HR leadership trends for 2025: The era of the EX Super Team

2025: The year of the EX Super Team

In 2025, the role of HR leaders, especially Chief People Officers (CPOs) and Chief Human Resources Officers (CHROs), is evolving in tandem with the rise of the EX Super Team - a unified collaboration between HR, IT, and Internal Communications. Explained in full in the original EX Super Team blog, this convergence is redefining how organizations approach employee experience (EX). For HR leaders, this means stepping beyond traditional boundaries to drive performance, agility, and connectivity across the enterprise. Let’s explore the key trends shaping HR leadership in 2025 and how you can align with your EX stakeholders to lead the transformation.

1. From Engagement to Organizational Velocity

Traditional engagement metrics, long a cornerstone of HR strategy, are being reimagined in favor of a broader, more dynamic goal: Organizational Velocity. This concept emphasizes speed, adaptability, and the seamless execution of work across the enterprise. In a decade characterized by change and volatility, the shift away from employee engagement towards Organizational Velocity recognizes that the ability to pivot and shapeshift at speed will define the next generation of Performance Champions. By refocusing on Organizational Velocity as a guiding north star, HR leaders can ensure that people strategy aligns with pressing business needs.

What it means for HR leaders:

• Redefining success metrics: Move beyond measuring employee sentiment to evaluating how quickly and effectively teams can adapt and deliver results.
• Fostering agility: Develop and reward teams for their adaptability and readiness for change, making it a core competency across the workforce.
• Collaborating across functions: Partner with IT and Internal Communications to eliminate barriers that slow down workflows and decision-making.

Organizational Velocity places HR at the center of enabling adaptability, ensuring that the workforce is prepared to meet the demands of a rapidly changing business environment.

2. Closing the AI Gap

AI is revolutionizing every corner of the workplace, but the divide between early adopters and laggards is growing. For HR leaders, this creates an urgent need to bridge the AI gap and prepare the workforce for a future where AI is integral to operations.

McKinsey research shows that gen AI could enable automation of up to 70% of business activities, across almost all occupations, between now and 2030, adding trillions of dollars in value to the global economy. But many enterprises are failing to set themselves up for AI success. HR leaders have a significant role to play in ensuring the organization is primed to execute a bold approach to AI.

Organizations that fail to communicate a clear AI policy leave themselves vulnerable to worrying compliance issues as employees explore ungoverned and unsanctioned third-party tools. To get ahead of this growing security concern, HR innovators must work closely with IT and Internal Comms counterparts to devise and share an AI strategy that employees understand and embrace. As enterprises strive to adopt the latest AI capabilities to drive efficiencies, leaders will increasingly look to EX platforms to provide a governable layer that puts the power of AI into the flow of work.

What it means for HR leaders:

• Reskilling and upskilling: Identify new skill requirements and develop learning programs to prepare employees for AI-enabled roles.
• Rethinking career progression: Consider how AI impacts traditional career paths—especially roles historically reliant on manual or junior-level tasks.
• Policy development: Collaborate with IT to design clear AI governance policies that address ethical, compliance, and workforce integration challenges.

By leading efforts to close the AI gap, HR can ensure their organizations remain competitive while building a workforce ready to leverage AI for innovation and efficiency. As top talent seeks out forward-looking employers, company AI strategy is set to become a key factor in cultivating a compelling employer brand. See how Unily is helping the world’s largest enterprises to securely unlock the potential of AI for workforce transformation here.

Hear more about how HR leaders from EY, Create Connect, and Unily are preparing for the future of work by tuning into our exclusive panel discussion:

3. Addressing burnout with intentional design

Burnout remains a critical issue, with workplace stress at an all-time high. For HR leaders, addressing this challenge goes beyond offering wellness resources - it requires a systemic redesign of how work is structured and experienced. Recent research by Unily revealed that nearly six in ten employees report that digital tools add to their workplace stress. HR leaders seeking to tackle burnout should start by assessing the digital workplace, looking for opportunities for better integration across tooling. Leading enterprises are looking toward sophisticated EX platforms to solve the digital noise challenge.

What it means for HR leaders:

• Cultural change: Advocate for leadership accountability in reducing workplace stressors and aligning organizational policies with employee wellbeing.
• Proactive monitoring: Implement tools and processes to track the impact of leadership decisions and workplace culture on employee mental health.
• Reducing digital overload: Partner with IT and Internal Communications to streamline tools, reduce digital noise, and promote healthier communication practices.

By tackling burnout at its roots, HR leaders can create environments where employees are energized, engaged, and capable of sustainable high performance.

4. Reimagining connectivity to power collaboration

In the hybrid workplace, outdated systems and fragmented communication are hindering productivity and innovation. HR leaders have a key role in reimagining connectivity to drive deeper collaboration across teams, geographies, and cultures. Typically disconnected segments of the workforce, such as frontline employees, represent a significant opportunity to drive transformation.

What it means for HR leaders:

• Breaking down silos: Promote policies and practices that foster collaboration across departments and hierarchies.
• Championing inclusion: Create strategies that ensure connectivity tools are accessible and inclusive for a diverse, global workforce.
• Strengthening relationships: Focus on building authentic human connections within teams, emphasizing trust and open communication.

Connectivity isn’t just about technology - it’s about fostering an environment where people and ideas flow freely, enabling greater collaboration and innovation.

5. Leading the EX Super Team

As employee experience becomes a business-wide priority, HR leaders are uniquely positioned to take the lead in building and driving the EX Super Team. This collaboration between HR, IT, and Internal Communications is redefining how organizations design and deliver EX.

What It Means for HR Leaders:

• Unified goals: Establish shared EX metrics that reflect the collective impact of HR, IT, and Communications on employee experience.
• Strategic alignment: Serve as the bridge between human needs and organizational objectives, ensuring that technology and communication strategies align with workforce priorities.
• Driving collaboration: Facilitate regular cross-functional sessions to solve complex EX challenges and drive continuous innovation.

The EX Super Team represents a shift from fragmented efforts to unified transformation, with HR leaders at the helm of this critical evolution. HR leaders that answer this calling will position themselves to drive exceptional value in 2025 and beyond. As a first step, read our 2025 trends for the EX Super Team to see how these trends apply to other functions playing a critical role in EX transformation. The more we understand how to bring the skills of EX collaborators together to accelerate change, the faster we can unlock true workforce transformation.

Prepare for 2025: Key actions for HR Leaders

1. Adopt velocity thinking: Shift focus from traditional engagement metrics to adaptability and organizational effectiveness.
2. Close the AI gap: Lead reskilling efforts and develop clear strategies for integrating AI into the workforce.
3. Address burnout systemically: Redesign work and culture to proactively mitigate stress and promote wellbeing.
4. Foster deeper connectivity: Reimagine collaboration strategies to align with the demands of the hybrid workplace.
5. Lead the EX Super Team: Champion cross-functional collaboration to deliver employee experiences that drive business results.

In 2025, the HR leader’s role expands beyond traditional boundaries, requiring a collaborative and strategic mindset to navigate the challenges and opportunities ahead. By embracing these trends, CHROs and CPOs can position their organizations - and their workforces - for long-term success.