Which 2025 workplace culture trends should we pay attention to? There are countless forecasting reports and blogs out there – too many to digest. So, we’ve asked the expert on all things culture, Bruce Daisley, to help us flag the workplace trends that matter.
First, a little more about Bruce…
Bruce Daisley has become regarded as one the most respected thought leaders on the subject of workplace culture and the future of work. His prior business career saw him spend over a decade running Twitter in Europe and previously YouTube in the UK.
Following the remarkable success of his debut book, The Joy of Work which reached number one in the Sunday Times charts, in 2022 his second bestseller, Fortitude, was described by the Financial Times as the best business book of the year.
Bruce has spent the last few years turning his passion for workplace culture into an expertise. His award-winning podcast, Eat Sleep Work Repeat, has topped the business charts and has been listened to over six million times.
In this interview, Becky Norman, Co-creator of Culture Pioneers and managing editor of HRZone, asks Bruce to share his thoughts on five workplace culture trends for 2025. Watch the video now…
Here is a snapshot of the trends we discuss…
First trend: Performance measurement shifts from “me” to “we”
In its 2025 HR predictions blog, Culture Amp says “Organisations are scrambling to define and create a high-performance culture. But this tends to historically hinge on individual high performance which, as it turns out, is really, really difficult to achieve.”
In 2025, Culture Amp believes we’ll see a broadening of performance measurement to the team level. Individual performance measurement won’t go away but is more considered through the team lens.
Second trend (or priority): Embed culture in organisational values to activate accountability
Gartner HR’s Top 5 priorities for 2025 states 57% of HR leaders agree that managers fail to enforce the desired vision of culture within their teams. We therefore need managers to take greater accountability for activating the desired culture through their everyday actions, behaviours, decisions.
Third trend: A greater focus on multigenerational engagement and accommodating the needs of employees across 5 different generations
Mercer HR reports that organisations need to allow employees to customise their experience at work, and pay attention meeting different generational needs.
Fourth trend: The four-day workweek will continue to build substantial support in 2025
This prediction came from Gethin Nadin, Chief Innovation Officer of Benefex. He claims that we’ll see a rise in requests for four-day workweeks, reflecting a societal shift towards prioritising wellbeing alongside work.
But we’ve also got the 2024 trend of RTO mandates set to continue into 2025. So how will this play out?
Fifth trend: Employee-employer tension likely to grow in 2025
Another prediction from Culture Amp. Employees are increasingly stressed and burnout, and publicly voicing their discontent. In tandem, organisations are faced with shrinking budgets, layoffs, restructures, which typically leads to employees being asked to do more with less. As a result, conflict will continue into 2025.
Sixth trend: Employees will take AI matters into their own hands
Bruce added a final trend to our list. This year, employees will expect their organisations to create an AI strategy and provide skills development for this tech. But, if employers don’t get their act together, their people will steam ahead, upskill themselves and even use AI covertly.
Watch the interview to get Bruce’s take on these trends, and what businesses should prioritise to enhance their culture in the year ahead.
