Gartner Says CHROs’ Top Priorities for 2026 Center Around Realizing AI Value and Driving Performance Amid Uncertainty

STAMFORD, Conn., October 2, 2025 — In 2026, chief human resources officers (CHROs) will be focused on getting the most out of AI and human talent to achieve ambitious organizational goals amid constant change, according to Gartner, Inc., a business and technology insights company.

“CHROs should take an enterprise-wide view of AI’s impact on work, the impact of change on leaders and employees, and how to evolve organizational culture to support performance expectations,” said Mark Whittle, Vice President of Advisory in the Gartner HR practice. “In today’s climate, it is critical for CHROs to focus on the priorities that will enable their organization to respond to the broad trends impacting the workforce and business environment.”

Gartner has identified four critical priorities that CHROs must focus on next year to help move their organizations forward (see Figure 1). 

While enterprises typically develop a centralized AI strategy to provide an overarching vision and guidance, CHROs must also have an HR-focused AI strategy.

With an HR-focused AI strategy in place, CHROs will evolve their HR operating models to unlock new strategic capabilities. Most organizations and vendors are still experimenting, but CHROs need to be open to reimagining work, processes and talent to truly harness AI’s value.

“Pervasive use of AI will shape work going forward, but the exact shape organizations take will depend largely on the decisions executive leaders make about how and why AI is used,” said Whittle.

CHROs must prepare for several human/AI work scenarios, based on how and where AI is deployed, from humans filling gaps left by AI by doing the work that remains to workers navigating the space of innovation or exploration where AI allows them to push boundaries.

CHROs must prepare for the future of work, while successfully driving talent results today, with a “now-next” talent strategy that clearly defines how to get the most from their talent today (over the next 12 months) and the actions to inflect better talent outcomes in the future over the next one to three years. 

Navigating change and transformation is essential for leaders to drive growth, but change has become ungovernable. In order to lead through change today, leaders need to routinize, rather than inspire, change.

HR must take three main actions to help leaders routinize change:

1. Clarify to leaders that they must focus employees on making progress across the change journey and reset leader expectations about their role in change.
2. Help leaders regulate employees’ – and their own – discomfort with change by teaching them to understand their own emotions, what’s driving them, and what they can do to cope and move forward.
3. Teach leaders how to build employees’ change reflexes by helping leaders identify what core change skills matter most, finding moments within daily work to practice those skills and securing employee commitment to building the necessary reflexes.

CEOs are relying on their CHROs to deliver a culture that fosters a productive, engaged and skilled workforce, but CHROs are struggling to create and embed a culture that drives this success. A July 2025 Gartner survey of 222 CHROs revealed that 47% indicated that their culture drives employee performance today.

“At the team level, employees must feel empowered to provide open feedback on team-defined productivity behaviors, actively shaping what works best for them and working together effectively,” said Whittle. HR must equip managers to have actionable productivity discussions with employees. And employees must feel empowered to solve their own productivity problems.”

For additional information, please access the Gartner webinar “The Top CHRO Priorities for 2026” or visit “Top Trends and Priorities for CHROs in 2026.”

About Gartner HR Symposium/Xpo™

Gartner HR Symposium/Xpo is where CHROs and their leadership teams gather each year to reimagine their strategies through the lens of Gartner’s research-driven insights and expert advice on leadership and learning, employee experience, culture and change, talent acquisition and workforce planning, and HR technology. Gartner HR Symposium/Xpo will be held October 7-9 in London, October 27-29 in Florida, and November 17-18 in Sydney. Follow news and updates from these events on LinkedIn using #GartnerHR.