CHRO Insights Report

Hiring today is defined by growing volume, rising expectations, and increased operational complexity. As HR leaders work to modernize hiring processes, they face the challenge of improving speed and efficiency without sacrificing accuracy, fairness, or trust.

When modernization efforts focus on the areas where pressure is highest, organizations are better positioned to scale hiring effectively and deliver stronger outcomes for both recruiters and candidates.

To understand where modernization matters most, CHROs were asked to identify the hiring challenges where AI could deliver the greatest operational impact, revealing clear priorities around speed, scale, and integrity.

Year-over-year comparisons highlight how CHRO priorities have shifted since last year and where pressure to modernize is accelerating across the hiring function.

The takeaway

AI-powered background check enhancements have taken over the top spot, and identity fraud detection has gained a seat in the top five. Both of these motions reflect an increased focus on risk management from HR leaders, and the search for AI solutions that help protect organizations and employees at scale.

To see how your business may stack up, take a look at this breakdown of how the top hiring priorities differ by industry, highlighting where needs and pressures vary most.

To understand what’s slowing progress, CHROs were asked to identify the biggest roadblocks to optimizing their hiring technology stack.

Looking back, HR leaders’ mindsets have not changed much from last year—in our 2025 report, budget limitations (18%) led the way, followed by resistance to adoption (17%), and customization challenges (16%).

This consistency shows that the most friction working against AI and tech improvements is still spread across technology, people, and cost.

While most HR teams have invested in modern tools, CHROs report mixed results when it comes to whether those technologies are meeting expectations.

Across industries, perceptions of HR technology performance vary meaningfully, reflecting different operational demands, levels of complexity, and stages of modernization.

Modernizing hiring isn’t about deploying more technology. It’s about ensuring the right systems are working together to deliver speed, trust, and consistency at scale.

As competition for talent intensifies, HR leaders are increasingly challenged to balance effective talent strategy with fairness, transparency, and trust. Hiring success now depends not only on attracting candidates but on delivering experiences that build confidence while meeting evolving expectations.

CHROs are increasingly focused on a small set of strategies they believe will differentiate their organizations in 2026, with clear emphasis on where investment and attention will deliver the greatest competitive advantage.

By industry, strategic priorities diverge in meaningful ways, reflecting differences in workforce composition, operating environments, and competitive pressures.

Trust and hiring integrity have become central considerations for HR leaders, with growing attention on preventing risk while maintaining candidate confidence throughout the hiring process.

We asked HR leaders to share their unfiltered confidence levels in preventing hiring fraud. Across industries, confidence in preventing hiring fraud is strongest in manufacturing, while hospitality leaders report the highest levels of uncertainty, reflecting differences in operational complexity and risk exposure.

But trust is a two-way street. We also asked HR leaders: Are you concerned about the erosion of candidate trust in hiring teams, especially as it relates to employer usage of AI?

When it comes to attracting and retaining top talent, CHROs point to a clear (and consistent year over year) set of top employee value propositions that have the greatest impact on candidate decisions.

Purpose-driven work remains lowest at 5% across industries.

Across generations, CHROs consistently highlight these three hiring strategies year over year as more effective than others in attracting and engaging a diverse workforce.

As competition for talent intensifies and trust becomes a differentiator, HR leaders should challenge assumptions about what truly attracts candidates and how hiring practices are perceived.

As expectations for HR’s strategic impact continue to rise, the way success is defined and measured plays a critical role in shaping how HR is viewed by executive leadership. Clear priorities, meaningful metrics, and alignment with business outcomes are increasingly tied to earning—and sustaining—a seat at the decision-making table.

What questions are CHROs most focused on when planning for success in the next 2-3 years? Two clear winners tie for the top spot—the same two from our 2025 report:

CHROs are aligning around a clear set of performance metrics to evaluate HR’s impact in 2026, with an emphasis on measures that reflect hiring quality.

Across industries, the data shows that planning priorities vary based on workforce needs and operating environments, shaping how HR leaders define their most important questions for the years ahead.

This year’s survey reveals that HR’s strategic influence remains uneven across organizations. While nearly one-third of CHROs (31%) say executives view HR as a reliable service function supporting the business, fewer see HR fully embedded in top-level decision-making. Just 28% report that HR is regarded as a true strategic leader with a seat at the table, and 19% say HR is seen as a strategic partner—but still excluded from core decision forums.

Together, these findings show a function in transition. Many HR teams have earned credibility as problem-solvers and advisors, but not all have converted that trust into formal influence. Closing that gap will require clearer alignment between HR priorities and business outcomes, stronger storytelling with data, and a sharper focus on the metrics that matter most to executive leadership.

To strengthen HR’s strategic influence and credibility, leaders should focus on clarity, consistency, and relevance. When HR measures what matters and communicates it effectively, its seat at the table becomes easier to earn and harder to lose.

As workforce risks grow and expectations of HR leadership expand, organizations must assess whether their leaders are truly prepared for what lies ahead. This section examines how CHROs view future workforce challenges, capability gaps, and the skills required to lead effectively in the years to come.

Future-ready HR organizations are not defined by tools alone, but by leaders who can navigate risk, change, and complexity with confidence.

As hiring grows more complex and competitive, speed can no longer come at the expense of integrity. The findings show that organizations making the most progress are those treating hiring efficiency and trust as interconnected priorities, not tradeoffs.

At the same time, AI adoption and maturity are advancing unevenly, with gaps widening across industries and organizations.

These differences highlight that technology alone does not determine success. What matters most is how effectively HR teams execute, measure impact, and align their efforts with broader business goals.

Ultimately, future-ready HR organizations are built through experience, not theory. Leaders who invest in hands-on capability development, operational clarity, and meaningful measurement will be best positioned to earn influence, sustain trust, and deliver long-term value in an evolving workforce landscape.

Checkr is the data platform that powers safe and fair hiring decisions. Our modern background check technology integrates seamlessly with your hiring tech stack and provides transparency, automation, and trust at scale. 120,000+ customers use our solutions to modernize their screening process and deliver an outstanding candidate experience, without losing the human touch.