As we move towards the new year, HR leaders are tasked with developing a 2025 people strategy that both support current business objectives AND anticipate future challenges and opportunities.

Building an effective people strategy is about more than just workforce planning. It’s about creating a framework that empowers employees, drives innovation, and fosters a culture of engagement and adaptability.

Here’s a guide to building a 2025 people strategy that aligns with your business objectives, complete with actionable steps to help you put it into practice.

1. Understand your business objectives

First, you need to gain a thorough understanding of your organisation’s goals. For HR leaders, this means engaging with key stakeholders across the business to gain insights into strategic priorities.

Are you entering new markets? Investing in digital transformation? Planning for rapid expansion? Identifying these priorities is the first step in building a people strategy that aligns with and supports your organisation’s vision for 2025.

Action one: Engage with leadership

Hold discussions with senior leaders to understand the organisation’s long-term goals. Conduct interviews or focus groups to gather insights into what is essential to business success over the next three to five years.

Action two: Conduct a SWOT analysis: Use a SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) to evaluate your current workforce in the context of these goals. Identify where your strengths lie and where potential gaps may exist.

2. Define your people goals

Once you clearly understand your business objectives, translate these into specific people goals. These goals should address how HR can support organisational success by fostering an agile, engaged workforce that is equipped with the right skills.

For example, if your organisation plans to expand internationally, one of your people goals could be to build a culturally diverse and inclusive workforce that is adept at navigating global markets.

Action one: Set SMART people goals

Ensure that your people goals are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound (SMART). These goals should be ambitious but realistic, directly contributing to the organisation’s broader objectives.

Action two: Prioritise! Prioritise HR initiatives that will have the most significant impact on reaching your organisation’s 2025 targets. Remember, you can’t do everything! 

3. Invest in future skills and capabilities

Building a people strategy for 2025 involves identifying the skills and capabilities that your organisation will need in the coming years. This may include technical skills related to emerging technologies, as well as human skills like adaptability, collaboration and emotional intelligence. Proactively investing in skill development ensures your workforce is future-ready and capable of driving innovation and growth.

Action one: Conduct a skills gap analysis: Identify current and future skills gaps within your organisation. This analysis will help you determine which skills to prioritise in your talent acquisition, training and development programmes.

Action two: Focus on learning culture: Consider ways to foster a culture that values continuous learning by providing employees with a diverse and flexible offering of training, certifications, resources, mentoring, knowledge-sharing opportunities and more. Encourage managers to support their teams’ professional growth through ongoing coaching and development.

4. Build an agile workforce

An agile workforce is essential for navigating the modern staples of uncertainty and complexity. It enables businesses to adapt quickly to changing circumstances, allowing them to stay competitive and resilient.

To build an agile workforce, focus on creating flexible work arrangements, encouraging cross-functional collaboration, and cultivating a culture of innovation.

Action one: Implement flexible work policies

Embrace flexible work arrangements such as remote work, flexible hours, and project-based roles. These arrangements enable employees to work in ways that maximise productivity and adaptability.

Action two: Encourage cross-functional teams

Break down silos within your organisation by promoting cross-functional collaboration. Create opportunities for employees to work on projects with colleagues from other departments, fostering a more agile and cohesive workforce.

5. Prioritise employee wellbeing and engagement

Research consistently shows healthy, engaged employees are more productive, innovative and loyal. To align with your 2025 business objectives, it’s important to nurture a supportive work environment that promotes wellbeing, work-life balance, and a sense of purpose.

Action one: Develop wellbeing initiatives

Implement a holistic approach to your wellbeing startegy that addresses physical, mental, social and digital wellbeing. These include health and wellness programmes, mental health resources, and initiatives that support work-life balance. Move beyond surface-level initiatives and ensure your support and benefit offering will make a meaningful difference to your employees.

Action two: Create engagement opportunities

Foster employee engagement by promoting open communication, recognising achievements, and encouraging employees to take ownership of their work. Use feedback tools such as surveys and focus groups to gauge employee satisfaction and gather insights for improvement.

6. Use data-driven insights to track progress

To support data-driven decision-making, HR leaders must have access to powerful tools and analytics that can inform their people strategy.

Leverage data to track the progress of your initiatives, measure the impact of your people goals, and make informed adjustments. Regularly review data and KPIs to ensure your people strategy remains aligned with organisational objectives and delivers measurable results.

Action one: Implement performance metrics

Track KPIs such as employee turnover, engagement scores, training completion rates, and productivity metrics. Use this data to assess the effectiveness of your people strategy and make data-informed adjustments as needed.

Action two: Review and adjust

Regularly review the data to ensure your people strategy remains aligned with changing business goals. Be prepared to make adjustments based on feedback, performance metrics, and evolving organisational needs.

Next steps

Building a people strategy that aligns with your organisation’s 2025 business objectives is a forward-looking endeavour that requires clarity, agility and a commitment to continuous improvement.

Following the steps outlined above, HR leaders can create a robust strategy that drives both individual and organisational success. Such an approach ensures that your workforce is not only prepared to meet current challenges but also poised to seize future opportunities!