The end of a year and beginning of a new one is a time for reflection, anticipation, and planning. Reflecting on 2025 reveals major changes to the HR function, especially when it comes to the technology upending how work gets done (that’s AI, for anyone who has been living in a remote jungle for the last few years).

AI brought us the “superworker” and “digital twins.” It’s replacing boolean search and reinventing recruiting, and AI agents are changing how we think about “workers” and work.

But the technology has also brought about more questions still in need of noodling in the new year. Companies are figuring out deployment, understanding ROI, and managing an evolving compliance landscape along the way.

So then, what’s ahead when it comes to AI? HR Brew tapped four executives for their predictions about how the technology will impact the HR function in the coming year, as it continues to remake the business world. Here’s what they said.

For more on what’s next for AI in HR, keep reading here.—AD

The Great Resignation may feel like a distant nightmare for many employers, who, in 2025, have regained leverage on the labor market. But as the country’s changing population increasingly creates labor shortages, that post-pandemic period may feel like the good old days.

Impending labor shortages stemming from demographic changes, like declining birth rates, have been on employers’ radar. As 2025 US immigration policy shifts the makeup of the market, a challenge that might’ve felt like a future problem for HR pros is becoming a more imminent issue.

“The demographic challenges have been plaguing talent leaders for most of the time that I’ve been in this work, which has been my entire working lifetime,” Alison Lands, VP of the employer mobilization practice at Jobs For the Future, told HR Brew. “The labor market has only continued to get tighter, and the pain points have only continued to get more painful. So there’s never a better time to think about it than right now. Kicking the can down the road will make things more difficult.”

For more on HR’s labor-shortage headache, keep reading here.—PM

The feeling of getting a 5/5 on the Brew’s weekly news quiz has been compared to getting a company-wide shout out from your boss. It’s that satisfying.

If only retention worked as well as a Shark vacuum. Elizabeth Norberg will break down how to build teams that stay engaged, growing, and off the proverbial floor. It’s the deep clean your people strategy has been avoiding.