2025 has been a year of reckoning for HR, marked by burnout, rapid tech acceleration, and growing pressure to rethink the employee experience as we head into 2026.
Debbie Lawrence, chief people officer at managed IT services provider Integris, does not believe the employee experience has shifted completely yet.
Remote work existed for years before Covid, but the pandemic solidified it. Still, Lawrence said the core drivers of employee engagement remain unchanged.
“While the key drivers of engagement remain the same, it is how we get there and the tools we use to facilitate them that have changed,” she told TechNewsWorld.
That distinction has become increasingly important as many organizations treat structural changes like remote work as progress in engagement, even as burnout, workload imbalance, and disconnected systems persist.
Lawrence said HR’s 2026 playbook will require rethinking how organizations manage employee experience, particularly by increasing the use of AI and automation to improve agility.
Employee Expectations
Three main concerns continue to shape the employee experience, she noted.
Employees want transparent and fair compensation practices. Workers favor being part of a learning culture that values upskilling rather than consistently “hiring from the outside.” They also want to “be seen” for meaningful contributions to the organization.
Chief People Officer
“When learning and development are embedded into the culture, all parties win. Ensuring real-time recognition provides a visible display of the impact on organizational outcomes, motivates employees, and reinforces the notion that hard work and innovation are noticed,” she said.
HR and IT components within companies should plan to embed core values and foster a more profound sense of belonging and connection across the workforce. The two organizational departments should also consider the potential for a distributed or hybrid work model, as well as the emotional toll on employees.
Lawrence confided that, in her many years of supporting employees, the most common pain points she encountered stemmed from working within clunky, cumbersome, and non-intuitive systems.
“We fix by listening and learning from the boots on the ground. HR and technology teams should be dialing in on direct feedback around system design to bring about a seamless user experience,” she recommended.
Rewriting the HR Playbook for 2026
We asked Lawrence to share some essential points from her efforts to develop practical HR guidance at both Integris and its customer firms. Those insights reflect how HR leaders are rethinking technology, transparency, and people strategy as they prepare for 2026.
TechNewsWorld: How should companies leverage new HR technologies like AI to streamline operations, augment human work, and avoid transformation fatigue?
Debbie Lawrence: In the most simplistic terms, make it easy to get work done! Automation is the key, but it needs thoughtful deployment to assist with the administrative tasks that bog down the day.
Fear of being replaced by AI is a real thing out in the ether. I recently saw a billboard that said, “Don’t hire humans.” How scary for the frontline workers who just want to support their families.
How can organizations ensure that AI adoption augments human work rather than creating job insecurity?
Lawrence: As tasks become automated, it is critical to do so with care and follow a few simple rules. Be transparent about how you use AI and automation and the benefits for employees. For instance, having more time to do meaningful work, the ability to learn and grow skill sets, delivering better service to clients, and a better work/life balance.
What mistakes should managers avoid in establishing these rules?
Lawrence: Avoid change fatigue by testing the waters. Release new automations and features in small doses and monitor for effectiveness by garnering feedback from the front lines. This will make team members feel like they are part of the process and avoid overwhelming new technologies.
What adjustments do employee value proposition (EVP) and talent acquisition (TA) processes need?
Lawrence: It’s all about transparency and investment in the human behind the screen. Research shows Gen Z workers are switching jobs faster than ever. I don’t think that is a disloyalty issue; instead, they can’t see themselves long-term in organizations that don’t believe in them beyond the work.
Embed into the organizational framework clear, open lines of career progression, published salary ranges aligned with growth factors, and a commitment to continuous development.
As it relates to the TA process, focus on skill-based recruitment, future potential, connections to the employee experience during recruitment, and quick decision-making. Gone are the days of multiple layers of interviews.
Most importantly, candidates want to see values shine during the process. Investment in manager development and hiring to the competencies we wish to see reflected at both the employee and manager levels is the ace card.
How can companies reset their HR playbooks to implement a new operating rhythm that avoids silos and ensures leadership accountability?
Lawrence: At Integris, we matured the talent processes to align people strategy with business outcomes. We invested in several streams that provide dividends for the organization.
We streamlined our HR Operating Model to define roles within the team and educated our leaders on how to partner with each function. Internal communication streams ensure that talking points and materials enable managers to share pertinent information with their team members, enabling consistent messaging.
We implemented Manager 360 Evaluations to hold managers accountable to their team members and to the organization’s values. Quarterly talent reviews foster a proactive approach to talent, culture planning, and workforce capacity.
