HR leaders reveal their New Year’s resolutions and causes for optimism in 2026

With just a few days left of 2025, HR leaders face a familiar but urgent question: How do we make the year ahead truly count?

How can we create positive change that genuinely benefits both people and the wider business? And as AI continues to transform the workplace, how do we use it responsibly, ethically, and in ways that enhance the human experience?

These questions are bound to be front of mind for HR leaders, as they prepare themselves, their teams and their businesses for the next 12 months, which will no doubt be filled with twists, turns and turbulence. 

To gain a deeper understanding of how HR leaders are paving the way for the year ahead, UNLEASH spoke exclusively to nine executives, asking about their new year’s resolutions and positive intentions for the year ahead.

Adam Holton, Chief People Officer at GE HealthCare

What are your HR resolutions for 2026?

“My focus will be on elevating the employee experience in ways that are both deeply human and sustainably scalable. I want to help our teams navigate the transformational capability of AI with clarity and confidence – ensuring we are using it to enhance – not replace – the uniquely human strengths that drive individual & organization performance.

“I’m committed to strengthening leadership capability at GE HealthCare at every level. In a world of constant change, leaders who can inspire, simplify, and enable their teams are an enormous competitive advantage.

“And finally, I want to accelerate the feeling of belonging across our organization; not as an initiative, but as a daily practice that shapes decisions, teams, and outcomes.

2026 will be about being intentional, courageous, and future-oriented in evolving how we serve and support our people.”

What are you most optimistic about for 2026?

GE HealthCare’s Adam Holton

“I am extremely optimistic about what we will be able to do for our patients and customers. Our purpose at GE HealthCare is to create a world where healthcare has no limits. To do that most effectively requires strong prioritization to ensure the right amount of investment is planned for innovation. This year will be the strongest innovation year we will have in many years as several consequential new products hit the market.

“I’m also very encouraged by the spirit of strong resilience that we see from our colleagues. Our people are adapting to new capabilities, new ways of doing things, and leading with openness to the best way to serve our people, patients, and customers.

“Instead of reticence or fear, I’m seeing way more curiosity and adaptability – which opens every door to co-creating the ambitious future we desire.”

Jochen Eckhold, SVP Global HR at HUGO BOSS

What are your HR resolutions for 2026?

HUGO BOSS’s Jochen Eckhold

“My key resolution is to embed a future-ready mindset across the organization, particularly for AI adoption. This means preparing leaders and teams to embrace technology as an enabler, not a threat – fostering curiosity, adaptability, and trust in data-driven decisions.

“I aim to accelerate skills-based workforce planning and continuous learning, ensuring employees can thrive alongside intelligent systems. Another priority is creating clear governance for ethical AI use, balancing innovation with responsibility.

“Ultimately, HR must lead the cultural shift where technology and human capability complement each other, driving agility and sustainable growth.

What are you most optimistic about for 2026?

I am most optimistic about the opportunity to combine human creativity with AI-driven insights.

“With the right mindset, AI can transform HR from a transactional function into a strategic powerhouse – predicting talent needs, personalizing development, and enhancing employee experience. 

“I believe organizations will increasingly value adaptability and lifelong learning, creating cultures that embrace change rather than fear it. This convergence of technology and human potential gives me confidence that 2026 will be a year of smarter decisions, stronger engagement, and workplaces that are both innovative and deeply human.”

Adam Reynolds, Head of Talent at Frasers Group

What are your HR resolutions for 2026?

“I’ve wrestled with a few ideas for this year’s resolution, but in the spirit of simplicity, I’ve chosen one that feels both practical and genuinely impactful.

This year, I’ll be encouraging my team to actively seek out candidates who have used AI to enhance their applications.

Frasers Group’s Adam Reynolds

“For years we’ve been swimming against the current – now it’s time to learn how to surf. AI isn’t disappearing; in fact, it’s becoming fundamental to future-proofing our workforce.

“To stay ahead, we need colleagues in every role who are truly AI-native. And what better place to begin than by recognizing applicants who have creatively (the operative word) leveraged AI to elevate their submissions?

“I’ll admit, I’ve been on the fence about AI-crafted applications for some time. But the truth is, without AI, my own copy would be less polished, my job descriptions more cumbersome, and my adverts far more generic and lacking that elusive spark.

“So from January – although I’ve already started myself – I’ll be asking the Talent Acquisition team to take a more forward-thinking approach to AI-assisted applications.

“It’s time we embrace the tools shaping the future, and hire people who know how to use them.”

Mark Simmons, SVP Human Resources at GXO

What are your HR resolutions for 2026?

GXO’s Mark Simmons

“Our priorities for 2026 are focused on creating an even better workplace for our people at GXO. AI will play a growing role, especially when it’s being viewed as an asset to help our colleagues do their jobs. We’ll continue introducing AI tools across recruitment, onboarding, and learning and development where they genuinely improve employee experiences – not just because they are new or trendy.

“This goes hand in hand with building a workforce that is future-proof, upskilling our people and investing in ongoing employee development so our colleagues can learn and evolve alongside the logistics industry.

“And finally, we want our impact at GXO to extend beyond our four walls. Strengthening the social value we deliver to both our colleagues and the communities we operate in will remain a big part of our HR agenda next year.”

What are you most optimistic about for 2026?

“The momentum we’re building around talent. The logistics sector is benefitting from industry-wide initiatives like Generation Logistics and degree-level apprenticeships, which are helping us attract and develop early-career professionals. 

“At GXO, that optimism comes from seeing how our investment in colleague development, upskilling and a genuinely inclusive culture is taking hold.

When people feel like they belong and have the space to grow their career, they build sustainable job paths that deliver long term value, which in turn transforms how an organisation performs.

“With that foundation and our focus on holistic wellbeing, I’m confident we will enter 2026 with a stronger workforce more equipped to take on a sector that is rapidly evolving.”

Francesca Dellacroce, Global Head of Group Organization at Barilla Group

What are your HR resolutions for 2026?

Barilla Group’s Francesca Dellacroce

“My primary HR resolution for 2026 is to accelerate the evolution of organizational capabilities and actively support HR and business leaders in shaping an organization and its critical capabilities to be fit for purpose, scalable, and ready to sustain growth, while operating efficiently and strengthening people engagement.

“Success will depend on identifying and executing transformational initiatives that deliver the greatest enterprise value with impact.

“This requires courage and disciplined focus in prioritizing efforts that accelerate performance across the enterprise ecosystem, strengthen cross-functional collaboration, and remove friction across the operating model to unlock the full potential of our people.

“By linking key areas of organizational evolution to clearly defined business targets and priorities, I aim to ensure that talent, culture, and organizational design evolve in a coherent, future-ready way that drives high performance, resilience, and long-term impact.”

What are you most optimistic about for 2026?

“The increasingly strategic role of HR in shaping the future of work. Next year, I expect HR to become a driving, transformational force in redesigning how work is done, combining strategic workforce planning with intelligent automation and “bot” strategies to enable more agile, AI-first organizations.

“I am particularly excited about HR’s role in creating truly human-centered solutions, where technology amplifies human potential and leadership effectiveness rather than replacing it.

“I also see HR firmly as a catalyst for change when it comes to managing the people implications of AI, from mindset shifts and capability building to trust, ethics, and responsible adoption for elevated impact and accelerated performance.

“This evolution positions HR as a key architect of new skills, roles, and ways of working, unlocking new levels of productivity, optimism and innovation.”

Jon Caldwell, Chief People Officer at Valvoline

What are your HR resolutions for 2026?

“Focus on our internal ‘core customers’ – the people leaders who take care of our teams and guests every day. Prioritize their development to optimize performance and fuel our growth. Make their lives easier by equipping them with the right solutions.

Leverage emerging technology (including AI) and best practices to deploy efficient, scalable processes. This will help ensure that the employee experience is consistent in ALL of our markets across the full employee life cycle.

“Maintain the strength of our culture and ensure we continue to be a workplace where everyone belongs.”

What are you most optimistic about for 2026?

Valvoline’s Jon Caldwell

“I am very optimistic about the momentum our HR and communications team has right now. We accomplished a lot in the past 12 months, laying the foundation for the future.

“We’ve refreshed our HR tech stack, launched a new employer brand and value proposition, have a renewed and tighter focus for our community relations efforts and implemented several new leadership development solutions.

“The talent level of our HR team is stronger than ever. We are prepared to enable the accelerated growth of our organization as we look to nearly double our store footprint (again) by the end of the decade.”

Jon Lester, Vice President of HR Technology, Data & AI for IBM HR

What are your HR resolutions for 2026?

“To continue using GenAI and Agents to re-design the way IBMers work – this will be a process of re-imagining how our employees engage with their everyday tasks and building on the learnings from our 2025 proof of concepts.

By continuing to take an ‘AI first’ approach, I want to help build a truly hybrid operating model for our HR department, which moves employees away from time-intensive, mundane tasks to much higher value work.

“This vision hinges on seamless collaboration with our platform partners, whether innovating with watsonx to build agents tailored to our needs or integrating solutions that deliver intuitive user experiences. The aim is to create a frictionless employee experience through a single gateway we’ve branded ‘AskHR,’ treating it as a continuous project that continues to develop and grow.”

What are you most optimistic about for 2026?

IMB’s Jon Lester

“Working with my team to implement fresh thinking that will help IBM’s HR function use its 114 years of legacy paired with the mindset of an energetic start-up. It’s about giving employees the space to develop new skills that will enable them to both design and work with AI agents, driving engagement and productivity throughout.

“At IBM we are laser-focused on freeing up time for managers so they can spend it on more value-add work, collaborating with their teams and developing their own skills, rather than feeling overwhelmed by too many deliverables.

“We’ve made notable progress on that this year, and 2026 will be no different.”

Peter Lynch, Chief People Officer, Cardinal Group Companies

Ultimately, my resolution is simple: build a workforce that is braver, faster, and more human than ever before.”

What are you most optimistic about for 2026?

The Cardinal Group’s Peter Lynch

“I’m deeply optimistic that 2026 will be the year organizations finally unlock the full power of AI-enabled talent. Not just because technology gets smarter, but because our people do as well.