Something is shifting in how organisations think about talent. It is no longer just about filling roles, but getting the right blend of skills needed to deliver real impact.

Nolo Thobejane, chief people, culture and purpose officer at KFC Africa and winner of the 2025 Transformation & Empowerment Award, believes South Africa does not have a talent problem, but an access problem.

As global migration patterns continue to shape the world of work, HR professionals must prepare for the impact of brain drain on succession planning, said Michele Simpson-Crew, managing partner of academy at Busec Nova, at the 2025 HR Indaba.

As the world of work changes rapidly, executive assistants (EAs) and CHROs are experiencing a transformation in their roles with AI models making massive advances in streamlining tasks and enhancing decision-making.

HR leaders are learning to walk a fine line between embracing AI’s efficiency, while keeping people at the heart of automation. Sheryll Kisten, head of human resources at Stadio Higher Education, Sage CPO Amanda Cusdin and Stor-Age head of people Aba Ayirebi share practical steps leaders can take to upskill their teams in AI and data literacy.

All things tech dominated CHRO conversations in 2024 – balancing AI with the human touch, for one, will no doubt continue to dominate in the new year.

A successful HR transformation used to mean getting the technology right, embedding new processes and reaching go-live. Today, that is only part of the story. The real challenge is building an organisation that can continue to adapt long after the project is complete.

What does the workplace women deserve look like? This Women’s Day, we put that question to HR leaders Elanie Kruger, CHRO at Tsebo Solutions Group; Shehnaaz Kajee, head of HR at HBZ Bank; and Sinqobile Khuluse, CPO at Sandock Austral Shipyards, who have a front-row seat to shaping the employee experience.

CHROs have moved past the era where saying this is the way we’ve always done things is the only rule of thumb. Today, the workplace has become a place where someone who remembers the first fax machine collaborates in real-time with an intern who uses AI to automate their morning emails.

Nerisha Kistan, HR director at Canon South Africa, shares that corporate culture often asks people to leave their personal struggles at the door, but there is a recognition that employees navigate complex socio-economic pressures and family responsibilities every single day.

In a time when the lines between personal and professional life can become increasingly blurred, TransUnion GCC Africa HR head Shivani Ramsaroop shares the thinking behind their holistic wellness approach, and why co-creating with employees has made all the difference.

Taegan Devar, industrial psychologist and managing director of PeopleSmart, argues that while employee assistance programmes (EAPs) offer support, they’re just one piece of the puzzle.

The hardest part of growing a global company is not opening new markets. It is making sure people in those markets still feel they belong to the same organisation. That is the challenge Vera Solomatina is helping to solve as SVP of people and culture at inDrive.

Amanda Cusdin’s career spans continents, transformation initiatives and boardrooms. Today, as chief people officer at Sage, she leads 11,000 employees across the globe, but her journey began in a setting few would expect: amid the unrest of Northern Ireland's civil war.

Cátia Teixeira, group executive head of human capital at MultiChoice Africa, has carved a unique path in the world of HR – one that’s as dynamic as it is inspiring. With a foundation in economics and an early career in finance at Deloitte Portugal, she never imagined she’d end up leading human capital across an entire continent.

With the new year approaching, frontline industry people leaders Bernalene Adams, group head of HR at Clover South Africa; Andrew Millson, group executive of people & sustainability at Food Lover’s Market; Maanea Mabirimisa, group human capital systems & data analyst at Italtile Group; and Lorelle Viljoen, group head of culture & leadership at Capricorn Group Namibia, share the practical priorities shaping their 2027 roadmaps.

Caroline van der Merwe, Jem co-founder and chief product officer, says the company uses WhatsApp-based technology, workforce management tools and financial wellness solutions to help employers operate more efficiently, while improving deskless workers’ lives.

For most of its existence, HR technology answered a fairly narrow set of questions. Who works here? What are they paid? How much leave do they have left? Did they clock in this morning? Has payroll run on time? Those questions have not gone away, but they are no longer the questions that keep a CHRO up at night.