Human resources (HR) is an industry that has changed significantly over the years since it first appeared in the early 1900s. HR is the backbone of most companies’ processes and administrations, making it important for large corporations and small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
In the modern world, HR consists of dashboards, data-driven platforms, and other technology-powered features designed to save time, improve staff management, and extend HR insights and tools to more parts of businesses. This is what many call HR-tech.
The evolution of this industry brings exciting trends in 2026. Sandra Crous, Deel Local Payroll’s Managing Director, says, “HR platforms are the gateway to new and innovative features such as automation, self-service, and intelligent reporting, with more companies discovering their value and the ease of using them. It’s led to massive uptake among big and small businesses that are using HR technologies to automate repetitive processes, empower employees with on-demand information, and gain real-time insights that support smarter workforce planning.”
In this article, we look at the HR trends set to define HR in 2026 and how SMEs can ensure they stay aligned.
What is HR and HR-Tech?
HR is the department responsible for managing the employee lifecycle, including hiring, training, payroll, and compliance. HR-Tech refers to software and hardware, such as Workday or BambooHR, used to automate, streamline, and digitise these functions to improve efficiency, accuracy, and employee experience.
For many SMEs, the cost of hiring an HR professional is not realistic; however, with HR-tech gaining momentum, small businesses can leverage that technology to ensure the employee lifecycle is managed well.
What Trends Will Define HR in 2026?
Here are some of the trends outlined by experts that are set to define HR in 2026.
1. Self-service Becomes the Norm
Employee self-service (ESS) platforms are gaining significant traction, with adoption jumping over 79% just a few years ago (Gartner), a trend that has grown steadily but is predicted to reach mass adoption in 2026. Experts say ESS will become more of a quality-of-life staple for employees as they easily access payslips, leave applications, and other common HR functions through self-help portals.
2. Integrated HR
Most companies are seeing HR as a strategic department rather than just a necessary one. In 2026 will adopt a more integrated HR experience by leveraging HR systems. HR systems connect to other business systems, sharing data and extending employee management tools to more business stakeholders. In 2026, more companies will lean into interconnectivity. Enterprises will seek ways to connect HR and other business systems, such as payroll and ERPs, and smaller companies will use comprehensive HR platforms as their system of record for employee-related activities across different departments.
3. Empowering Managers and HR Staff
The HR buzzword in 2026 is ‘manager empowerment’. The Society for Human Resource Management found that 51% of HR chiefs saw management and leadership development as the top priority. In 2026, these ambitions will grow in pragmatic ways among companies using modern HR platforms.
Manager empowerment will lead this trend, using artificial intelligence (AI) to create deep and interactive employee and workforce analysis through dashboards. Automated workflows such as e-onboarding (onboarding new hires through digital tools, self-help, and automation) streamline management-heavy tasks. Web-native portals and apps enable managers to access HR information from anywhere and on different devices, including mobile. While these features already exist in 2026, they will become standard tools for managers in more departments than HR.
4. More Emphasis on Talent Management
Fairness, pay transparency, and career development have become more important to attract and keep talent, even the amended Code of Good Practice on Dismissal underlines fairness as the core expectation for good workforce management. This year, companies will rely even more on HR to manage their people fairly and strategically, with the goal of retaining the best employees. This will encourage the abovementioned “manager empowerment” trend – more of the business will want access to payroll and HR dashboards, reports, pay transparency initiatives, frameworks, and templates for performance management, workforce planning, and training and skills management.
5. Cloud-native HR Takes the Lead
Self-service, interconnected HR, manager empowerment, and talent management will grow and reach new heights during 2026 because of a single shared advantage: cloud-native HR platforms. These platforms live in the cloud and offer many time-saving and process-enhancing features to companies: automatic legislative updates, data integration, secure access from different devices, simplified automation, and easy delivery of new technologies like artificial intelligence.
Additionally, these platforms have significantly reduced the cost of having an HR department for SMEs. SMEs no longer need to own HR software; instead benefitting from OPEX spending, automatic updates, generous customisation, and seamless deployment of new models.
These trends are an outline of where the HR sector is heading in 2026 and beyond. With the integrations of AI and cloud technology, the HR sector is going to see more automations, dashboards and employee self-service platforms, granting employees and HR professionals more flexibility.
For SMEs, the focus should be on integrating AI to automate routine tasks, adopting skills-based hiring over credential-based hiring, and implementing flexible, “human-centric” work models that prioritise employee well-being and mental health.
