European HR leaders are leading the way in blazing new trails. They are experimenting with AI use cases that have high stakes, advocating for pay transparency and offering flexible work arrangements. They also prioritize diversity, equity and inclusion (DEIB), more than US people teams.
We’ve already revealed the results of our 2025 State of People Strategy Report, but we want to dig deeper into the trends. We spoke to HR professionals who have a thorough understanding of the European market in order to discover what leaders around the world can learn from Europe’s progressive and effective HR strategies. What we learned is:
The HR priorities in Europe are changing
DEIB was included in our top five priorities for the first ever time in Europe. The HR respondents from the region are 2.8x more likely than their US counterparts to consider DEIB a priority (28% vs. 10%). Even so, this is still less than one third of respondents.
According Lucas Botzen of Rivermate in the Netherlands, an employer-of-record platform, DEIB needs to be an integral part of the employee’s life cycle, and not an add on.
Botzen suggests that companies create a vision and strategy aligned to their overall business goals for DEIB. He said that this involves setting measurable goals and ensuring the accountability of leadership towards the delivery of these goals.
Engagement strategies: Why European HR policies outpace US counterparts
HR departments in Europe have more benefits to increase engagement than US teams. They include learning and developmental (L&D), flexible time off policies, remote work, stipends, and four-day weeks.
Joaquin Migliore is the director of people at Superside. He said that these benefits were likely a result of long-standing policies and regulations: “These are benefits, especially when American businesses open offices in Europe, and must adapt to local realities, tend to be appreciated and used more.” Comparatively, the US might not be able to implement the same benefits because people will likely not use them as much, since they may perceive that it impacts their performance or promotion chances .”
Managers recognize the work of HR
Our 2025 State of People Strategy Report includes insights from managers who are not in HR. This gives us a unique perspective from the other side of a table.
The HR teams who support European managers are in perfect alignment. This is what it looks like for respondents in England, France and Germany across a variety of workplace topics:
How much support does HR provide for:
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Training on Performance Evaluation: According to Managers (84%) and HR (84%)
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Managers (84%) and HR (85%) agree on the importance of training managers to give constructive feedback
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Training to help employees in a lagging state: According to Managers (79%) and according to HFR (82%
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Information about how promotions are handled according to managers (78%) and HR (86%)
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HR and managers agree on useful tools to track or consolidate information.
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How managers view burnout in direct reports: 81 percent of managers and 76 percent of managers
Data from our State of People Strategy 2025 survey showed that despite this strong relationship in Europe, managers still tend to see HR as a purely administrative function, when it is so much more.
Anna Amosova is the HR director of Mellow. She focuses on transforming HR’s focus from administration to advocacy by focusing its efforts to provide strategic value to business through its ability solve problems. This could include improving internal processes, hiring qualified people and designing the organisation. .”
Amosova says that good data is the key to proving the strategic value of HR. Budgeting, forecasting, and using the right metrics for decisions are crucial. “Without these, it’s hard to convince the company to focus on strategic tasks instead of getting bogged down by bureaucracy,” explained Amosova.
Botzen recommends that the HR department become “more strategic and active in discussions. [By] demonstrating how they contribute towards organisational outcomes,HR can reframe their role from an administrative function into becoming a key part in building a company culture that is well-performing”.
European HR Teams are adopting AI
Artificial intelligence has changed the way HR functions work. “AI is changing the way HR functions function. Some of the most popular use cases among European HR teams are mundane, repetitive tasks which take up a great deal of time “…but do not contribute much to cultivating a desired workplace culture, managing employee relations, or acquiring talent,” said Tetianahnatiuk, the head of HR for Skylum, an Ukrainian photo-editing company. AI is better than humans at doing technical tasks that are not subject to human error. You can focus on the people. It can be beneficial for HR to focus on what they are best at, and AI to do the same.
AI meets or exceeds expectations for these types of applications. The real magic occurs when HR teams are willing to experiment with AI for higher-risk use cases.
According to our survey, using AI to detect bias in promotions, raises and reviews is the least popular AI application for European HR teams. However it exceeds their expectations.
AI has a lot of potential in the HR field, but a human touch is still very important. Hnatiuk warned that while you may want to implement a chatbot as a tool for your employees, it’s important not to forget the importance of the human element in the HR field. “It is better to use AI as an assistant for HR and not to replace .”
European HR teams are performing well but they’re at risk of burnout
According to the data, European HR teams outperform their US counterparts. 16% of European professionals say they are exceeding their goals compared to only 11% of US teams.
Burnout is a problem that HR departments in Europe face. They are trying to provide the best possible service for their employees, but they also feel the burnout. In fact, 45% of HR teams in Europe said that they felt too overwhelmed by the management responsibilities for them to perform their best. This overwhelm could be due to administrative burdens. HR teams in Europe are more than twice likely to blame paperwork and policies for burnout.
This indicates that HR teams may need more support from the organisational leaders in Europe. Amosova, who works at Mellow, uses automation and outsourcing in a combination to relieve the administrative burden of HR. This allows her team to spend more time on strategic matters.
Amosova also added that it is unrealistic to try and eliminate all administrative tasks from HR. Hnatiuk also agreed that HR tech can reduce administrative burdens.
It’s important to know which resources and when to use them. European HR teams demonstrate the value of an innovative approach by gathering data to prove strategic importance, developing custom AI systems for performance management and embracing employee benefits.
