In today’s fast-paced business environment, HR professionals must be able to implement change quickly and effectively. Organisations need HR teams to be at the forefront of driving innovation and transformation, using advanced technologies such as AI and analytics to accelerate decision-making and improve workforce strategies. This is especially relevant in Australia and New Zealand, where the pace of change is accelerating in response to global economic shifts and technological advances.

 

The SHRPA Global State of the HR Industry Report highlights how executing change is essential for a successful 2025. Companies across the Pacific-ANZ region today are failing at people-centric and tech-led change execution parameters.

 

In some parameters, like enhancing productivity through AI and analytics, around 48% of HR leaders across Australia and New Zealand report high dissatisfaction levels. In addition to improving their ability to execute change, the report identified two other key talent imperatives for HR leaders in 2025: HR will need to focus on raising its functional effectiveness and building a sustainable technological infrastructure.

 

Bringing together tech and talent experts from the region, the SHRPA Talent Talk tackled challenges and deliberated strategies that will be key to talent and business success in 2025. Joined by Monica Watt, Founder & HR Strategist at Incredible Buzz and Ellise Dyner, Head of HR, ANZ & SEA, UKG,  Cheshta Dora, Head - Research, Content & Community, People Matters discussed the three main talent imperatives for HR and businesses across Australia and New Zealand.

Strategies for 2025 

To meet these imperatives, HR leaders in Australia and New Zealand must also consider region-specific challenges and implement strategies to overcome them. During a recent webinar that brought together experts, advisors, and HR leaders, several key discussion pointers were highlighted, including:

  • Raising the pace of change execution: Strategies to accelerate change using AI and analytics need to use data insights closely to make quicker, more informed decisions that align with business objectives. Today, this begins by improving start-to-end AI and analytics journey implementation centred around employee challenges. Moving ahead in 2025, a robust AI and analytics system will be critical to enhancing employee productivity and overall experience.
  • Maximising business impact: One key challenge for HR in the region is managing increasing workloads, adapting to remote work trends, and tackling employee burnout. When paired with changing business and HR landscape challenges like attracting GenZ talent, retaining top talent, and developing leaders laterally, cross-generational collaboration becomes critical to address in 2025.  These areas are going to have the highest impact on business growth.
  • Strengthening HR’s functional effectiveness: With change execution across both employee-centric and tech-led parameters emerging as a major gap,  tackling HR’s functional effectiveness by equipping them with tech skills and a digital mindset is necessary. This will help create better value for employees and businesses through HR technology.
  • Building sustainable tech infrastructure: It’s crucial that HR professionals focus not only on technology integration but on ensuring that systems are scalable, sustainable, and employee-centric. HR leaders must ensure necessary components of data privacy, cybersecurity and employee-centricity while maintaining transparency and effective execution of key priorities in leveraging new technology successfully.