The world of work continues to shift beneath our feet
As HR and payroll professionals work to steady the ground, they’re facing a complex mix of confidence, contradiction, and competing demands.
This year’s HR & Payroll Pulse report captures a Europe that is no longer simply reacting to change, but actively trying to reshape it. The talent crunch remains unresolved. Well-being strategies aren’t landing. Payroll is under pressure to deliver both savings and satisfaction. And sustainability, once a peripheral goal, is now a central test of HR’s credibility.
To help interpret these findings, we’ve paired the data from our Europe-wide survey with commentary from international SD Worx experts, drawing on their real-world experience to offer actionable, strategic insights. Their voices bring the numbers to life, bridging the gap between data and practice.
At SD Worx, we see this data as a call to look more closely—not just at what’s happening, but at how it’s being felt by the people at the centre of work. The headlines are familiar. The real story lies in the disconnects and tensions that shape day-to-day experience.
A snapshot of work in motion
Europe’s HR leaders have entered 2025 with cautious optimism. According to this year’s survey, two in three HRDs believe their people strategies are working. But confidence doesn’t always equal clarity.
Dig beneath the surface and a more complex picture emerges. Familiar concerns persist—employee well-being, retention, recruitment. And while urgency around these issues appears to be softening (only 28% rate well-being as pressing, down from 37% last year), the lived experience of employees suggests these challenges are not solved. They’ve simply become harder to measure.
“The real story isn’t just in the stats. It’s in the tensions, the expectations, and the lived experience of people at work.
— Jan Laurijssen, Senior HR Researcher, SD Worx
HR Realities in 2025
In this report, SD Worx experts share insights and advice on four intersecting realities shaping the European workplace in 2025.
Each reality offers both risk and opportunity. The organisations that succeed will be those willing to look beyond policy and process, and towards the perceptions, pressures, and expectations that truly define the world of work today.
01
Talent shortages are reshaping the way we think about careers
02
Trust is weakening around well-being and pay
03
Tech and payroll solutions are evolving, human experience still matters most
04
Sustainable HR strategies must now deliver on their promises
About the Research
The SD Worx HR & Payroll Pulse reveals the results of the largest annual HR research project in Europe, conducted by the SD Worx Research Institute. Each edition includes evidence-based insights to help employers enhance their people strategies.
This year’s study draws on fresh data from 16,000 employees and 5,625 HRDs across 16 European countries, collected in February 2025.
Employees
HR decision-makers
European countries
Europe’s largest annual HR study
