Recruiting Focus May Shift to Emphasis on Employee Engagement

The recruiting challenges of 2024 may be followed this year by a shift of attention to employee engagement and leadership development, according to the 2025 SHRM State of the Workplace report.

“As organizations continue to navigate talent shortages, economic fluctuations, and evolving workplace dynamics, HR leaders are shifting their focus to long-term workforce development and engagement strategies,” said Johnny C. Taylor, Jr., SHRM-SCP, president and chief executive officer of SHRM. “To thrive in today’s ever-evolving landscape, organizations must ensure the pace of change inside their businesses keeps up with or outpaces the change happening outside. Investing in strong leadership, employee experience, and learning and development will be key to driving business success in the year ahead.” 

Looking Ahead

The survey asked HR professionals and U.S. workers to select the top three priorities they would like to see in 2025. 

The most popular choice for HR professionals was leadership and manager development (chosen by 41% of respondents), followed by employee experience (37%) and learning and development (25%). By contrast, total rewards was the priority named by the most U.S. workers (42%), followed by employee experience (33%) and learning and development (24%) as well as leadership and manager development (24%).

“HR professionals and U.S. workers are calling for a stronger focus on employee development and engagement,”  said Ragan Decker, Ph.D., manager of Executive Network and enterprise research at SHRM.

Addressing Talent Shortages

“Our research found that recruiting was the top priority for organizations in 2024, which isn’t surprising given the ongoing challenges in attracting top talent,” Decker said. “However, what stands out is that when we asked HR professionals and U.S. workers what they’d like their organizations to prioritize in 2025, recruiting was not among the top areas they’d like their organizations to focus on.” 

This shift suggests organizations are focusing inward to address labor shortages, Decker said. “According to SHRM’s CHRO Priorities and Perspectives report, we know CHROs are prioritizing leadership and manager development, employee experience, and talent management in 2025,” she said. “The results suggest the emphasis has shifted toward developing and retaining existing talent to build a more sustainable workforce.”

Recruiting Difficulties

Looking back at 2024, HR professionals identified recruiting (43%), employee experience (31%), and leadership and manager development (27%) as top priorities, the report said. 

Respondents could select up to three options across 16 HR practice areas. The report drew on responses from 1,615 HR professionals, 238 HR executives, and 471 U.S. workers, encapsulating multiple perspective across these areas.

The 16 areas, listed in order of those most prioritized as of December 2024, are:

More than 75% of organizations reported difficulty filling full-time roles, the report noted, citing the SHRM Talent Trends report from 2024. 

Only 56% of HR professionals rated their organization’s recruiting efforts last year as effective or very effective. And only 41% of the workers surveyed reported that their organization was effective or very effective in recruiting.

“The consequences of these recruiting challenges are evident — 36% of workers reported heavier workloads due to unfilled roles in 2024,” the report stated. “Employees experiencing increased workloads as a result of staffing shortages were significantly more likely to report feelings of burnout (61%) compared to those without additional workload pressures (18%).” 

Better Employee Experience Needed

Poor employee experience and a lack of engagement can lead to turnover. Some of the HR professionals and workers who were surveyed thought that their organizations did not excel in employee experience last year.

“Key drivers of positive employee experience include teamwork, purpose, fairness, and recognition,” the report stated, relying on SHRM’s The Case for Employee Experience findings from last year. “The current research highlights recognition and team collaboration as areas of opportunity to enhance employee experience and drive retention, which are crucial amid labor shortages.”

Last year, 34% of U.S. workers reported a lack of recognition for their contributions, 25% said there was insufficient collaboration or support within their teams, and 15% thought performance evaluations were unfair. 

These findings highlight key opportunities for improvement in 2025, particularly in strengthening recognition and teamwork to enhance employee experience and, ultimately, drive retention, the report said.

Recommendations

The report made the following recommendations:

• Drive HR excellence in a dynamic landscape. For example, HR might strengthen data-driven insights, lean on agility to adapt and evolve, and foster a culture of ownership and transparency.
• Prioritize HR first. HR should regularly align and integrate HR strategy with business goals, invest in HR technology and tools, and provide continuous development for HR teams.
• Demonstrate HR’s value through employee involvement. HR should conduct regular feedback surveys with employees. HR also should have more discussions about its role and open lines of communication. Reinforce HR’s strategic importance by sharing such key performance indicators as engagement scores and reduced turnover rates.