🚀 The 2026 HR Kickoff: Trends, Goals, and First-Week Actions - Jan 2, 2025

THE HR SPOTLIGHT

🚀 The 2026 HR Kickoff: Trends, Goals, and First-Week Actions 

The first weeks of the year set the tone for everything that follows. For HR leaders, 2026 isn’t about flashy resolutions—it’s about clarity, consistency, and smart first moves.

🔍 Trend watch: Key HR trends for 2026

According to AIHR’s 11 HR Trends for 2026, these are shaping the future of HR:

• AI and Automation Everywhere: HR is moving from support to co-leading AI-driven transformation in hiring, learning, and performance.

• Human-Centered Governance: HR ensures AI use is fair, transparent, and builds trust.

• Cross-Functional Teams: Silos give way to agile, outcome-driven HR structures.

• Focus on Human Strengths: Empathy, ethical judgment, and communication gain premium value as machines handle transactional work.

• Data-Driven HR Decisions: Analytics and people insights guide strategy and workforce planning.

• Employee Experience as Strategy: Personalization of work, learning, and benefits becomes essential for retention and engagement.

🎯 Revisiting goals for 2026

Focus on goals that bridge strategy and human impact:

• Embed HR into AI strategy so workforce readiness and culture shape technology decisions.

• Boost skills and capabilities in data, AI fluency, and emotional intelligence.

• Break down silos with cross‑functional teams to speed decision making and enhance employee experience.

⚡ Smart first-week moves (Your week 1 cheat sheet)

• Share organizational goals with clarity so teams know priorities for 2026.

• Reintroduce benefits and well‑being resources—even the well‑loved ones that people forgot existed.

• Promote learning plans and upskilling opportunities to meet the rising demand for both tech and human skills.

• Ask employees what matters most to them this year: growth, flexibility, wellness—or maybe all of the above.

🧠 Trust on the Rocks — BizJournals

• What’s unfolding: Workplace trust has taken a hit, especially for women, as ghost job postings, biased reviews, and leadership missteps fuel skepticism and erode confidence at work.

• Why it matters: HR should be alarmed because declining trust undermines retention and engagement; proactive communication, transparent performance reviews, and equitable career paths help rebuild credibility and culture.

• What’s unfolding: The Department of Labor announced $98M in YouthBuild funding to expand pre‑apprenticeships and skills training in high‑demand fields like tech and healthcare.

• Why it matters: HR leaders can connect with these programs to build talent pipelines, support workforce development goals, and align recruiting with community impact and future skill needs.

• What’s unfolding: A Vanguard study finds the 100 occupations most exposed to AI automation are growing faster and seeing higher wage gains than other jobs, challenging fears of widespread displacement.

• Why it matters:  For HR, this signals the importance of upskilling and AI fluency initiatives, as roles once thought at risk are actually thriving when augmented by AI tools; training and reskilling strategies will keep talent competitive.

WEEKLY GOODY

📘 HR Policies Template: Fill, Update, Deploy

Another useful HR gift coming next week :)

BREAKROOM

📬 Missed Wednesday’s issue on ‘2025 Wrapped’? Read it »