires more than automation. It needs a shift from tools that “track” to systems that “inform and drive decisions.”
One HR lead described the frustration of using multiple disconnected platforms: “Our engagement tool didn’t talk to our performance system, and neither fed into recruitment. It was like trying to do a puzzle with pieces from five different boxes.”
The City of Sydney, for instance, improved HR productivity by 27%, not by buying new tech, but by working more strategically with their vendor, aligning tools with outcomes, and improving adoption through shared ownership.
Where to From Here?
The message is clear: HR is being called to lead with clarity, capability, and care.
At Lumenii, we support HR teams in turning these priorities into progress. From future-ready leadership development to culture alignment and strategic workforce planning, our platform helps you move beyond theory and act with insight.
Let’s make 2025 the year HR leads the way.
