By Maggie Mancini
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 WorkersAccording 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 FutureHRO 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 BurnoutAs 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.