{"id":84753,"date":"2025-12-16T08:52:21","date_gmt":"2025-12-16T13:52:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/isarta.com\/news\/?p=84753"},"modified":"2025-12-17T16:21:51","modified_gmt":"2025-12-17T21:21:51","slug":"2025-hr-review-companies-are-now-more-focused-on-profitability-and-performance-management","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/isarta.com\/news\/2025-hr-review-companies-are-now-more-focused-on-profitability-and-performance-management\/","title":{"rendered":"2025 HR Review: “Companies Are Now More Focused on Profitability and Performance Management”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The year 2025 began against the backdrop of a trade war with the United States and continued with a marked economic slowdown. Employees quickly understood that they no longer held the upper hand against bewildered employers. Goodbye to the 4-day work week, the concept of disconnecting, and generous “workplace wellness” policies. Hello to concerns about productivity, “job hugging,” and a recalibration of employer expectations.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Contrary to The Economist’s prediction at year-end last year<\/a>, 2025 was not the year of the “death” of remote work. According to a November Robert Half survey<\/a>, 28% of new job postings are still “hybrid” and 11% are entirely remote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, according to Statistics Canada data, there is a slow progression toward in-office presence. From 2024 to 2025, the percentage of Canadian employees expected to work “most hours on-site” increased from 17% to 20%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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There are employers in precarious economic situations, notes Marianne Lemay, CEO of HR firm Kolegz. So while some want to bring employees back to the office for engagement reasons, others use it as a culling strategy. If employees don’t want to return, it reduces the payroll accordingly.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Times are tough, indeed, for both employers and employees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Economic uncertainty means employees are less inclined to change jobs\u2014this new HR trend is called “job hugging”\u2014employees stay longer in their roles because they’re too afraid of losing their job if they go elsewhere,” she continues.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Rising Demands<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, companies face a ruthless tariff war from Trump while facing pressure to make the digital shift and adopt AI rapidly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The leniency of the post-pandemic years is no longer the norm, notes Alexandre St-Jean, president of HR firm H\u00e9lice. Clarity, rigor, and consistency are becoming it. Employers are increasingly taking a stance centered on raising expectations.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Over the past year, Alexandre St-Jean has observed a marked tightening of hiring and performance criteria in organizations, with significantly higher expectations toward employees, both new and seasoned. Less freedom, fewer exemptions, less leniency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We’re no longer hiring just anyone, and we’re not keeping those who slow things down either. This is reflected in evaluation processes, onboarding, daily performance tracking, and even return-to-office mandates.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Profitability Over Employer Brand<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Samer Saab, founder and CEO of Explorance, notes that employers have resumed interest in measuring performance among his clients who implement organizational listening strategies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Until 2023, companies were obsessed with everything related to culture, candidate experience, and employee experience\u2014some companies were losing nearly 15% of their employees in the first year of employment. We measured engagement, inclusion, and especially employer brand. Starting in 2023, companies began focusing heavily on profitability. They delayed their engagement surveys to return to performance management, which had been set aside. We’re seeing a return of meritocracy.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

This trend is primarily present in the United States, he notes, adding that his Quebec clients remain mostly in progressive positions that prioritize engagement and well-being. We asked compensation specialist Sarah Jodoin-Houle, CRHA, if she was noticing a trend toward strengthening performance-related compensation practices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I’m seeing a shift in attitude, she confirms. Is that translating into behavioral changes in compensation practices? I wouldn’t have concrete data. However, I’m noticing that the trend of wanting to separate raises from performance reviews\u2014presented as a “best HR practice” a few years ago\u2014has completely disappeared from the conversation.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

“Accountability” Rather Than “Harshness”<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Alexandre St-Jean, the shift toward companies being more “demanding” of employees doesn’t have to be interpreted as synonymous with “harshness.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Rather, it’s a reflection of a market that has tightened after several years of abundance, ease, and flexibility. A need to regain control. What we’re seeing on the ground is much more reciprocal accountability: organizations expect talent to be ready, proactive, and capable of learning quickly. And employees, in turn, demand to understand the ‘why,’ the logic behind decisions, transparency of expectations and criteria.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

If both parties remain “engaged” in the process and the drive for performance doesn’t come at the expense of employees, what lies ahead looks promising.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The year 2025 began against the backdrop of a trade war with the United States and continued with a marked economic slowdown. Employees quickly understood that they no longer held the upper hand against bewildered employers. Hello to concerns about productivity, “job hugging,” and a recalibration of employer expectations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":88,"featured_media":84756,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/isarta.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84753"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/isarta.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/isarta.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/isarta.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/88"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/isarta.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84753"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/isarta.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84753\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":84762,"href":"https:\/\/isarta.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84753\/revisions\/84762"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/isarta.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/84756"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/isarta.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84753"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/isarta.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84753"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/isarta.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84753"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}