{"id":79538,"date":"2025-08-26T10:46:30","date_gmt":"2025-08-26T07:46:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gulftech-news.com\/en\/?p=79538"},"modified":"2025-08-26T10:46:31","modified_gmt":"2025-08-26T07:46:31","slug":"middle-east-chros-under-pressure-to-drive-growth-while-cutting-costs-korn-ferry-report-finds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gulftech-news.com\/en\/2025\/08\/26\/middle-east-chros-under-pressure-to-drive-growth-while-cutting-costs-korn-ferry-report-finds\/","title":{"rendered":"Middle East CHROs Under Pressure to Drive Growth While Cutting Costs, Korn Ferry Report Finds"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>As business transformation accelerates across the region, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kornferry.com\/\">Korn Ferry\u2019s<\/a> latest CHRO Survey 2025 reveals that senior HR leaders in the Middle East are under mounting pressure to deliver growth and innovation while cutting costs and driving productivity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Drawing on insights from more than 750 global HR executives, including 197 leaders from the Middle East, Europe, and Africa, the report offers a timely snapshot of how the CHRO role is evolving in response to intensifying external challenges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><u>Key Findings from Korn Ferry\u2019s 2025 CHRO Study<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Top External Threats Impacting Business (Next 2 Years)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Economic uncertainty \u2013 60%<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Labor and skills shortages \u2013 39%<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Technology changes (including AI) \u2013 37%<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Political uncertainty \u2013 35%<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Regulatory changes \u2013 35%<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Competitive innovation \u2013 23%<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Changing consumer behaviors \u2013 21%<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>M&amp;A \u2013 16%<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Top Strategic Focus Areas in the Middle East<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Growth &amp; Market Expansion \u2013 83%<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Cost efficiency and productivity \u2013 80%<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>AI and Technology adoption \u2013 62%<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Transformation Readiness<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Only 40% of organizations incorporate disruptive ideas and innovative practices.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>60% say they struggle to move away from old ways of thinking.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Leadership Alignment Challenges<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>30% of CHROs report that their leadership teams are not aligned with transformation needs.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Top CHRO Priorities for 2025<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Culture and Organizational Change<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Leadership Succession<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Elevating HR Capability and Impact<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Developing a Competitive People Strategy &amp; EVP<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Skills Development<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Other Key Regional Highlights from the CHRO 2025 Report<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A strong emphasis on leadership succession, culture change, and HR capability elevation.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>An urgent need to upskill talent for future growth, despite only 48% of CHROs saying they know the skills needed for the future.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>66% of CHROs say they must update their EVP (Employee Value Proposition) to attract next-gen talent.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Despite growing AI investment, only 5% of HR teams say they are well-prepared to integrate it, with 0% saying they are \u201cfully prepared.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><em>In the Middle East, these pressures are amplified by ambitious national agendas around AI adoption, Emiratisation, and digital transformation. CHROs are at the center of executing change at scale, re-architecting talent strategies to match aggressive growth and workforce development plans.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>\u201cCHROs in the Middle East are operating at the sharpest edge of transformation. As governments push bold digital, economic, and workforce agendas, HR leaders are no longer just enablers; they are architects of growth, culture, and capability,\u201d said <strong>Jonathan Holmes, Managing Director, Middle East, Turkey &amp; Africa at Korn Ferry<\/strong>. \u201cThis report confirms what we\u2019re seeing on the ground: CHROs are expected to deliver more with less, lead with both empathy and agility, and reimagine how organizations attract, retain, and reskill talent for a very different future.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The full CHRO report is now available on the website: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kornferry.com\/ae\/insights\/chro-survey-2025?utm_source=news&amp;utm_medium=web&amp;utm_campaign=25-08-uae-brand-pu&amp;utm_content=awa\">https:\/\/www.kornferry.com\/ae\/insights\/chro-survey-2025?utm_source=news&amp;utm_medium=web&amp;utm_campaign=25-08-uae-brand-pu&amp;utm_content=awa<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As business transformation accelerates across the region, Korn Ferry\u2019s latest CHRO Survey 2025 reveals that senior HR leaders in the Middle East are under mounting pressure to deliver growth and innovation while cutting costs and driving productivity. Drawing on insights from more than 750 global HR executives, including 197 leaders from the Middle East, Europe, &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[3515],"class_list":["post-79538","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-chros"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Middle East CHROs Under Pressure to Drive Growth While Cutting Costs, Korn Ferry Report Finds - Gulf Tech News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Middle East CHROs Under Pressure to Drive Growth While Cutting Costs, Korn Ferry Report Finds\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/gulftech-news.com\/en\/2025\/08\/26\/middle-east-chros-under-pressure-to-drive-growth-while-cutting-costs-korn-ferry-report-finds\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Middle East CHROs Under Pressure to Drive Growth While Cutting Costs, Korn Ferry Report Finds - 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