HR’s Fastest-Growing Skills Reflect AI’s Workplace Impact

As artificial intelligence reshapes the workplace while organizations face mounting pressure to operate more efficiently, HR leaders are rethinking the capabilities their teams need to succeed. LinkedIn’s latest Skills on the Rise report for HR professionals offers a snapshot of that transformation, highlighting the 10 fastest-growing skills HR practitioners are developing to remain competitive and strategic in today’s evolving world of work.

The ranking, based on year-over-year growth in both skill acquisition and hiring success among LinkedIn users between 2024 and 2025, underscores a profession balancing technological fluency with people-centered leadership. While AI-related expertise continues to surge across industries, the report also points to the enduring importance of communication, culture, and change management.

Employment law and compliance claimed the top spot on the list, reflecting heightened employer concern around legal risk, workplace investigations, and evolving regulations.

“I’m hearing from employers that they want HR pros to be savvy in labor laws and employee relations issues,” said Laura Mazzullo, founder and CEO of East Side Staffing, a New York City-based recruiting firm focused on the placement of HR professionals. “It seems to be more important than 5 or 10 years ago. It’s a cost savings to not have to go to outside counsel.”

Mazzullo added that concerns around AI adoption may be reinforcing the emphasis on legal and compliance expertise. Employers increasingly expect HR professionals to understand both compliance requirements and the operational aspects of AI-enabled work tech, she said.

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AI Literacy Core to HR

AI literacy ranked second on LinkedIn’s HR skills list, followed by operational efficiency, data analytics, and end-to-end recruiting.

Teuila Hanson, chief people officer at LinkedIn, said the prominence of AI literacy reflects a fundamental shift in how HR work is performed.

“AI literacy is now a core HR skill,” Hanson said. “Not surprising, but it tells you everything about where we are. If you’re using AI to review candidates or support employees, you need to understand how to engineer prompts that amplify what’s human, not replace it.”

On LinkedIn’s broader Skills on the Rise list across all professions, AI engineering and implementation ranked first, while AI business strategy came in third. Yet soft skills continue to hold significant value. Executive and shareholder communications ranked fourth overall, and leadership and people management skills placed sixth.

For HR leaders, the findings suggest that the future of the profession lies in blending technical capability with strategic influence.

Operational efficiency, ranked fourth on LinkedIn’s HR skills list, also reflects growing pressure for HR teams to do more with fewer resources. Employers are increasingly looking for HR professionals who can streamline workflows, leverage HR technology, and use analytics to drive better business outcomes.

“This is a major trend,” Mazzullo said. “Investing in the right HR technology so that HR can be focused more on proactive, strategic, forward-thinking work.”

Importantly, she noted that operational efficiency is not solely about mastering specific platforms. “This can be a mindset,” Mazzullo said. “Not necessarily a Workday expert, but adept at streamlining projects and being more efficient.”

The increasing importance of data analytics further highlights HR’s evolution into a more metrics-driven function. Organizations are relying more heavily on workforce data to inform decisions around retention, hiring, productivity, and engagement.

At the same time, traditional talent acquisition skills are being redefined. End-to-end recruitment ranked sixth on the list, signaling that recruiters are expected to play a more strategic role as AI automates sourcing and screening tasks.

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“Employers are realizing that being a recruiter is more than passing along resumes,” Mazzullo said. “If technology is going to be helping with sourcing and screening, then recruiters will have to pivot toward strategic work — planning and defining the scope of roles.”

That shift may require substantial upskilling for many recruiting professionals. “If we expect internal TA pros to be strategic advisors, we need to uplevel them properly,” she said.

The report underscores the growing importance of collaboration and organizational leadership in increasingly distributed workplaces. Cross-functional collaboration ranked eighth, reflecting employer demand for HR leaders who can bridge communication gaps across departments and locations.

Organizational change management and culture development rounded out the top 10, pointing to HR’s expanding role in guiding organizations through transformation while preserving employee trust and engagement.

“Organizational change management is on the rise,” Hanson said. “Implementing AI, restructuring teams, shifting how work gets done — none of it works without bringing people along. Change management is what separates transformation that sticks from initiatives that lose steam six months later.”

Still, Mazzullo cautioned against placing the burden of organizational transformation solely on HR teams. “This is an area where HR must collaborate with other organizational stakeholders to guide transformation,” she said. “This is not just HR’s job alone.”

The same dynamic applies to workplace culture, she said. “There is a trend putting forth the idea that HR is not responsible for building culture,” Mazzullo said. “HR can guide and foster, but the business leaders must drive the actions and behaviors that align with the company’s values.”

Hanson said that culture development’s inclusion on the list is especially significant in an increasingly automated environment.

“In a moment where everything is getting automated and optimized, the intentional shaping of values and behaviors becomes even more critical,” she said. “Culture is an intentional practice that gets measured, rewarded, and invested in. It’s a skill.”