The 3 most pressing HR challenges for educators in 2025

It’s no secret that New Zealand schools face increasing pressure and HR challenges to deliver high quality learning while simultaneously juggling skill shortages, evolving government policies, and workforce wellbeing issues.

In fact, ELMO’s 2025 research found that among HR leaders in education the top concerns were staff wellbeing, skill shortages, and professional development. What this tells us is that HR professionals would be savvy to address these issues by adapting their strategies to maintain educational excellence, while also fostering a supportive environment for staff.

1. Skill shortages and recruitment

The education sector is in a skills deficit. Schools are struggling to find enough qualified teachers, administrators, and support staff, particularly in regional and remote areas. Educators specialising in areas like STEM are also in high demand. Issues like high turnover, staff burnout, and an ageing workforce are also hindering progress in filling and retaining talented individuals.

What can be done to fill positions with skilled staff?

HR professionals need to move quickly to attract and secure top talent. Improving your recruitment and onboarding processes can make a serious difference in landing the best people while ensuring that new hires are up and running as swiftly as possible. Implementing and using technology like ELMO’s HR software to automate and simplify HR processes can help teams focus on what matters most, finding and keeping great educators.

2. HR Challenges: Staff engagement and wellbeing

Bringing staff on board is only part of the issue. Keeping them engaged and supporting their wellbeing is just as important. Many schools still rely on outdated HR systems, like spreadsheets, which makes it pretty difficult to track performance, provide feedback, and manage workloads. The high-stress nature of education means burnout is a serious and well documented phenomenon, and if employees don’t feel supported, they’re more likely to leave.

What can you do to ensure staff wellbeing and engagement?

A centralised HR system helps schools gain better visibility over their workforce, while learning management systems can offer targeted support for engagement and wellbeing. Performance management tools allow HR teams to retain education staff by investing in their professional development. Streamlining administrative tasks like rostering and leave management also gives staff more time to focus on what they do best.

3. Professional development and upskilling

Ongoing professional development is essential in education, helping teachers stay current with evolving curriculum, teaching methods, and emerging technologies. Upskilling not only supports career progression but also plays a key role in retaining talented educators and keeping them engaged.

How can you easily upskill your people?
HR teams can support growth by offering flexible, mobile-friendly learning options through a centralised learning management system (LMS). With everything from tailored training pathways to compliance related accreditation in one place, an LMS makes it simple to track progress, support career development, remain compliant, and create a culture of continuous learning.

How ELMO can help

With over 500 education customers across New Zealand and Australia, ELMO Software is built to make life easier for HR teams in schools. By streamlining processes like Recruitment, Onboarding, Performance Management, and Learning into one central platform, ELMO helps reduce admin load so you can focus on your people.

Whether you’re searching for skilled staff, supporting wellbeing, or staying on top of compliance, ELMO’s end-to-end HR solution gives you the tools to attract, retain, and develop top talent, while creating a better workplace for educators and, ultimately, better outcomes for students.