Note (October 2026): This article was first published in 2022. Its claim that gig workers make up around 30 percent of most organizations’ workforce is not supported by official data, so that passage and the other dated figures have been updated.
The main HR tech trends are AI in recruiting and HR analytics, cloud-based HR systems, continuous performance management, employee wellness tools, platforms for managing gig and contract workers, and employee monitoring and pulse-survey tools. As of October 2026, SHRM research found 39% of organizations use AI in their HR functions, while laws such as New York City’s Local Law 144 now regulate automated hiring tools.
Key Takeaways
- AI is the fastest-moving HR tech trend: SHRM research presented in April 2026 found 39% of organizations use AI in HR, led by recruiting tasks such as writing job postings and screening resumes.
- AI hiring tools are now regulated: New York City has enforced bias-audit and notice rules since July 5, 2023, and the EU AI Act lists recruitment AI as high-risk.
- Engagement remains the problem HR tech is meant to solve: Gallup reports global employee engagement fell to 20% in 2025.
- Gig work is a real but minority share of employment: the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics counted independent contractors at 7.4% of total employment in July 2023.
- Monitoring and wellness tools raise privacy and trust questions that employers need to address before rollout.
In the past few years, HR technology has significantly changed the landscape of how management of people works. There are some core reasons for the major shift. Firstly, the millennials have become the mainstream cohort in the modern work environment.
The second reason is the overall advancement in the technology itself. Emerging technologies like RPA (Robotic Process Automation), Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Machine Learning (ML) have led to major disruptions in modern HR practices. The six HR tech trends below show where these technologies have changed HR practice, with figures updated as of October 2026.
What Are Human Resources Technology Trends?
HR technology is used for representing the group of technologies or tools like apps and software solutions that are dedicated to deliver improved HR outcomes.
Every function within the HR team -right from creation of job advertisements to onboarding, exit processes, and so more, can be automated. These processes can be made more efficient and managed seamlessly with the help of revolutionary HR tools or technology solutions.
These are the six HR technology trends that continue to shape how employers manage people:
Artificial Intelligence (AI) in HR
Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology has become an integral part of the all-new era of HR technology. Some ways in which AI aims at influencing HR practices are:
- Augmented Analytics: As HR teams will use AI algorithms, it will help them in understanding and automating repetitive tasks while freeing up ample time in different processes. Therefore, HR teams can look forward to focusing their energy on high-impact, strategic tasks. AI-powered HR technology tools will deliver the overall ease of access to visualization and curated data. It will help with strategic, insight-driven decision-making.
- Improved Employee Engagement: The utilization of AI-driven algorithms in domains like employee engagement and the overall performance will help in modernizing the HR process. The software is now capable of focusing on improving the employees’ lives in a real manner.
- AI-driven recruitment: When AI-based algorithms are combined with improved cloud computing, it leads to a rapid shift in the manner in which employers look for talent with the help of the HR technology. AI for recruitment and talent management can help in understanding the profiles of individuals. Therefore, it delivers the right type of match-making for both organizations and candidates.
Cloud-based HR
Remote working has rapidly become the new normal. While the HR tech trend has been prevalent for the past few years, the COVID-19 pandemic brought cloud-based HR to the forefront from 2020 onward.
Cloud-based HR will deliver a wide range of benefits. It allows the Human Resources department to make use of data in real-time. Moreover, it also allows the subsequent teams to take decisions effectively. In turn, it makes it quite simpler for organizations to analyze the overall engagement and productivity.
Performance Appraisals
Many organizations now run performance management continuously rather than only through an annual review. It will serve to be both integrated as well as continuous. HR tech will typically come up with a dedicated cycle for expectation of the setting and feedback. In turn, it will ensure improved monitoring and employee performance.
Organizations all around the world are increasingly adopting relevant feedback interventions including Feedback 360 for making the process of performance management quite holistic.
Employee Wellness
The overall well-being of employees is now regarded as an integral component of performance and productivity. The best organizations out there are searching for a highly integrated approach to the aspect -in terms of emotional, mental, and physical health.
The period of the global pandemic has indeed revealed the priorities of the workforce. Organizations that had come up with dedicated wellness policies for the employees revealed that the workforce was significantly grateful for the overall benefits. Employers also reported better performance from those employees afterwards, although that claim is anecdotal rather than drawn from a cited study.
There is a wide range of HR-centric technology tools that focus on the physical and mental health of the employees. It features advanced wearables and gamification tools. Moreover, mental wellness and advanced health tools are also increasingly being integrated into the respective HR software for improved focus on employee productivity and performance.
Gig Economy
This trend has been there for a while. In 2022 many forecasts expected a gig economy boom as more people sought to work on their own terms and conditions; official U.S. data, covered below, show independent contracting as a meaningful but minority share of employment. Employers all around the world are effectively realizing that the utilization of a combination of freelancers, full-time employees, and contractors is the best way to ensure effective results.
The often-quoted figure that gig workers make up around 30 percent of most organizations’ workforce could not be verified against official data; the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ July 2023 survey, its newest, found independent contractors made up 7.4 percent of total U.S. employment. In this scenario, the role of a revolutionary HR technology solution is to bring the diverse workforce together on a single platform while managing people, onboarding, recruitment, salaries, and so more.
Technology for Monitoring Employees
Remote working has altered the mechanisms of communication. From the HR and manager perspective, it is challenging to analyze how engaged people tend to be when you are not sharing working spaces with them.
This is the reason why organizations nowadays rely on cutting-edge methodologies like frequent pulse surveys. It helps in continuously gathering relevant feedback from employees while using the same to improve the overall experiences.
Moreover, some organizations are also increasingly using high-end employee monitoring tools. These HR technology tools are capable of tracking how engaged employees tend to be when they are working from home or remotely.
These are capable of gathering relevant metrics like application, time tracking, and website utilization. The data obtained can be then used for tracking healthy habits while avoiding burnout, suggesting improvements for productivity, and designating coaching and training.
Conclusion
The world has changed significantly in the past few years. Some of those changes may prove temporary, but many, such as remote work and AI-assisted hiring, have already reshaped how work is organized.
In this situation, HR technology is also going to adapt accordingly to meet the ongoing changes. A common ground for the latest HR tech trends -whether it is AI or virtual reality, is that these will help in powering rapid transformation.
How Widely Is AI Used in HR?
AI use in HR has grown quickly but is far from universal. According to SHRM’s 2025 Talent Trends research, a survey of 2,040 U.S. HR professionals conducted in February 2025, AI adoption in HR tasks rose to 43% in 2025 from 26% in 2024.
Newer SHRM research, presented in April 2026 and drawing on 1,908 HR professionals, put the share of organizations using AI in their HR functions at 39%, with another 23% using AI elsewhere in the business. Large organizations with 5,000 or more employees led at 60% adoption, while smaller employers lagged.
Recruiting is the leading use case in that research: writing and optimizing job postings, screening and matching resumes, and scheduling interviews. Readers who want a deeper look can read our guide on how AI is changing HR work and our explainer on how an applicant tracking system supports the hiring journey.
What Laws Regulate AI in Hiring?
AI hiring tools are now subject to specific rules in some jurisdictions, which makes compliance part of any HR tech decision.
- New York City Local Law 144: employers and employment agencies using an automated employment decision tool must have it bias-audited within one year before use, make information about the audit publicly available, and notify candidates or employees 10 business days before using the tool. The city’s Department of Consumer and Worker Protection began enforcement on July 5, 2023.
- EU Artificial Intelligence Act: the Act entered into force on August 1, 2024, and classifies AI systems used in recruitment as high-risk. Its obligations phase in over 6 to 36 months, with bans on unacceptable-risk systems applying first.
Employers outside these jurisdictions should still check local employment, data-protection and anti-discrimination law before automating hiring decisions. This is general information, not legal advice.
HR Tech Trends Compared
| Trend | What it does | Main benefit | Main risk |
|---|---|---|---|
| AI in HR | Automates screening, job postings, scheduling and analytics | Saves recruiter time | Bias and regulatory exposure |
| Cloud-based HR | Hosts HR records and workflows online | Real-time data for remote teams | Data security and vendor lock-in |
| Continuous performance management | Replaces annual reviews with ongoing feedback | Faster course correction | Feedback fatigue |
| Employee wellness tools | Supports physical and mental health | Retention and well-being | Handling of sensitive health data |
| Gig workforce platforms | Manages contractors and freelancers alongside staff | Flexible capacity | Worker misclassification |
| Employee monitoring and pulse surveys | Tracks activity and gathers frequent feedback | Visibility into engagement | Loss of trust and privacy concerns |
Why Employee Engagement Still Drives HR Tech
Much HR technology is bought to improve engagement, and the numbers show why. Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace 2026 report found global employee engagement fell to 20% in 2025, its lowest level since 2020, and estimated that low engagement costs the world economy about $10 trillion in lost productivity.
The same Gallup report found manager engagement dropped to 22% in 2025 from 27% in 2024. Because managers shape their teams’ experience, tools that support managers with feedback, recognition and workload data are a growing focus. Our guide to building an employee engagement strategy covers the people side of this work.
How Big Is the Gig Workforce?
The gig workforce is significant but much smaller than many trend articles suggest. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Contingent and Alternative Employment Arrangements survey for July 2023, the newest edition, reported:
- Independent contractors: 11.9 million people, or 7.4% of total employment.
- On-call workers: 2.8 million, or 1.7%.
- Temporary help agency workers: 945,000, or 0.6%.
- Workers provided by contract firms: 862,000, or 0.5%.
- Contingent workers (jobs not expected to last): 6.9 million, or 4.3% of workers.
For HR teams, the practical task is managing contractors and employees on compatible systems while classifying each worker correctly under local law.
How to Choose HR Technology
- Start with the problem: hiring speed, onboarding, payroll errors, engagement or compliance.
- Check where the tool stores data and how it handles personal and health information.
- For any AI hiring feature, ask the vendor for bias-audit results and confirm whether local rules such as New York City’s Local Law 144 apply.
- Confirm the tool integrates with existing payroll, time-tracking and applicant tracking systems.
- Pilot with one team, measure the outcome, and tell employees what data is collected and why.
Related reading: the benefits of HR onboarding software and how an employee time tracking app saves time and money.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is HR technology?
HR technology is the software and tools used to run human resources work, including recruiting, onboarding, payroll, performance management, learning, engagement and employee records. Most modern HR technology is cloud-based and increasingly includes AI features.
What is the biggest HR tech trend right now?
AI is the biggest HR tech trend. SHRM research presented in April 2026 found 39% of organizations use AI in their HR functions, with recruiting tasks such as job postings, resume screening and interview scheduling the most common uses.
Is using AI in hiring legal?
Using AI in hiring is legal in most places but increasingly regulated. New York City requires bias audits and candidate notice for automated employment decision tools, enforced since July 5, 2023, and the EU AI Act classifies recruitment AI as high-risk. Check local law before use.
What share of workers are gig workers?
In the United States, the Bureau of Labor Statistics found independent contractors made up 7.4% of total employment in July 2023, its newest survey. The frequently quoted claim that gig workers form around 30% of most organizations’ workforce is not supported by that official data.
Is employee monitoring software a good idea?
Employee monitoring software can show how work is done, but it can damage trust if used without transparency. Employers should collect only the data they need, tell employees what is tracked and why, and follow local privacy and employment law.
