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Insights from the 2025 HR Florida Conference and Expo: Data-Driven Themes and Q4 Action Agenda

From the SHRM Florida Analytics & Innovation Committee:
Natalie N. Shah, M.B.A., Abram Walton, Ph.D., Shellie Halstead, Ed.D, SHRM-SCP, Alexandra Silverman, M.S.

The 2025 HR Florida Conference and Expo brought to you by SHRM Florida was a major success – with record attendees, record sponsorships, and more than 200 breakouts sessions across 10 major tracks. The networking created ripples across the three days as did the learning. When analyzed through a research lens, several clear clusters of insight emerged. Importantly, these findings echo broader national and global research. The World Economic Forum 2025 Future of Jobs Report estimates 170 million jobs created, 1,090 million jobs continued in an evolving labor market, and 92 million jobs displaced. Gallup’s 2024 Global Workplace Report highlights disengagement costing U.S. companies $1.9 trillion annually, while Littler’s 2025 Employer Survey reveals compliance with rapidly changing laws as HR’s top challenge. Similarly, PwC (2025) underscores financial stress as the leading employee productivity drain, Gartner (2024) finds that most frontline leaders receive no training before promotion, and McKinsey (2024) reports that fewer than 40% of CEOs view HR as effective at linking talent strategy to business outcomes.

Together, this body of research provides a critical backdrop for examining the themes that dominated HR Florida 2025 and framing actionable priorities for Q4.

Theme 1: AI and the Future of Work

Prevalence: 18% of sessions
Research Insight:  170 million jobs created, 1,090 million jobs continue in an evolving labor market, 92 million jobs displaced – World Economic Forum (2025). Future of Jobs Report 2025.

Key Ideas:

AI is accelerating change across industries, the real challenge for HR lies in reskilling and policy readiness. Drawing on examples such as Tesla’s autonomous systems and the Hollywood writers’ strike, presenters highlighted that job disruption is inevitable, but so too is creation of new AI-enabled roles.

The insight for HR leaders is clear: workforce transformation must be paired with clear guardrails (policies on transparency, bias audits, and worker protections) that build trust while enabling innovation. At the same time the sessions reminded practitioners that human interaction remains the cornerstone of great organizations. In recruiting especially, AI can flood applicant tracking systems with low-quality, auto-generated resumes while simultaneously enabling precise targeting – losing sight of the human judgement, emotion, and relationships that ultimately drive talent success.

Q4 Action Items:

Theme 2: Engagement, Retention, and Culture

Prevalence: 22% of sessions
Research Insight: Gallup 2024 – disengagement costs U.S. companies $1.9 trillion; Gen Z reports lowest well-being

Key Ideas:

While compliance, technology, and financial stress dominate headlines, the deeper challenge lies in how organizations engage and retain their people. Nearly a quarter of all sessions centered on culture and employee experience, underscoring Gallup’s finding that disengagement drains $1.9 trillion annually from U.S. companies. The issue is not abstract, it shows in quiet quitting, where employees disengage quietly, and in areas where employees withhold their discretionary effort when trust in leadership fractures. Across generations, belonging, well-being, and psychological safety are emerging as the real differentiators in retention. Gen Z in particular reports the lowest levels of workplace well-being, a warning sign for the sustainability of future talent pipelines.

The PEAK TEAMS framework (Performance, Esteem, Aesthetics, Knowledge, Team Health & Safety, Economics & Family, Actualization, Mission Alignment, and Social Needs) offers a comprehensive lens for addressing these risks. Employees remain engaged when they can achieve meaningful performance outcomes, feel respected and recognized, contribute to creative and purposeful work, and growth through knowledge and skill development. At the same time, retention is reinforced by environments that prioritize psychological safety, fair compensation, work-life balance, and alignment between personal values and organizational mission. Finally, culture is centered through social connection and belonging. By applying PEAK TEAMS, organizations move beyond surface-level perks toward holistic environments where people feel seen, value, and connected to purpose. This integration of research insights with actionable frameworks positions HR leaders to turn disengagement into innovation and strength the cultural fabric that drives both performance and retention.

Q4 Action Items:

Theme 3: Compliance and Risk Management

Prevalence: 20% of sessions
Research Link: Littler 2025 – 62% of HR leaders cite compliance as their top challenge

Key Ideas:

Compliance and risk management emerged as a dominant undercurrent, with nearly one in five sessions devoted to the topic. Echoing Littler’s (2025) finding that 62% of HR leaders cite compliance as their top challenge, discussions emphasized legal updates, immigration, accommodations, pay, transparency, and emerging concerns around AI bias audits. Much of current practice leans reactive, with organizations focused on mitigating or transferring risks once problems surface, rather than anticipating them in advance through preemptive assuagement. Strong compliance programs were often described in terms of diligence, redundancy, and communication protocols, ensuring safeguards are in place when issues inevitably arise.

Yet, current research suggests a noticeable absence of predictive strategies, especially among organizations that otherwise claimed a competitive advantage, and compliance was rarely framed as a forward-looking discipline capable of building trust, resilience, and adaptability. By reframing compliance as a proactive system that anticipates challenges before they escalate, HR can move from fear-based reactions toward strategic advantage.

Q4 Action Items:

Theme 4: Total Rewards and Financial Well-Being

Prevalence: 16% of sessions
Research Link: PwC 2025 – 57% of employees cite finances as their top stressor

Key Ideas:

Financial well-being has emerged as a critical component of total rewards, shaping both employee experience and organizational performance. With 57% of employees citing finances as their top stressor (PwC, 2025), benefits strategies are increasingly viewed as retention drivers rather than perks. Traditional offerings such as medical, dental, or gym memberships, are not enough when financial stress erodes focus, health, and productivity. What matters most is building a transparent and data-driven approach that addresses the full spectrum of employee financial needs, from managing debt and budgeting to planning for retirement and unexpected expenses. Younger cohorts, in particular, are demanding greater alignment between their financial well-being and employer support, seeing it as a sign of organizational commitment and care.

For HR leaders, sessions highlighted action for reframing financial wellness as more than compensation adjustments. Raises alone rarely ease financial stress if employees lack the tools or literacy to manage money effectively. Instead, organizations can design integrated financial wellness programs—such as financial education, access to advisors, and tools for monitoring progress—that empower employees to change habits, build confidence, and achieve long-term stability. By embedding financial well-being into total rewards, employers not only enhance retention but also create a healthier, more engaged workforce that is resilient to external pressures like inflation or market volatility.

Q4 Action Items:

Theme 5: Leadership, Learning, and Interpersonal Effectiveness

Prevalence: 24% of sessions
Research Link: Gartner 2024 – 60% of frontline leaders promoted without training

Key Ideas:

Leadership, learning, and interpersonal effectiveness emerged as a central concern, reflecting Gartner’s (2024) finding that 60% of frontline leaders are promoted without training. Across sessions, speakers emphasized that leadership today is less about authority and more about the ability to connect, listen, and grow alongside others.

The most effective leaders begin with self-leadership, building self-awareness, reflecting on their own behaviors, and regulating their responses in challenging moments. At the same time, leadership is relational, requiring the capacity to ask meaningful questions and engage in conversations that match what others truly need, whether that is practical guidance, emotional understanding, or simply being heard. When leaders neglect these skills, they risk falling into patters of miscommunication, underperformance, and disengagement. But when they embrace empathy, emotional intelligence, and intentional coaching, they create environments where people feel valued, conflicts are addressed constructively, and teams are able to thrive with greater trust and resilience.  

Q4 Action Items:

Theme 6: Business Acumen and Strategic HR

Prevalence: 12% of sessions
Research Link: McKinsey 2024 – only 38% of CEOs see HR as effective at linking strategy to outcomes

Key Ideas:

A clear takeaway for HR practitioners is the importance of sharpening how we articulate strategy. Too often, HR is tasked with ‘linking people to outcomes,’ but we can undermine ourselves with vague or jargon-heavy language that doesn’t translate into action. To build credibility as business partners, HR needs to frame strategy in terms anyone can understand and that strategy must include meaningful metrics. HR must define clear, specific goals that leaders and employees alike can act on – tying objectives directly to measurable outcomes like customer loyalty, workforce retention, or shareholder value.  

This means refining our vocabulary, simplifying our frameworks, and ensuring that new hires or cross-functional partners could immediately grasp what success looks like. McKinsey (2024) highlights, with only 38% of CEOs believing HR links strategy to outcomes effectively, we must commit to precision, measurable frameworks, and shared language. By doing so, HR can transform strategic thinking from lofty vision statements into practical roadmaps for implementation.

Q4 Action Items:

Conclusion

The breakout sessions at the 2025 HR Florida 2025 Conference and Expo affirmed that HR is at a crossroads: balancing timeless responsibilities like compliance and culture with frontier challenges such as AI adoption, financial wellness, and strategic integration. Current research reinforces that these six areas are not only what HR professionals are discussing in sessions, but also what executives, boards, and employees expect HR to deliver in practice. For Q4, the mandate is clear: HR must be predictive, data-driven, and financially tied to outcomes. Organizations that seize this opportunity will enter 2026 not just compliant and engaged, but strategically positioned to lead.

Research Sources

Deloitte. (2024). 2024 Global Human Capital Trends.
https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/focus/human-capital-trends.html

Gallup. (2024). State of the Global Workplace 2024 Report.
https://www.gallup.com/workplace/349484/state-of-the-global-workplace.aspx

Littler Mendelson. (2025). Employer Survey Report.
https://www.littler.com/publication-press/publication/2025-employer-survey

PwC. (2025). Employee Financial Wellness Survey.
https://www.pwc.com/us/en/industries/financial-services/pwc-employee-financial-wellness-survey.html

Gartner. (2024). Leadership Development Trends & Priorities.
https://www.gartner.com/en/human-resources/insights/leadership-development

McKinsey & Company. (2024). The State of Organizations 2024 / HR Effectiveness Report.
https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/people-and-organizational-performance/our-insights/the-state-of-organizations-2024

The Conference Board. (2024). C-Suite Outlook 2024.
https://conference-board.org/research/csuite-outlook

American Psychological Association (APA). (2024). Work and Well-Being Survey.
https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/work-stress-2024

EEOC. (2024). Enforcement and Litigation Statistics.
https://www.eeoc.gov/statistics/enforcement-and-litigation-statistics

Willis Towers Watson. (2024). Employee Benefits Survey.
https://www.wtwco.com/en-US/Insights/2024/04/benefits-trends-survey

World Economic Forum. “Future of Jobs Report 2025: The jobs of the future – and the skills you need to get them.” World Economic Forum, 8 Jan. 2025, www.weforum.org/stories/2025/01/future-of-jobs-report-2025-jobs-of-the-future-and-the-skills-you-need-to-get-them/