New analysis from The Human Times, the daily HR newsletter read by more than 65,000 senior HR and leadership professionals, reveals the topics, stories and formats that captured attention across the full year of 2025 and where engagement is continuing to grow.
Workforce, legal and global issues dominated attention
Across all editions in 2025, international news emerged as the most popular content category. HR leaders were particularly engaged by stories examining how rising employment costs, inflation and regulatory pressure are reshaping jobs and pricing, especially in the UK and other major markets.
Alongside this, workforce and legal topics consistently performed strongly. Articles exploring restructuring, performance management, workforce planning and disputes within large corporations drove sustained interest throughout the year. Notably, the top story of 2025 attracted a heavily senior audience, with C-suite and executive readers accounting for approximately 52% of all clicks, underlining the newsletter’s relevance at the highest decision-making levels.
A daily habit for senior HR audiences
Engagement data shows The Human Times has become part of many HR leaders’ daily routine:
- More than 22,000 readers opened the newsletter at least once every week
- Over 9,400 recipients read it four times per week
- Employees from 2,600+ companies engaged weekly, including 1,500+ enterprise-level organisations
- Professional Services firms represented the largest share of frequent readers, followed by Technology and Financial Services & Banking
New subscriptions in 2025 were also notably senior. 34% of new subscribers listed management roles, while 33% held executive-level or higher positions, reinforcing the quality of the audience.
Sponsored content: senior attention, diverse formats
The most successful sponsored campaigns in 2025 spanned a range of formats, including guides, reports, webinars and live events. Topics such as preventing workplace harassment, wellbeing and performance, performance reviews and HR summits performed particularly well.
Crucially for sponsors, executive and C-suite readers accounted for around 50% of all clicks on sponsored content, demonstrating rare access to senior HR decision-makers. Campaign partners also reported strong outcomes, with high-quality form fills and engagement driven by practical, insight-led assets.
The takeaway
In 2025, HR leaders consistently engaged with credible, globally relevant intelligence that helps them respond to fast-moving workforce and regulatory change. For brands looking to reach senior HR audiences, The Human Times continues to offer both scale and influence — delivered daily.
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