Human Resources Trends 2026: AI, Hybrid Work and Employee Wellbeing in the UK

Looking ahead to the UK HR landscape in 2026, will human resources trends bring something radically new, or will they simply intensify what we are already seeing today? In recent years, the UK labour market has both heated up and cooled down: employers are more cautious in planning new positions and salary increases, yet many still find it difficult to recruit and retain people. At the same time, the picture of employee health and wellbeing is turning darker – the latest CIPD Health and Wellbeing at Work 2025 reports record levels of sick leave – 9.4 sick days per employee per year.

It is no surprise that most HR teams feel the same way: something in this system is no longer working as it used to. Perhaps employees’ expectations about the nature of work, security and career are moving faster than organisations – or perhaps it is the other way around? So, in what directions are human resources trends actually changing, and what does this mean for your HR strategy and delivery in mid-sized organsiations, where teams are small and priorities must be clear?

Quick Take

• Human resources trends for 2026 are essentially based on what has been already observed in the labour market to date: employee absenteeism is on the rise, and expectations of employers are becoming increasingly stringent. 
• Flexible, hybrid work is the new norm. The focus is no longer on whether flexibility is even offered, but rather on how it is organised. 
• With record absenteeism and more and more employees experiencing burnout, a great emphasis will be placed on the wellbeing of the team. 
• Artificial intelligence and automation are increasingly being used in everyday HR, which increases efficiency but also raises the importance of data protection and ethics. 
• Skills-first workforce planning and a new role for L&D are becoming a necessity as organisations hire less but invest more in the skills of current employees. 
• Fairness, inclusion, and trust must remain a priority in a world of increasing data, monitoring, and AI-based decisions. 
• Modern HR technology, having simple, reliable analytics and reporting is becoming essential to prioritise actions without overcomplicating processes. 
• For mid-market HR teams, these trends increase the need for practical, affordable HR technology and expert-led guidance that can be adopted in phases. 

The HR Landscape Heading into 2026

As we approach 2026, the UK HR landscape is quite clearly reflected in the latest CIPD 2025 reports on the labour market, health and wellbeing, and the good work index. They show that hiring remains tight: employers are more cautious about creating new positions, but many still find it difficult to recruit and retain people, especially in certain fields or with certain qualifications. At the same time, employee absenteeism remains at record levels, and workload, pace, and work-life balance are becoming critical elements of good work that determine motivation and loyalty. This picture is also influenced by the wave of artificial intelligence and new HR technology, which promise greater efficiency but raise new requirements for skills, responsibility, and data management. As a result, HR teams – particularly in mid-sized organisations with limited internal resources – are increasingly expected to play a strategic, data-driven role in shaping the future of HR UK 2025-2026, often with the support of specialist partners (such as Jigsaw Cloud) who understand the realities of the mid-market. 

Trend No. 1: Flexibility and Hybrid Work

While hybrid or even fully remote work was more of an exception than the norm a few years ago, by 2026 it is already becoming a basic requirement. Most employees expect at least some form of flexibility, such as a few days of working from home or flexible working hours. When flexibility is available, employees rate their work as higher quality, and their relationship with their employer becomes more sustainable. According to the CIPD 2025 report, as many as 1.1 million employees say they have quit their jobs due to a lack of flexibility, which only proves how important this is in the context of employee wellbeing trends 2025-2026. 

However, in some teams, employees can indeed work anytime and anywhere, while in others, physical presence in the office or at least very strict working hours are required. Without clear principles, simple agreements and manager capability to focus on outcomes rather than presence – something that is especially challenging for smaller HR teams – flexible and hybrid work may increase rather than reduce tension. Therefore, one of the main human resources trends in this area is the transition to a consciously designed flexible work strategy that can be introduced gradually, starting with a small number of clear, practical rules. How is this implemented in practice, especially for smaller HR teams?  

• By creating clear criteria for who can use flexible working conditions and how. 
• By refining the arguments as to how this relates to employee well-being and productivity. 
• By discovering modern HR tech solutions and delivery partners experienced in supporting mid-market organisations, where flexibility needs to work in practice.. 

Trend No. 2: Employee Wellbeing and Sustainable Productivity

While wellbeing used to be viewed more as a “nice initiative,” employee wellbeing trends for 2025-2026 indicate that now it should be seen as a real productivity issue. Recent figures are record-breaking: compared to 2023, when each employee had about 7.8 sick days per year, in 2025 it has risen to 9.4. These figures mean more hours lost and, often, greater pressure on the rest of the team. In addition, the reasons for these sick days are changing: temporary leave is often caused not by a cold or other minor health issues, but by mental health problems or even burnout. 

One of the most important human resources trends in this area is the shifting from one-off initiatives to a sustainable productivity approach that can be rolled out step by step. What exactly is sustainable productivity? It includes elements such as a realistically managed workload, clear priorities, and managers who care not only about the team’s productivity but also about their psychological wellbeing. For smaller HR teams, this does not mean complex wellbeing frameworks, but starting with a few consistent data points – such as absence trends, pulse surveys and workload signals. 

Trend No. 3: AI and Automation in Everyday HR Processes

Today, in many organisations, human resources AI is no longer a topic of innovation, but rather an everyday reality. The latest HR technology trends for 2025 show that artificial intelligence and automation are increasingly being used to reduce manual HR workload, especially where teams need to do more with limited capacity. Where exactly? 

• In candidate selection. 
• In job advertisement generation. 
• In onboarding processes. 
• People analytics. 

New HR technology solutions allow HR teams to introduce improvements in stages, automating the most manual tasks first before expanding further.. One such example is SAP SuccessFactors, which has a feature called SAP Joule, an artificial intelligence assistant often adopted by mid-market organisations working with specialist partners who focus on practical deployment and ongoing optimisation rather than complex enterprise rollouts. 

New HR technology solutions allow HR teams to introduce improvements in stages, automating the most manual tasks first before expanding further. 

Tools like this can provide more detailed insights or recommendations – not to replace HR teams, but to help smaller HR functions make decisions faster and with more confidence, using the data they already have. 

However, this direction is also increasing the level of responsibility. Alongside AI-related human resources trends, there also needs to be clear AI and technology management: what data we use, where AI can only advise, and where the decision is still made by people. 

Trend No. 4: the New Role of L&D

Another trend that is no less noticeable is the shift from position-based planning to skills-based planning. One of the CIPD HR trends for 2025 signals a growing gap in skills: for example, only 47% of employees over the age of 55 believe that their job provides good opportunities to upgrade their abilities. This clearly indicates the need to invest more in internal training or even retraining. 

Even though hiring is down, the skills shortage isn’t going away, so organisations will have no choice but to look for ways to boost the skills of their current employees. For mid-sized organisations, this often means prioritising a small number of critical skills through targeted reskilling and upskilling programmes.  This also changes the role of L&D – for mid-sized organisations, training works best when it is linked to a small number of critical skills, realistic and internal career paths. 

New HR technology solutions that can combine skills, learning contents and career paths in one place also help here. To make this work in practice, more and more organisations are choosing phased implementation strategies based on rapid HR deployment principles, where new features are introduced in small steps, tested in real-world conditions, and gradually matured into a skills-based workforce planning model. 

How to Translate Insight into Impact?

When all these human resources trends start affecting day-to-day  HR work, many organisations benefit from an partner who can help sense-check priorities and translate insight into practical next steps. With modern HR tech solutions such as SAP SuccessFactors, it becomes easier to take a phased, practical approach towards data-driven and flexible HR.  The Jigsaw Cloud team can help you do it in a simple and accessible way. 

So, What’s Your Next Move as an HR Leader?

• Assess whether your flexibility and hybrid work rules are clear, fair, and applied equally to all teams. 
• Review employee wellbeing data (absenteeism, surveys) and agree on 1–2 priority actions for the next 6 months. 
• Decide where human resources AI can help the most (e.g., in recruitment or people analytics) and how you will ensure clear governance. 
• Check your HR tech and analytics and reporting capabilities: does your current system allow you to see real human resources trends, or is it time to look for new HR technology solutions? 

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FAQ

What were the biggest human resources trends highlighted at CIPD 2025?

Looking at the CIPD 2025 conference and its wider activity (including reports and research across different topics), it’s clear that the main human resources trends in focus were employee experience, future skills, career development and people-first leadership. Four key axes stand out: flexible work, wellbeing, AI and skills-based workforce planning. 

How will hybrid work and wellbeing shape HR strategies and human resources trends in 2026?

Hybrid work and wellbeing will become one of the main human resources trends: HR strategies will focus more on clear flexibility rules, workload management, and psychological health, based on sick leave, survey, and engagement data. 

What HR technologies are gaining traction in 2025–2026 according to CIPD insights on human resources trends?

CIPD insights show growing interest in integrated HR tech platforms, people analytics tools, and human resources AI solutions. More and more organisations are choosing systems such as SAP SuccessFactors or similar new HR technology solutions to have data, processes, analytics, and reporting in one place. 

How should UK mid-market organisations prepare their HR systems for upcoming human resources trends?

Medium-sized UK organisations should start with a well-organised people data foundation, clear HR processes, and a modern system. This helps them respond to new human resources trends incrementally, without committing to large-scale transformations upfront. Lengthy, costly transformations. 

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