The Future of Healthcare HR: Workforce & Compliance Trends for 2025
Part of a series | 2025 HR Trends Series
Healthcare HR leaders are facing trends in burnout, skills development, and pay equity in 2025, with technology aiding in customized support. While artifical intelligence (AI) is transforming hiring, payroll, and benefits processes, human oversight remains essential to ensure fairness and effectiveness.
For the healthcare world, this is shaping up to be an eventful year. As the industry recovers from the stress, demands and changes of the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare HR professionals must navigate the latest rules and innovations reshaping the workforce, including the growing role of AI. However, these same challenges bring opportunities for companies that adapt.
These top trends for talent, compliance and technology belong on your radar:
Talent: Supporting and retaining a resilient workforce
Your employees are the foundation of your organization. What are they dealing with now, and how can you best support them?
Managing stress and burnout
Burnout and stress remain high in healthcare: according to the CDC, 46 percent of healthcare workers reported burnout in 2022, up from 32 percent in 2018. While conditions have certainly improved since the worst of the pandemic, healthcare workers are still dealing with long hours, stressful responsibilities and higher levels of harassment.
This takes a toll on your organization. Workers who struggle mentally and emotionally report more issues like anxiety, depression and fatigue, which distracts them from their work. Burned out healthcare workers are also more likely to quit.
Your employees need support, and traditional physical wellness programs are not enough. Invest in proper resources, especially mental health solutions, and create one-on-one time to speak with employees about their concerns. New human capital management (HCM) platforms can also customize benefit offerings to meet an employee's personal needs.
A tailored approach to skills development
You depend on your employees' skills to deliver services to your patients. Equally important are their levels of engagement and loyalty, which rise when they feel their employers support their career growth and training.
In 2025, this goes beyond traditional degrees. States continue to push the use of micro-credentialling, where employees can train on a specific skill, competency or topic with a much smaller commitment of time and money.
Numerous organizations offer healthcare microcredentials, such as the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, the National Organization for Healthcare Quality and the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses. HCM software can help you keep track of all these different employee certifications, identify skill gaps and suggest personalized career paths.
A scattered workforce
The healthcare workforce is increasingly spread across the country. Travel nurses, telehealth and remote administrative teams are far more common than even a few years ago.
Your HR department must rethink payroll, compliance and engagement strategies for dispersed hybrid and remote workforces. For example, are you aware of payroll rules for workers operating across multiple states? It can get more complex, especially as your team spreads out.
New payroll technology based on AI can help catch these errors. "As you're in the middle of payroll processing, you can be notified proactively about compliance changes that may have an impact," says Tonya James, ADP's vice president of product management.
Avoiding compliance pitfalls in 2025
Unfortunately, regulations don't stop just because your team is juggling other challenges. Here are some of the most critical healthcare compliance risks for 2025.
Pay equity and transparency
Pay inequity by race and gender remains an issue for the healthcare workforce. For example, a 2021 research paper estimated that female physicians earn roughly $2 million less (over a 40-year career) than their male counterparts.
Pay issues contribute to burnout, reduce morale and increase turnover. Your organization should use internal pay audits to proactively look for issues, ensuring that compensation follows experience, skills and credentials, regardless of race or gender.
When hiring, keep in mind the increasingly common state/municipal requirement to maintain pay transparency, or share salary information on job postings. Your HCM software can identify overlooked compensation issues before they become more serious, resulting in turnover or even a lawsuit.
Wage-and-hour compliance risks
Wage-and-hour compliance matters for healthcare, the same as any industry. Here are some of the specific issues most commonly impacting healthcare in 2025:
- Overtime disputes. Your employees put in long days; for non-salaried workers, this can quickly result in overtime. Closely track hours and schedules so that you budget and compensate employees properly and avoid overtime disputes that can escalate into legal trouble.
- Misclassification of contractors. If you work with contractors, study employee/contractor definition criteria to avoid the consequences of misclassifying.
- Meal break violations. While medical emergencies may demand immediate action, employers must still adhere to legal requirements for breaks and meal times. Consider your schedules and daily staffing to ensure employees can comfortably take their breaks.
Workplace safety and training
Your organization must stay on top of federal, state and local laws for all your facilities and employees, wherever they may be. HCM software can help you identify new rules, especially as the new federal administration introduces changes as the year goes on.
Technology: Leveraging AI while keeping the human touch
New technology could give your healthcare organization an edge for hiring, benefits and employee productivity, provided you use it properly.
Generative AI in employer-candidate interactions
Generative AI is making its mark on healthcare businesses' hiring practices. HR departments can use AI to generate job descriptions, sift through candidate applications and automate interview scheduling.
AI can also remove human biases in screening candidates, creating a more ethical process. But it has its own drawbacks and limitations; for example, it may accidentally screen candidates for race, gender and/or disability. If you use AI for workforce decisions like hiring, promotions or pay raises, monitor outcomes to ensure they are fair and appropriate.
In addition, remember that while AI can screen candidates based on their skills, training and experience, it may overlook the soft skills crucial in the healthcare industry. Human involvement and interviews remain essential as you build your workforce.
You should also understand the new laws regulating the use of AI in recruitment. For example, New York City states that companies cannot automate employment decisions without an annual audit for bias. In 2026, Colorado will require companies that use AI for employment decisions to allow candidates to opt out and request a human review instead.
Supporting healthcare workers with new technology
AI and technology tools can help healthcare employees reduce administrative burdens and add more operational efficiencies. At the same time, employees could use these tools to generate more personalized health care recommendations for patients.
However, employees will need help learning how to leverage the advantages of AI. Executives estimate that 40% of their workforce will need to be reskilled over the next two years to account for AI and automation.
Well-being technology
Well-being is highly personal: what one employee needs may not be appropriate for another. However, well-being technology, such as wearable devices, mobile apps and digital wellness platforms, can help tailor and personalize workplace benefits for your staff. These tools optimize enrollment and administration processes, improving employee physical, mental and financial well-being. According to ADP research, as these capabilities expand and improve, 80% of firms report being extremely or very interested in well-being technology.
The future healthcare workplace
The future is bright for healthcare organizations that understand the latest HR trends. By smartly managing the latest technology and responding to employee needs, you can set your organization up for success this year and beyond.
As HR leaders navigate 2025's evolving landscape, the right tools and strategies will make all the difference. Discover how ADP's HCM platform can help your organization stay compliant, competitive and prepared for the future.
