2026 isn’t going to be just any year for HR. It’ll be the year many organisations finally realise that HR isn’t “just admin”. Now, it’s quietly become an operating model that helps the business scale without the culture cracking along the way. And yes, it’s also shaping your employer brand from the inside out.
Sound familiar? Finance wants efficiency (“lower costs, higher productivity”), the business wants faster processes (“we needed that yesterday”), and your people want consistency (“be clear about what you expect from me and what I can expect in return”).
If you’re also trialling new AI features, keeping up with regulatory change, and trying to make hybrid work actually work… you’ve every right to feel a bit lost.
But here’s the good news: the 2026 trends aren’t a grab-bag of fads. There are pretty clear signals of where work is heading. And exactly what you can use to align with business objectives and glue HR’s place as a strategic partner.
Right. Let’s get started. And in case you had any doubts — yes, we’ll start with AI.
AI in HR: widespread use but with awareness (or it becomes a problem for you)
In 2026, AI stops being a side pilot and becomes part of the actual infrastructure. Recruitment and selection, employee support, predictive analytics, comms drafting, learning — increasingly handled (or heavily supported) by AI agents.
But don’t mistake “everywhere” for “easy”. As adoption ramps up, so does scrutiny. Europe is raising the regulatory bar: the EU AI Act kicked in back in 2024 and will become fully applicable in August 2026.
So what does that mean for HR? It’s no longer enough to ask, “What can we do with AI?” You’ll need crisp answers to: “What should we do?” and “How do we control it?” In practice, that means:
🟠 Traceability and governance: clear decision trails, plus risk and bias assessments (especially in hiring and performance decisions).
🟠 Predictive analytics with guardrails: forecasting behaviours and key KPIs (like turnover) without turning your organisation into a surveillance machine.
🟠 Transparency: being upfront about where AI is used internally and with candidates.
🟠 AI literacy: proper training across the business (yes, managers too (they’re often the biggest risk and the biggest lever).
🟠 Predictive analytics with guardrails: forecasting behaviours and key KPIs (like turnover) without turning your organisation into a surveillance machine.
🟠 Transparency: being upfront about where AI is used internally and with candidates.
🟠 AI literacy: proper training across the business (yes, managers too (they’re often the biggest risk and the biggest lever).
Used well, AI can be sweet music to HR’s ears….or a reputational nightmare and a compliance headache you really don’t need.
AI-first recruitment (especially in volume)... and recruiters who are consultants
Recruitment in 2026 is basically split into two at the same time:
# For high-volume, high-turnover roles, it’s going to be far more automated and AI-first — quicker screening, faster shortlists, more of the admin handled by machines.
# But for critical, hard-to-fill roles, it swings the other way: more human, more consultative, and much more focus on role design (because getting the job right is half the battle).
Gartner’s basically saying: by 2026, AI and cost pressure will push talent teams towards mass, AI-first hiring for volume roles. And AI will change how we assess candidates.
And here comes the biggest question: Is your TA team ready to advise the business on job design, skills and pipeline… or are they still stuck in “post job and wait”?
Towards a custom model for HR
HR managers will increasingly need tools and processes that can be tailored properly (this isn’t the time for a one-size-fits-all approach).
Which is why the role of a GOOD HR consultant isn’t going anywhere. If anything, it becomes more valuable: someone who brings real-world experience, understands how your organisation actually works, and helps shape the setup around your needs.
People analytics will not be a dashboard (it will become a compass for the business)
By 2026, people data will be up there with financial data in terms of importance. Not because HR’s trying to steal the limelight, but because the business needs to make decisions based less on gut feel and more on evidence: turnover, absence, productivity, labour costs, leadership skills, burnout risk… the lot.
Done well, people analytics and reporting turn HR into a proper business partner — helping the organisation hit its targets with fewer surprises and fewer nasty “how did we not see that coming?” moments.
And here’s the thing: it’s not about having dashboards for the sake of it. It’s about dashboards that answer questions the business actually cares about.
Where are we losing key talent (and why)? Which teams are at risk of a cultural wobble before it turns into chaos? What skills are we missing to deliver our 2026–2027 objectives?
Those are exactly the kinds of questions people analytics can help answer. And the ones HR needs to turn into a clear, practical strategy.
Internal mobility and talent marketplaces: external recruiting will be more expensive than looking internally
If 2025 was all about “retention”, 2026 is about internal mobility as a proper business strategy.
Internal recruitment is presented as a response to the talent shortage: workforce planning, a proper view of your internal skills, and clear career pathways (reskilling and upskilling included).
And Gartner puts even more pressure… by 2026, you will redirect a significant part of your recruitment efforts and focus on internal talent.
Do you have real visibility into internal skills, or just an organisational chart? Because without a skills development plan, internal mobility remains just wishful thinking.
Skills-based organisations: more and new skills (and real continuous learning)
The conversation shifts from “I need a Senior X” to “I need these capabilities to solve this problem.” This is a powerful change because it expands the talent pool and reduces reliance on traditional processes.
The CV is going to carry less and less weight in hiring decisions. Tech moves so quickly that a CV just can’t keep up with the skills, projects and ways of working people pick up along the way.
The World Economic Forum puts it plainly: employers expect 39% of key skills to change by 2030. This hits hard.
If that doesn’t make you take a hard look at your learning and development model, what will?
The “Great Flattening” and “Unbossing”: redesigned (not eliminated) leadership
Some companies are stripping out management layers (the so-called “great flattening”), while parts of Gen Z are pushing back on old-school leadership (“conscious unbossing”).
Let me explain this: less hierarchy doesn't mean less leadership. It means that leadership is shifting towards a more collaborative model: coaching and less control through presence.
Clarity becomes everything. Setting expectations properly (think OKRs), and keeping the feedback loop going
If you flatten things without redesigning decisions, roles, and responsibilities, what you get is not agility: it's chaos (and your chat on fire).
Practical Employee Experience (EX): “less friction” is the new employer brand
In 2026, employee experience won’t be a nice poster on a noticeboard. It’s the sum of day-to-day interactions that either feel smooth… or full of friction: your employee portal and tech, your processes, how transparent and consistent you (and your managers) are, how much REAL autonomy people have, and what good leadership looks like in practice.
Get the tech and processes right, and you make it easier for people to stay. Simple. Because their working life isn’t one “can someone help me with this?”
And the real question isn’t “Do we have EX initiatives?” It’s: what does it actually feel like to be an employee at your company on an ordinary Tuesday?
Booking holidays, checking payslips, updating details, requesting a document, getting feedback… If any of that feels like hitting a brick wall, your EX doesn´t feel real.
Pay rises and “emotional salary” (or total reward) in a talent squeeze
Let’s be honest: 2026 looks a bit murky when it comes to pay rises.
In the UK, most employers are budgeting around 3.6% on average for 2026, broadly in line with 2025, according to CIPD
And yet the pressure hasn’t gone away. The cost of living still matters, and shortages in key skills mean you’ll need a better story (even if you can’t win purely on base pay)
That’s where “emotional salary” becomes genuinely useful: flexibility, benefits people actually value, development, purpose, wellbeing support…the stuff that makes a job feel worth it day to day.
But here’s the catch: emotional salary without credibility is worse than nothing. If you sell work–life balance and then punish people for using it, your EVP turns into a meme (and not a funny one).
Wellbeing and mental health: from “programme” to part of the management system
We’re past the era of “Here’s a meditation app—good luck!” If your wellbeing strategy begins and ends with an app, you’re not running wellbeing… you’re running a non-effective perk.
In 2026, the shift gets real: wellbeing becomes something you measure, manage, and iterate—because it behaves like a business risk.
Think turnover, absence, productivity drag, engagement dips, and the ripple effects on customer experience.
That’s the difference between a wellbeing initiative and wellbeing as part of your operating model.
What does “good wellbeing” really mean in practice? It’s not a paper in the biggest meeting room. It’s not always shining stuff: listening loops that actually lead to change, workload design, psychological safety, and work-life boundaries that don’t change every time the last day of the month hits.
Deloitte has been pushing this conversation hard through the idea of Human Sustainability—essentially asking whether people are better off after working at your organisation.
Their research has highlighted that only 43% of workers say their organisation has left them better off than when they started. That’s a KPI that should make any leadership team sit up.
So, the question for 2026 is uncomfortable but necessary: Are you treating wellbeing as a benefit… or as a management responsibility with metrics, ownership, and consequences?
Salary transparency: 2026 is a date to circle in red
Brace yourself. 2026 is going to be a compliance-heavy year for reward teams, HR ops, and anyone who’s ever said “the pay data is… complicated”.
The headline is the EU Pay Transparency Directive (Directive (EU) 2023/970), which must be transposed into national laws by 7 June 2026.
What changes? This isn’t just “publish a pay range and move on.” It pushes organisations toward:
🟠 cleaner salary architecture (bands that make sense, and don’t rely on casual conversation)
🟠 clear progression criteria (so pay growth isn’t a mysterious dark art)
🟠 documentation and reporting readiness (including explaining gaps and decisions)
🟠 clear progression criteria (so pay growth isn’t a mysterious dark art)
🟠 documentation and reporting readiness (including explaining gaps and decisions)
And here’s the killer scenario: if your compensation data is scattered across payroll, spreadsheets, and “ask Dave in Finance,” and nobody can explain why A earns more than B… 2026 becomes an avoidable headache.
This is the moment to treat pay transparency like a systems project: data integrity, governance, audit trails, and a single source of truth. Sweet music to a finance director’s ears.
Focus on managers: stop using automatic mode
If 2026 is about turning HR into an operational model, there’s one part you can’t leave to chance: front-line managers.
You can have brilliant processes, immaculate pay transparency, and a polished employee experience… but if the manager layer isn’t equipped and motivated, what employees feel isn’t strategy. It’s noise.
Here’s the awkward question: Do you treat managers as a “channel”… or as an internal customer?
Because we ask managers to deliver performance, wellbeing, engagement, mobility, capability building (and now AI adoption too). Then we hand these modern but ineffective tools, slow workflows, zero trust and time, and minimal training. Try to act surprised when it all hits a brick wall.
This is also a talent management problem. More Gen Z professionals are actively less interested in traditional management tracks—often because the role looks like more pressure, more emotional load, less autonomy, and less ability to switch off.
So no, “leadership isn’t over.” But the design of the manager role is up for renewal:
🟠 make it doable (reduce admin, fix workflow friction, clarify decision rights)
🟠 make it safe (support, coaching, peer community, escalation paths)
🟠 make it worth it (recognition, career value, realistic expectations)
🟠 make it measurable (manager effectiveness isn’t vibes, it’s outcomes)
🟠 make it safe (support, coaching, peer community, escalation paths)
🟠 make it worth it (recognition, career value, realistic expectations)
🟠 make it measurable (manager effectiveness isn’t vibes, it’s outcomes)
Treat managers like your most important product launch. Enable them properly, and your strategy lands. Ignore them, and even your best HR work becomes a quiet, expensive failure.
Recommendation: Pick one thread to tighten first (wellbeing as a managed risk, pay transparency readiness, or manager enablement) and build a 2026 roadmap that connects all three. Because they’re not separate trends; they’re one operating system upgrade.
