Outlook 2025: HR Trends Today’s HR professionals face an evolving landscape, shaped by shifting economic conditions, technological advances, and regulatory uncertainty. Potential changes to employment laws – enacted by the new administration – further create unpredictability for C2HR members navigating compliance and workplace policies. The slowdown in pay raises means HR leaders must find alternative ways to attract and retain talent, while the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to be a powerful compensation tool while simultaneously raising concerns about job displacement and skills gaps. Against this backdrop, companies must continue to strive for deeper employee engagement, recognizing that a motivated workforce drives productivity and retention. Analytics, Agility and Engagement Fernando Sanchez, Compensation Manager at TelevisaUnivision, expects to see the elimination of siloed jobs in linear and digital programming, saying, “Currently, more dynamic positions are required that can serve both media types on different platforms. I also expect to see increased growth of analytics positions that can provide key information for decision-making, trends and new market niches.” Renee Hauch, Principal at JM Search and member of C2HR’s board of directors, believes that the ability to respond to changing workforce dynamics will be crucial. “2025 will continue to be the era of the ‘strategic doer.’ Companies are seeking executives who can not only craft high-level strategies but also roll up their sleeves to execute them. Agility is key,” she said. Ravena Valentine, EVP and Chief People Officer (CPO) at A+E Networks, and President of C2HR, thinks that employee engagement will top HR efforts in 2025. “At A+E, we have worked hard to grow our employee resource groups (ERGs) to foster a deep sense of community and inclusion, and to infuse our culture with the mindset that each and every employee contributes meaningfully to our success as a company. That work will continue to be vital,”  she said. Diversity of Experience Hauch also predicts a growing emphasis on diversity of experience. “Research shows how cognitively diverse teams solve problems faster, how the best ideas often come from outside one’s industry, and how collaborating with people who think differently challenges the brain to break free from stale patterns and sharpen performance,” she explained. “Employers now prioritize diversity in professional backgrounds, whether it is experience in large public corporations or in private-equity-backed companies.” Flattening of Pay Raises C2HR’s Compensation Surveys revealed that salary adjustment budgets are projected to remain flat for 2025. The surveys’ participants collectively estimated 3% salary budgets for content developers and 3.4% for connectivity companies, with general industry also at 3.4% in 2025. Other aspects of compensation packages have changed and will continue to do so. “The era of extensive relocation packages, which included covering closing costs on homes and providing substantial moving allowances, has largely passed,” said Hauch. “Companies today are operating with leaner budgets, often offering smaller lump sums for relocation expenses.” Long-Term Incentives Increasingly Important “While base salaries remain competitive, there’s a noticeable shift toward emphasizing bonuses, long-term incentives and equity to align interests and ensure shared investment in success. This approach reflects a broader focus on long-term growth and sustainability, maintaining competitiveness while fostering deeper engagement,” Hauch added. C2HR’s research bears this out. The bulk of compensation survey participants offered long-term incentives (LTIs): 82% of connectivity companies and 71% of content developers. Among connectivity companies offering LTIs, 89% offered them at the director level and above, whereas at content developers, 78% offered LTIs at the vice president level and above. “In general, long-term incentive eligibility remains limited to management, and we expect this to continue in 2025,” said Hali Croner, President and CEO of The Croner Company, the research and compensation consulting firm that conducts the surveys for C2HR. What Role Will AI Play? In 2025, artificial intelligence (AI) will continue to impact the workforce in multiple ways. “More technical AI roles are emerging within companies,” noted Hauch. “"Titles like 'head of AI' are becoming more prevalent, and many chief data officers and other data leaders are taking on the responsibility of shaping and driving AI strategies within their organizations,” she added. A+E Networks’ Valentine concurs. “We are working in real time to ready our organization for the AI transformation,” she said. “This kind of huge shift can be daunting to some people. The disruption that technology continues to create in the marketplace is fascinating, and it almost always changes our business for the better.” The Croner Company’s Digital Content and Technology Surveys find that these roles command a compensation premium. “Software engineering roles in AI/machine learning earned on average an 18% increase in base salary last year,” explained Croner. AI is also expected to become an increasingly used compensation tool. Research from Gartner, "AI’s Impact on Compensation Strategy: Should AI make compensation decisions", observes that AI algorithms can consistently apply pay policies and philosophies in ways that human decision-makers cannot. Because they reduce the time spent making pay decisions, they also enable HR to spend more time helping employees understand pay practices and how to achieve a raise. “AI can cover the role of pay adjudicator, allowing managers to take on the critical role of performance coach,” wrote Gartner’s Carolina Valencia. To start using AI, Gartner recommended the following approach: Decide which pay decisions you would like to experiment with (base pay, hiring pay, bonus, etc.) Identify how much automation you seek (final decision, partial decision or gather input) Determine “the strength of the decision” – who can override it, if anyone     Companies might also consider tests whereby they compare a manager’s decision to the AI-driven tool, reported Garter. In addition, “Compensation professionals are able to use generative AI to assist with job description writing and assisting managers in communicating pay decisions,” Croner added. RELATED RESOURCES For more information on industry compensation, please visit the HR Knowledge Center. Also, the HR Learning Series offers multiple on-demand webinars exploring Human Capital Trends. SHARE THIS ARTICLE