Playbook 2025: 10 things businesses should watch for in the new year

The more things change, the more they stay the same. The adage certainly comes to mind as another new year dawns and many employers are still grappling with the same challenges they’ve been battling since the start of the pandemic.? ?

The tight labor market, the harsh realities of remote work and inflation are still among the top questions facing businesses, the answers are evolving as the calendar turns to 2025.?

Yes, the looming workforce cliff and the nation’s shifting demographics give employees more leverage than they had before the pandemic. But a softening job market has the pendulum swinging back toward employers.?

Companies are already using that regained power to clamp down on — or even eliminate — hybrid work. That’s a change with implications not just for hiring and employee relations, but for office leasing decisions, economic development and the financial sector.

This week's cover package highlights 10 of the key issues, questions and trends that will shape businesses in 2025.

Hot off the Press

The headlines you need to see before kicking off the weekend.

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In the Tech World

Each week, we feature our latest tech news.

European firm shifts HQ to Arizona

A Norwegian industrial software company is relocating its global headquarters from Oslo to Tempe with plans to create more than 100 new jobs.

Cognite leased nearly 30,000 square feet on the ninth floor of Hayden Ferry Lakeside III at 40 E. Rio Salado Parkway. The company plans to take occupancy of its new Tempe headquarters as early as May,?Cognite CEO Girish Rishi told the Business Journal.

Cognite's platform leverages generative AI to deliver real-time data to manufacturing, energy and utility companies to improve sustainability and profitability. Some of the company’s customers include Celanese, Cosmos, Petrobras and Koch Ag & Energy, according to its website.

The company's Tempe headquarters will house the management team with members of senior leadership anticipated to relocate from Oslo to Tempe. The company's finance, human resources, information technology and strategic services consulting teams will also work from its new headquarters.

Written by Amy Edelen : Norwegian software company to establish global HQ in Tempe

Executive Spotlight

Each week we highlight a video clip from our weekly profile interview series, Executive Inc.

Jerry Steele

Company: M.A.D. House

Education: Bachelor’s Degree from Southern Nazarene University and Juris Doctorate from Arizona State University

Read full interview by Brandon Brown

Newsletter curated by Phoenix Business Journal Managing Editor Paul Thompson and Associate Editor Mignon Gould, MFA. If you have any tips for the newsroom, please reach out to Paul at [email protected] or Editor-in-Chief Greg Barr at [email protected].