This year was a challenging year for CHROs. But if they think 2026 will be any easier, we’ve only got one word for them: SIKE!

HR Brew chatted with three HR experts about the biggest challenges they anticipate for CHROs in 2026. None are necessarily new (hello, AI and hybrid work) but continuations of increasingly complicated issues.

AI will continue to be a major—if not the most significant—challenge for HR in 2026. Shocker!

However, as the technology becomes somewhat less novel, the challenge for HR leaders will be surviving its hype cycle, and factoring it into talent strategy.

For more on the top challenges CHROs should expect to face this year, keep reading here.—PM

HR departments are handling new AI tech like it’s their full-time job...

The technology is helping HR teams as they address internal comms, engagement, hiring, and skills, but it’s also helping HR pros draft emails and job descriptions, understand people data, and serve as a thought partner in brainstorming and ideation work.

Many are planning to dig deeper into the technology in the new year, and we wanted to understand how. HR Brew conducted a survey of its readers in November 2025 to understand what AI usage really looks like for HR professionals.

For more on where AI is showing up in HR, keep reading here.—AD

When Josh Reeves, Eddie Kim, and Tomer London launched Gusto (then ZenPayroll) in 2012, they wanted to help small businesses better support their employees. For them, this mission wasn’t just professional—it was personal.

“We had all run small businesses. We also had family running small businesses,” Reeves, Gusto’s CEO, said during a recent episode of HR Brew’s People Person podcast. “And as technologists, we really wanted to bring all of these exciting technologies to small businesses, because all too often, they’re on their own, including in the HR function.”

The trio has since raised $746.1 million at a $9+ billion valuation from investors including General Catalyst, Capital G, and T. Rowe Price, among others, to help simplify payroll and benefits for more than 400,000 US businesses—all while navigating how to do the same for their own organization.

Reeves sat down with Kate Noel, SVP and head of people operations at Morning Brew, to discuss his experience building a business, and HR department, from the ground up.

For more from our conversation with Reeves, keep reading here.—VV

You can only gut check your people strategy for so long. Dr. Benjamin Granger of Qualtrics will explain how to read the signals behind employee sentiment, spot issues before they become problems, and build teams that feel supported for real. Consider it your workplace psyche reboot. Register here.