CHRO Economic Outlook: Uncertainty Remains Even as Outlook Rebounds
After a sharp shift toward pessimism in Q2, HR executives are now showing a more balanced economic outlook. Fewer leaders rate current conditions as poor or very poor, and positive ratings have returned to Q1 2025 levels. While this shift suggests a cooling of last quarter's intense concerns, the large swings in the past two quarters indicate feelings of uncertainty among HR executives.
Paulo Pisano, CHRO of Booking Holdings and CPO of Booking.com, shares how he connects culture to strategy, leverages customer dashboards and engagement metrics to benchmark success, and drives alignment across international teams. Discover why resisting the influence of the HiPPO (highest paid person’s opinion) is essential for effective decision making and gain practical insights to elevate your own organizational culture.
Growth requires creating additional capacity within the organization, the leadership team, and even within yourself. The Summer 2025 edition of the People + Strategy journal offers fresh insights into the critical investments HR leaders should make today to drive organizational growth and accelerate their own career development.
HR executives continue to navigate an uncertain employment landscape in Q3, even as some expectations have rebounded slightly from Q2 2025 lows. In this environment, HR leaders must stay focused on high-impact strategies such as reskilling, performance optimization, and retention, while maintaining clear communication and thoughtful planning to support employee morale.
EN:Insights Forum
Priorities and Perspectives Series: Learning & Development
September 17, 2025 | 12:00 - 1:00 PM ET
In today’s evolving workplace, staying competitive requires employers to secure top talent with the skills essential for success. As new technologies reshape industries and market dynamics shift, HR executives face the pressing challenge of keeping their workforce agile and ready for what’s ahead.
Join the SHRM Executive Network on Wednesday, Sept. 17, from noon to 1 p.m. ET for an exclusive session on the future of workforce learning and leadership.
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Trends & Thought Leadership
SHRM’s new CHRO Priorities and Perspectives report examines the key strategic goals of CHROs in 2025, the range of challenges they face, and their visions for the future of work. The report was based on insights collected in December 2024 from 212 CHROs spanning diverse organizational sizes and industries
This brief highlights key results from SHRM’s 2025 benchmarking data. Drawing on key insights from HR executives and leaders, these results showcase metrics that are pertinent to CHROs and others who lead their organization’s HR function. In this data brief, we examine several trends present in the data and their implications for CHROs and the world of work.
Balancing a career and caregiving presents unique challenges for an increasing segment of the workforce—but the right support can transform challenge into opportunity. SHRM thought leadership, capturing the experiences of over 5,800 survey respondents, uncovers the real-world impact of caregiving responsibilities on well-being, performance, and company success.
No matter how successful your organization is, there will come a time when an HR initiative doesn’t get the results you’re looking for. These are the moments to find untapped leverage points to help you chart a new course, author Dan Heath told attendees of the Executive Network Experience (ENX) at SHRM25.
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September 25 – 27, 2025
Atlanta, GA
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September 28 – 30, 2026
San Diego, CA
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ENX | June 2026
SHRM26 | June 16 – 19, 2026
Orlando, FL
Exclusively for SHRM Executive Network members, this in-person event brings together the top tier of HR leadership for advanced executive programming, peer-to-peer connection, and conversations you won’t find anywhere else.