HR and the future of work: what every HR leader needs to know

The future of work is no longer a fantasy or a topic reserved for theorising and for discussing in keynote speeches.

It is actively reworking the way HR departments are working right now, whether that is through automation, changing requirements in the workplace and entirely new ways of working that are being tested and deployed.

In fact, it is moving faster than most businesses can comfortably deal with.

For HR professionals ready to move from administrative support into genuine strategic influence, the CIPD Level 7 Advanced Diploma in Strategic People Management provides the grounding needed to lead through this change rather than simply respond to it.

This article looks at the major up-and-coming and current trends defining the future of HR, as well as the set of skills HR leaders will need to develop in order to stay ahead of them.

Why HR can no longer afford to stay reactive

The scale of change that is coming to the workplace over the next few years is significant. The World Economic Forum's Future of Jobs Report 2025 estimates that 170 million new roles will be created globally by 2030, against 92 million displaced, for a net gain of 78 million jobs.

While that figure sounds reassuring, it is worth noting that there is some significant disruption in the numbers. The same report puts job disruption at 22% of all roles by 2030, driven largely by automation and AI adoption.

For HR leaders, the solution to that problem has to start right now.

Automation and AI are changing what HR does day to day

AI is currently the number one topic on everybody’s list. Gartner's research into CHRO priorities for 2026 puts using AI for HR as an important priority. This is alongside preparing for new models of human and machine work.

The Future of Jobs Report backs this up from the employer side: 77% of employers plan to upskill their workforce in response to AI, while 41% expect to reduce headcount as AI automates existing tasks. Both trends are happening at once, and HR needs to straddle this fine line and find a balance.

However, AI in the workplace is still relatively new, and any upcoming changes might be different than the predictions are saying. Gartner's analysis of future of work trends for 2026 found that only 1% of layoffs in the first half of 2025 were the result of AI improving productivity, even though headcount was being cut in anticipation of those gains.

Trust is another open question with many for and against. Only 26% of job applicants saying they trust AI to evaluate them fairly during hiring, which makes building trust into AI-driven HR decisions a top priority.

The skills gap HR leaders need to plan for

Automation changes the skillset that many roles require. Nearly 40% of the skills workers use on the job are expected to change by 2030, and the Future of Jobs Report estimates that 59 out of every 100 workers globally will need reskilling or upskilling in that time.

Skills gaps are also the single biggest barrier employers report when trying to transform their organisations. Closing that gap, for the workforce and for HR's own team, needs to be treated as a strategic priority rather than an annual training exercise.

Hybrid and flexible working is still evolving

Flexible working is in a bit more of a stable place, but we’re still seeing the number shift. Current UK data shows a split of roughly 28% hybrid, 13% fully remote and 43% office-only. More data like the above can be found in our Remote and Hybrid Working Statistics article.

That split varies significantly by sector, department, seniority and demographic group. For this reason, a blanket policy almost never works well across a company. HR leaders need to keep reviewing the options and best ways of moving forward. This could mean reviewing flexible working arrangements against business needs and employee expectations, rather than treating early COVID-era policies as permanent and unchanging.

People analytics is becoming central to workforce decisions

People analytics is one of the clearest examples of HR's shift from reporting on the past to shaping the future.

The CIPD's analytics maturity framework sets out three stages: descriptive analytics, which reports on what has already happened, predictive analytics, which forecasts what is likely to happen, and prescriptive analytics, which recommends what to do about it.

Most organisations are still at the descriptive stage. Fewer have built out predictive or prescriptive capability, even though tools that support AI-driven recruitment, analytics and learning platforms are increasingly built into everyday HR systems. Moving further up that maturity curve is where much of HR's future strategic value will come from.

From operational support to strategic driver

HR is poised to move from operational support into a genuinely strategic role. Gartner's CHRO research found that only 47% of CHROs believe their organisation's culture currently drives employee performance, and just 32% of business leaders report achieving healthy change adoption among employees.

Those figures suggest plenty of room for HR to lead and set examples, rather than react and wait for the industry to change. We expect many to reposition their business around new AI-driven opportunities. That kind of change in market positioning needs a strategic voice in the room from the outset to ensure the shift happens as it needs to. This is not something you want to try to fix after the fact.

The future-focused skills every HR leader needs

With so many companies and industries going through changes, in some cases faster than ever before, it pays to have a core skillset broader than what traditional HR training provides.

Data literacy, AI governance and ethical reasoning now sit alongside business acumen and the ability to redesign and rethink workflows.

HR leaders who invest in these capabilities now, both for themselves and their teams, will be far better placed to shape how their organisations respond to automation, skills shortages and changing employee expectations, rather than simply reacting once the change has already arrived.

CIPD research published in April 2026, surveying over 1,300 senior leaders and HR professionals, found that only a third of HR leaders feel confident estimating future workforce needs shaped by AI, and just 40% feel confident designing reskilling pathways.

Where HR leaders reported higher confidence in these skills, nearly 90% of organisations saw improved worker job performance, against roughly 50% where confidence was lower.

Interested in learning more about the skills future HR leaders will need to build, or curious about how to get these skills to the right people? Contact our team and talk to us about how we can aid with HR training and diplomas.