June 2025People & Organizational Performance PracticeHR Monitor 2025A comprehensive benchmark survey of workforce and HR trends across Europe delivers critical insights for today’s HR leaders.HR Monitor 2025June 2025This report is a collaborative effort by Julian Kirchherr and Vincent Bérubé, with Charlotte Seiler, Kira Rupietta, Kristina Störk, Marlene Senst, and Simon Gallot Lavallée, representing views from McKinsey’s People & Organizational Performance Practice. ContentsRethinking HR: Aligning people, strategy, and technology in a time of changeAbout the authorsRethinking talent acquisition: Adapting hiring strategies to a changing labor marketEmployee development: From a fragmented approach to an integrated strategyEnhancing employee experience: A strategic priority for engagement and retentionTransforming HR services: How SSC and gen AI are reshaping HR operating modelsStrategic workforce planning: Why it’s more critical than ever432111622276Preface3CHAPTER 1INTRODUCTIONCHAPTER 2CHAPTER 3CHAPTER 4CHAPTER 5PrefaceHR leaders often know the ins and outs of their workforce intimately. But the field lacks relevant, comparable benchmarks for best practices and metrics that track HR changes over time, the reaction of departments across companies to business changes, and the evolving expectations and needs of employees. To help HR leaders compare their functions with others’ and benchmark their progress accordingly, we’ve repeated and expanded our HR Monitor report. Last year’s report covered Germany’s HR landscape. This year, to create a robust set of meaningful indicators across the HR topics most relevant to European organizations, we gathered data from 1,925 companies and insights from more than 4,000 employees across Europe and, for comparison purposes, the United States. The survey data was gathered at the end of 2024, spans multiple sectors, and has been enriched by more than 50 interviews with HR professionals and insights from experts in McKinsey’s People & Organizational Performance Practice. This data set forms the basis for detailed HR benchmarking, including country- and industry-specific comparisons.This year’s report highlights developments in both what HR delivers—such as strategic workforce planning, talent acquisition, and employee development—and how it operates, including the use of technologies such as gen AI. It also sheds light on employee trends, especially those related to employee experience and the factors that influence attraction and retention. The HR Monitor aims to support HR professionals with up-to-date metrics to enable more data-driven decisions and strengthen the management of HR functions.Thank you for your interest in the HR Monitor. We strive to improve and expand this effort in the years ahead.Julian KirchherrPartner, BerlinKristina StörkAssociate Partner, MunichVincent BérubéSenior Partner, Montréal3HR Monitor 2025Introduc...