The 6 Latest HR Trends to Focus on in 2026
Part of a series | 2026 HR Trends Series
The top human resources (HR) trends for 2026 range from agentic AI adoption to regulation of AI in employment decisions to HR and IT's increasing interdependence. Here's a preview of six trends signaling what the coming year has in store for leaders across industries and around the globe.
The future of work will be shaped by how thoughtfully organizations integrate technological intelligence with humanity — and how quickly. As artificial intelligence (AI) reshapes the fundamentals of work, HR leaders face a pivotal moment: driving innovation while keeping the compassion, trust and fairness that make organizations thrive. ADP's 2026 HR Trends Series reveals that success will hinge on balancing three interconnected forces: people strategy, compliance readiness and technological evolution.
Here are six HR trends to focus on in 2026.
1. Agentic AI is emerging as a core HCM capability
Agentic AI is emerging as the next frontier in human capital management (HCM) technology. Unlike generative AI, agentic AI can autonomously think, plan and act to achieve multistep goals.
"Agentic AI unlocks new frontiers of automation, coordinating multistep work and adapting to real-world variability," said Amin Venjara, chief data officer, ADP. "With human oversight, it can deliver scalable automation that's trustworthy, compliant and resilient when conditions change."
Usage varies significantly. According to ADP's 2025 HR trends survey, 48% of large businesses report using agentic AI compared to a quarter of midsized businesses and just 4% of small businesses; however, small business familiarity with the technology is noteworthy, with 48% saying they're somewhat familiar and 21% saying they're familiar.
This evolution is reshaping IT and data management, too. Currently, 79% of IT leaders believe AI agents bring new security challenges, while 55% lack confidence in their deployment guardrails and 48% worry their data foundation isn't set up to get the most out of agentic AI.
To effectively manage agentic AI, leaders need to embrace the change. This starts with assessing current data infrastructure and creating data governance practices that enable AI access without increasing compliance risk.
2. HR and IT are increasingly reliant upon each other
HR and IT functions are becoming deeply interdependent, with 64% of IT leaders predicting a complete merger within five years. Success requires shared strategic goals, joint governance and platforms that bridge both functions' priorities.
As agentic AI is increasingly adopted across the workforce, HR leaders' success will hinge on IT's expertise in selecting, implementing and managing complex technologies. At the same time, IT will rely on HR to provide insight into how these tools affect people in terms of adoption and human impact.
Here, finding a balance is critical. Sit down with HR and IT teams to see where overlaps are occurring, where pain points are emerging and where closer working relationships can benefit both departments.
3. Companies are reassessing their skills inventories
Employers are reassessing their skills inventories and adopting skills-based approaches to hiring and development that conduct deeper examinations of what work actually requires. Combined with AI capabilities optimizing task completion, this enables a fundamental rethinking of how work is organized, helping leaders match people and tasks with unique strengths and skills while offloading routine work to AI.
"While larger organizations have been the first to engage in strategic workforce planning and skills-based design, small and midsized organizations should also consider doing so at a scale that's realistic for them," said Asal Naraghi, global innovation leader, future of work, ADP.
Expanding skills inventories will likely require a combination of skills-focused recruiting and internal upskilling. A strong starting point is your existing workforce, with external hiring used to fill remaining gaps as needed.
Visit the 2026 HR Trends site to download the guide and other resources.
4. Congress passes tax treatments for certain wages and benefits
Paid leave laws will continue to expand as Congress passes new tax treatments. In 17 states and the District of Columbia, paid sick leave is now required, while 13 states have enacted paid family leave laws. Congress has also changed tax treatment for child-care benefits, paid leave, tips and overtime.
Employers who offer child-care benefits can now deduct 40% of those expenses up to $500,000. The family and medical leave tax credit has been extended another four years and increased from 12.5% to 25%. As of the 2025 tax year, employees can deduct a certain amount of income from qualified overtime and tips when filing their federal income taxes.
Manage this trend with intelligent HR tools that can flag potential compliance challenges and suggest resolutions.
5. Countries are regulating the use of AI in employment decisions
The regulatory landscape for AI is evolving in 2026. As governments grapple with AI's workplace implications, differing approaches are creating challenging requirements for employers, who will need to balance the use of AI with risk management and human oversight to facilitate compliance. The European Union (EU) AI Act, Colorado's AI Act (effective June 2026) and California's new regulations all govern AI in employment decisions and outline opportunities for risk reduction and involving humans in key decisions.
"Having humans involved in employment decisions that affect people's lives and careers is essential, no matter what tools employers use," said Helena Almeida, vice president and managing counsel, AI legal officer, ADP. "It's how we infuse our broader understanding, experience and care to make wise decisions."
While regulations remain largely patchwork, there's an overarching theme: ethical application. Using this lens, businesses are better prepared to evaluate how they're using AI for employment decisions and identify potential bias.
6. AI is creating a mix of experiences for people at work
How employees experience AI in the workplace matters. Experts emphasize framing AI as a tool for augmentation rather than automation and advise against placing undue pressure on employees by setting unrealistic expectations for this still-evolving technology.
"We're still in the early days of understanding AI's full impact," said Jason Delserro, division vice president of human resources, ADP. "Expecting immediate, massive productivity gains risks creating unrealistic pressures on both the technology and, more importantly, your people."
Bring staff in early and give them hands-on experience with AI tools before deployment. This builds familiarity and helps identify potential adoption challenges before organizations invest significant time and resources in implementation.
Leveraging the latest HR trends to build the future of work
The trends that are defining 2026 demand thoughtful, integrated planning and decisive action. Organizations that drive innovation by prioritizing people, responding to regulations with agility and deploying AI while building trust can create resilient workplaces and lay the groundwork for continuous improvement.
Learn more about the challenges and priorities shaping the future of work and HR. Visit the HR Trends Resource Center.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What's new in HR trends for 2026?
The six latest HR trends that are emerging in 2026:
Agentic AI is becoming essential.
HR and IT are increasingly interdependent.
Companies are reassessing their skills inventories.
Congress is passing new tax treatments.
Countries are regulating the use of AI in employment decisions.
AI is creating mixed experiences for workers.
2. What can organizations expect for future HR trends?
2026 is the year of agentic AI. This requires a combination of worker training to ensure familiarity, along with improved data management, security and governance practices.
3. How do changing regulations impact HR operations?
Changing regulations around the use of AI for hiring, combined with new tax treatments for wages and benefits, increases the risk of noncompliance. To mitigate this risk, teams should leverage a combination of AI to track and identify possible issues, human oversight to verify outputs and comprehensive HR software to create a single source of truth.
4. Where does the human experience fit into HR trends?
HR is inherently human. Where AI offers a new approach to "how" and "what," humans remain the "why." Effectively managing trends means making sure people, not processes, remain the focus.
