Adapting to Evolving Workforce Expectations: Key Areas for Leaders’ Focus in the New Year

BY Jennifer Yoshikoshi | January 29, 2025

Looking ahead in 2025, leaders are setting their priorities. At From Day One’s December virtual conference, leaders shared their plans to advance development initiatives with a focus on diversity, inclusion, and artificial intelligence in 2025.

As companies progress in developing diversity, equity and inclusion goals, Rebecca Warren, director of talent-centered transformation at Eightfold, says that the DEI objectives will continue to move forward and become more integrated within the workforce.

“The general definition of diversity is widening. We’re moving from just focusing on demographic, cultural and social identities to also thinking about abilities and perspective and cognitive capabilities as well,” said Warren.

DEI can also be reflected in how companies include and engage with their staff. Laura Mazzullo, founder and owner of East Side Staffing, says that when she spoke to undertrained internal recruiters, they expressed a desire to sit in meetings with HR business partners, executives and be involved with creating plans and strategies.

Many employees lack the confidence to pursue their goals because they’ve never been given the opportunity. Companies can address this by fostering inclusivity and developing emotional intelligence and other important soft skills.

AI and New Technology

AI is rapidly evolving within companies, particularly in human resources, where it’s being introduced as a tool for task efficiency. But as Warren points out, its full potential is still unfolding with continued use. As AI advances, leaders face a key question: How can companies balance automation with the irreplaceable human touch?

At Hearst, the company hosted a learning program to create a cultural switch in the integration of AI. For 2025, Hearst is planning for more programs to be available for staff to continue their education on AI as well as maintaining and developing human based skills such as empathy, collaboration, communication and leadership.

“We absolutely envision an environment where technology and power human skills are working together, because we don’t believe that generative AI is going to replace people,” said Maris Krieger, senior director of talent programs at Hearst Corporation.

These learning and development efforts are a result of staff feedback and input, says Krieger. “It wasn’t a corporation doing something behind closed doors. We collaborated. We asked what [staff] needed and what their priorities were,” she said.

Investing in Development During Times of Change

As the workforce undergoes changes with technological advancements and evolving work expectations, companies need to be prepared to adapt. Especially during times of change, it's important for leaders to be a guiding hand for their team.

SiriusXM is actively working on leveling up managers, said Bhavna Sharma, vice president of talent enablement and engagement at SiriusXM. Investing in leadership creates a ripple effect on the company’s culture, employee experience and business outcomes, she adds.

SiriusXM began by building a leadership profile that reflected the company’s core values to create a baseline of what it means to be a leader. HR also conducts quarterly conversations and succession plannings to assess not only manager readiness but also identify developmental needs.

They also launched SiriusXM University, a curriculum based program that aims to support and cultivate a growth mindset for leaders. Sharma emphasized the importance of empowering managers as career coaches. The program provides leaders with quick training sessions and resources that help boost manager accountability and team collaboration, helping them support their employees.

Lydia Dishman, senior editor at Fast Company, moderated the panel about "Adapting to Evolving Workforce Expectations: Key Areas for Leaders’ Focus in the New Year" (photo by From Day One)

The company dedicates its training to all employees as well, embracing the idea that career progression can be taken in different ways and that the company encourages everyone to develop their skills.

At MiTek, the company will be conducting its first upward feedback manager survey, an assessment of the managers performance. Christopher Rotolo, vice president of global talent at MiTek, says that the feedback from the survey will start off as a way for managers to assess their own development, but after a couple of years the survey data will be used to discuss succession and talent mobility.

MiTek also encourages managers to hold Aspiration, Capability, Engagement (ACE) conversations with each of their employees at least once a year to hear about their personal aspirations, capabilities and engagement.

Holding one-on-one meetings with employees allows managers to gain a better understanding of how they can support their team.

When companies around the world evolve, employees might feel pressure from the change. These new evolutions might look like the recent increase in shifting back to in person work or work expectations changing. In these cases, Warren thinks it's more important for companies to focus on the outcome of the employee’s work, not the amount of hours they put in. Companies should be looking at “skill and performance based metrics rather than focusing on schedules or presenteeism,” Warren said.

Sharma says that productivity will increase when companies foster a culture of trust and autonomy. By eliminating micromanagement, employees will be empowered in decision making within their role.

At Hearst Corporation, Krieger has witnessed many successes with remote work. Although some companies are encouraging people to return to offices, Krieger emphasizes that in person work is not necessary for successful outcomes. Working a remote or hybrid position also plays into mental health and work life balance, agrees Rotolo.

HR can sometimes be resistant to trusting data that shows employees are happier and more productive working from home or with a flexible schedule, says Mazzullo. “We talk so much about tech and AI but you’ve got to actually look at the information and then do something with it,” Mazzullo said. “There’s data there that would allow employees to have the flexibility they want. There’s no reason a company should not be listening to that.”

Jennifer Yoshikoshi is a local news and education reporter based in the San Francisco Bay Area.

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Empathy and emotional intelligence are vital to success.Humans suffer from a negativity bias as part of an evolutionary response to physical threats. Noticing that knee jerk response within oneself is key to moving past it. “Being a hopeful skeptic can open us to incredible numbers of social opportunities, whether that’s pleasant conversations with strangers, bridging differences with people we disagree with, building relationships, friendships, collaborations, parenting more effectively, and building more trusting communities. And in all these cases, the steps are simple,” Zaki said. “I’m much more positive and hopeful since researching cynicism, because I realized how much of it is just an error, and that’s true in our politics, in our organizations, but just in our everyday lives as well. Hope is not naïve, it’s not privileged, it’s not toxic. It’s an adaptive and adaptable response to the best data that we have. We can fight for that better future together by seeing it more clearly.”Katie Chambers is a freelance writer and award-winning communications executive with a lifelong commitment to supporting artists and advocating for inclusion. Her work has been seen in HuffPost and several printed essay collections, among others, and she has appeared on Cheddar News, iWomanTV, On New Jersey, and CBS New York.

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