Can you predict the future of work, and should you even try?
In this episode of the People Proud podcast, AI hype, human insight, and the future of work, we revisited our 2025 trends and predictions to see what really happened in the market.
The conversation featured:
- Tali Sachs, senior content marketing manager at HiBob
- Dr. Ken Matos, director of market insights at HiBob
Together, they compared expectations to reality and came to a clear conclusion: Forecasting isn’t fortune-telling. It’s about learning from data, context, and humility. The episode focused on three big predictions that shaped the year: how AI’s hype met reality, how flexibility (especially around RTO) evolved, and how resilience required more than wellness tools and good intentions to make a real impact.
Predictions, promises, and what actually happened
Looking back, Matos admitted that some of their 2025 predictions were “the riskier ones.”
At the time, AI optimism was at its peak, and everyone wanted to believe the transformation would be instantaneous. Some predictions landed—like the ongoing pull of flexibility—while others showed how slowly organizations moved from experimentation to execution. But even the misses were useful. As Matos put it, the process clarified assumptions and sharpened their understanding of what signals actually matter.
Sachs, who co-authored HiBob’s 2025 trends report, agreed that optimism had to meet accountability: “We said it, did it actually happen?”
That question became the guiding theme of the episode, a reality check on how the world of work continues to evolve in unpredictable, deeply human ways.
Prediction 1: From AI hype to hard lessons
When 2025 began, optimism around AI was sky-high. Companies were convinced that automation would solve everything overnight, but that vision quickly met reality.
Matos explained that the conversation around AI had shifted dramatically over the past year. What once sounded “wildly futuristic and transformational,” he said, has become far more grounded. Leaders are now focused on what AI is actually capable of today, what still needs work, and what might come next.
The reality check revealed a much bigger issue. “A lot of organizations jumped into the AI universe without really knowing what they were doing,” Matos said. “All that big, magic talk had people thinking that you could just give someone AI and then suddenly, they could do the job of 20 people … and that’s just not what happened.”
Behind the hype sat a familiar problem: excitement without a plan. Matos pointed to a RAND study that identified five main reasons AI projects fail. Most of them stem from poor preparation and weak business alignment.
“People had a cool idea, and they ran with it,” Matos explained, “but they didn’t connect it to a business outcome. They didn’t organize people around it. They didn’t really think about what they were going to do with that tool.”
Sachs added that this is exactly why the human element matters. “AI, unlike human beings, can’t really learn. It’s a facsimile … it can’t learn, it can’t grow, it can’t really adapt. We, as people, need to use it, and adapt with it, and program it to adapt with us, or it’s not going to happen in the way that we intended.”
In other words, AI is only as strong as the people guiding it. The real differentiator isn’t how quickly you adopt new tools, but how you use them and how you define success from the start.
“A lot of people go into the AI game just saying it will deliver value, but they can’t tell you what value it will deliver,” Matos added. Without that clarity, even the strongest teams don’t know what to measure, and they risk chasing movement instead of progress.
The conversation around AI ended with one clear takeaway: Success comes from trust and intention, not speed. That same truth shaped the year’s next big theme: how return-to-office mandates met a workforce that had redefined flexibility.
Prediction 2: RTO flexibility didn’t fade. It evolved.
If 2024 was the year of RTO mandates, 2025 proved that flexibility isn’t going anywhere. The question shifted from whether people should work in-office to how work fits into people’s lives.
Matos explained that the data told two stories at once. “The large organizations are looking to more return-to-office policies … tied to things that aren’t really about where you work, but about real-estate costs, about alignments with local municipalities … and really focus much more also on headcount management,” he said.
Enterprise RTO efforts often have less to do with collaboration and more to do with logistics—balancing budgets, leases, and workforce numbers. Smaller companies, meanwhile, leaned into hybrid and remote models to stay agile and attract top talent.
Sachs pointed to how that’s playing out in real time. “I just read something last week where Amazon recruiters are complaining that they’re losing … top talent because they’re just like, ‘Nope, I’m not doing full-time at the office.’”
That resistance reflects a broader cultural shift: People now view flexibility as a measure of trust. Matos cautioned against framing any single model as best. “To be clear, hybrid isn’t inherently good … You have to build a culture that works for the people you want to hire … and you need to be respectful in how you make shifts if you change your strategy.”
Simply put, RTO isn’t the problem. Limiting flexibility is. When mandates ignore people’s needs, they “just aren’t having it,” Sachs added.
In 2025, flexibility shifted from being about locations to being about how clearly leaders define purpose, boundaries, and trust. Companies gaining traction treat flexibility as a partnership, not as a perk. Organizations that strike a balance between autonomy and alignment are experiencing stronger engagement, steadier retention, and more sustainable performance.
Prediction 3: Resilience is about fixing problems, not symptoms
Following the first two predictions, resilience emerged as the next significant challenge. What happens when constant change pushes people past their limits—when the issue isn’t just performance or flexibility but how to help people keep going?
At the beginning of 2025, companies were investing more than ever in wellbeing and mental health initiatives. Despite the spending, stress levels remained high.
“Studies are showing that organizations are increasing their expectations … putting a lot of money into tools and processes, but the stress levels aren’t going down,” Matos said. “We still find that a lot of employees have high job insecurity, which is impacting their stress, and interfering with their work performance … And that leads to the burnout. And I think one of the things it’s really important to clarify … is that burnout is not about being tired. Burnout is about believing that you can’t actually accomplish anything.”
That distinction reframes the problem entirely. Burnout isn’t exhaustion. It’s discouragement. As Matos puts it, “You’re tired because you put in effort after effort, but you’re not moving the needle. Every time you think you’ve conquered the issue … it just explodes again.”
The solution isn’t another wellbeing app or one-off initiative. It’s giving people back control over their time, energy, and work.
This constant state of flux leaves people searching for stability in what Sachs described as a world that’s “wildly out of control.” She posed an essential question for today’s leaders: What can companies actually do about it? What should they invest in? And how can their strategies truly support employee wellbeing and prevent burnout?
The answer lies in starting small. Resilience doesn’t come from grand gestures but from everyday actions that make work frictionless and people-centric. “One of the things that really helps people,” Matos said, “is getting some sense of control back of their time and their lives. And that doesn’t mean not doing what the organization needs. But it means being able to make the shifts.”
Control often comes from everyday policies that make work easier to navigate, like letting someone work from home while waiting for the plumber or simplifying leave approvals. Flexibility like this is a sign of trust, not just a perk.
Sachs spotlighted another issue: basic awareness of benefits. Due to communication gaps, people often don’t know that certain benefits are available to them. But simple reminders and accessible systems can make a huge difference.
Matos gave two concrete examples, saying, “This is a place where AI can become really useful … this AI tool has all of our benefits options programmed in. Tell it what you need, and it can help you identify just what you need to be looking at …”
For example, at HiBob, “our sick-leave policy is just auto-approved,” he said. “You just take a sick day. It’s so frictionless that you end up in a lot less stressful situation.”
This kind of frictionless policy doesn’t just make things easier on people and their managers. It shows that trust, clarity, and accessibility are built into the culture.
Building resilience starts with a commitment to clarity and trust—and with systems that remove friction and make work feel more human. When organizations focus on clearing obstacles instead of adding programs, wellbeing stops being a checkbox and becomes part of the culture. The result: less stress, greater endurance, and teams that can truly keep going.
Slow down to move faster
The three predictions—AI, flexibility, and resilience—all pointed to one lesson: meaningful progress comes from clarity, trust, and intention.
“For all of these things, we just need to be able to slow down to move faster,” Matos said. “If we can … stop moving for a minute, get the big-picture view, and start making some strategic decisions rather than reacting … we can actually start fixing those problems.”
Sachs agreed, adding that reflection is not the opposite of action—it’s the foundation of it. “Let’s think it through first, get it right, and also gather the data so that if we get it wrong, we know what and why and how to move forward more intelligently.”
In a world that prizes speed, slowing down can feel radical. But progress isn’t about doing more. It’s about doing what matters. When we take time to think before we act, we can turn reflex into endurance and motion into momentum. That’s how the best companies (and the people behind them) move the world of work forward.
Key takeaways: What 2025 taught us about AI in HR, flexibility at work, and employee resilience
The future of work rewards clarity, trust, and adaptability. Here’s what leaders can take away from 2025’s biggest workplace trends:
- AI needs intention, not just investment. Success with AI depends on defining value from the start—what you’re solving for, how you’ll measure progress, and how people will use the tools.
- Flexibility drives trust and retention. Organizations that treat flexibility as a partnership, not a perk, see stronger engagement, loyalty, and long-term performance.
- Resilience comes from reducing friction. When companies focus on removing barriers and empowering people to act, wellbeing becomes culture—not a checkbox.
- Progress is measured by purpose. Slowing down to make smarter, data-driven choices builds momentum that lasts.
- The future of work is human. Behind every system, policy, and innovation are people—and when they’re trusted and supported, the entire organization thrives.
