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August 21, 2025 - A new survey from The Conference Board reveals one in five Chief Human Resource Officers (CHROs) expect to decrease hiring over the next six months—nearly double the share who anticipated a pullback one year ago.
Rather than expanding headcount, CHROs are intensifying efforts to prepare existing teams for rapid change. Half report investing in change management training for leaders, while nearly as many are supporting similar programs for managers.
“CHROs are taking a more thoughtful, steady approach as economic and policy uncertainty lingers. This slowdown in hiring isn’t about losing confidence—it’s about being smart and strategic. Right now, leaders are focused on strengthening their current teams, managing change well, and staying flexible before making big moves to hire again,” said Diana Scott, Leader of The Conference Board US Human Capital Center.
Overall, CHROs’ outlook on the state of the workforce remains stable. The Conference Board CHRO Confidence Index rebounded slightly to 56 in Q2, up from 54 in Q4 2024. (A reading of more than 50 points reflects more positive than negative responses.) While hiring is cooling, employee engagement and retention expectations are continuing to improve.
Conducted biannually, the CHRO Confidence Index is comprised of three components—hiring, retention, and engagement—as well as special questions included in each survey. More than 100 CHROs participated in the Q2 survey. Key findings include:
Core Questions
Hiring
The CHRO Confidence Index: Hiring component was 54 in Q2. Hiring expectations are down YoY from 59 in Q2 2024.
CHROs’ workforce expansion plans continue to cool:
- 20% expect to decrease their hiring over the next six months—up slightly from 19% six months ago and a significant jump from only 11% in Q2 2024.
- 36% of CHROs expect to increase their hiring over the next six months—down slightly from 37% in Q4 2024.
Retention
The CHRO Confidence Index: Retention component ticked up slightly to 54 in Q2 from 53 in Q4 2024. Retention expectations have remained stable YoY from 54 in Q2 2024.
CHROs are mixed on how challenging it will be to retain employees in the next six months:
- 16% of CHROs expect their employee retention to decrease, down from 21% in Q4 2024.
- 32% of CHROs expect employee retention to improve over the next six months—down slightly from 34% in Q4 2024.
Engagement
The CHRO Confidence Index: Engagement component rose to 58 in Q2 from 55 in Q4 2024. Engagement expectations are up YoY from 53 in Q2 2024.
CHRO optimism about employee engagement continues to improve:
- 14% expect engagement levels to decrease—down from 24% in Q4 2024.
- 45% expect engagement levels to increase—up from 42% in Q4 2024.
Special questions: Managing change
Most CHROs are confident in their organization’s ability to manage upcoming change.
- 13% are very confident in the ability to manage change.
- 56% are confident.
- 29% are slightly confident.
- Only 2% are not at all confident.
CHROs are investing in training for leaders and managers to deal with uncertainty and change.
- 50% are investing in change management training for leaders.
- 43% are investing in training for managers.
- 36% are standardizing change management practices.
- 14% are strengthening their existing change management team.
- 14% say change management is not a priority.
In the second quarter of the year, the likely impact of the Administration’s policies on the workforce became clearer to CHROs.
- 50% said they expected the new policies to have a negative impact, up from 36% in March.
- 11% expect a positive impact, up from 5%.
- 21% expect no impact, down from 29%.
- 18% were still uncertain, down from 31%
About The Conference Board
The Conference Board is the member-driven think tank that delivers Trusted Insights for What’s Ahead®. Founded in 1916, we are a non-partisan, not-for-profit entity holding 501 (c) (3) tax-exempt status in the United States. www.conference-board.org
Source: The Conference Board
