Gartner: What are HR Leaders’ Top Priorities for Resilience?

As business leaders continue to navigate uncertainty, transform workforces and adopt emerging technologies, HR has become more than a support function - it's now central to driving growth and resilience. 

According to Gartner’s latest survey of 426 Chief Human Resources Officers (CHROs) across 23 industries and four global regions, the top priorities reflect a clear mandate: reimagine HR for a future defined by AI, agility and adaptability. 

Leading the list is building a purpose-driven AI strategy tailored to HR. 

This is followed closely by workforce redesign in the human-machine era, equipping leaders for sustained change and embedding culture into everyday performance.

Now in its annual cycle, Gartner’s Top HR Trends and CHRO Priorities for 2026 draws on in-depth research to identify the most pressing issues HR leaders face. 

The study not only highlights what’s top of mind for CHROs, but also aims to give organisations strategic direction, from understanding what’s driving these shifts to actionable insights that help reshape the HR function for long-term business impact.

Priorities for HR execs

In Gartner’s 2026 HR Trends and CHRO Priorities report, four standout areas are shaping the agenda for HR leaders heading into the next year. Each reflects the growing complexity of leading people and performance in a technology-driven world.

AI transformation leads the list. According to Gartner, CHROs must now develop dedicated, HR-specific AI strategies that go beyond automation and focus on reimagining how HR delivers value. 

Gartner found that evolving the HR operating model could unlock up to 29% in productivity gains.

Secondly, CHROs are prioritising workforce redesign to align with the human-machine era. 

That means developing adaptive talent strategies that account for various future-of-work scenarios, blending human capability with AI systems.

Kris van Riper, Practice Vice President at Gartner, says: “2025 was about AI pilots, discovery and experimentation. 2026 will be about delivering agentic AI ROI.”

The third focus is mobilising leadership for growth amid uncertainty. As Gartner highlights, leaders need to become fluent in change - not just driving it, but making it instinctive across teams. 

Organisations that embed change into routine work processes see significantly higher success rates in transformation, says Gartner.

Finally, culture remains a top lever for performance. In response to culture drift and disengagement, CHROs are embedding values into the flow of daily work. 

Gartner links this to performance gains of up to 34% in employee engagement. 

How HR is evolving to meet the future

Gartner’s research paints a clear picture that HR is undergoing a major transformation to meet the demands of a future workforce through strengthening capabilities and utilising AI.

Traditional HR models are giving way to more dynamic, tech-enabled strategies that prioritise adaptability, business impact and employee experience.

A key area of evolution is the role of AI in HR. As the technology becomes more capable, it's not just replacing repetitive tasks, it's forcing HR teams to rethink how they structure roles, engage talent, and deliver services. 

Gartner emphasises the importance of redesigning the HR function itself, so that human insight and AI can complement each other.

The pressure to drive growth efficiently is reshaping how HR approaches strategic workforce planning. 

CHROs are adopting “now-next” strategies, designed to balance short-term results with long-term capability building. 

These strategies are especially vital as organisations try to do more with less in uncertain environments.

At the same time, Gartner says organisations are re-evaluating what they offer employees - moving from transactional benefits to experiences that build trust and engagement.

Together, these shifts are defining what the future of HR looks like: more strategic, more tech-integrated, and more central to business success than ever before.