January quietly creates more HR buying moments than any other month.

New HR leaders step into role. Budgets are unlocked. Teams take stock of what’s working – and what isn’t.

For anyone selling into HR, that means thousands of supplier review conversations are already happening, whether vendors are present or not. The opportunity in January isn’t demand creation – it’s being relevant at the right moment.

Below is a snapshot of where that activity is coming from right now.

January moves: change at the top

January is consistently the busiest month of the year for senior HR change.

So far this month, Honch has tracked 446 new HR hires and 311 promotions across UK businesses. That includes:

• New Chief People Officers at MOO, OVO, Phi Partners, and The Cotswold Company
• HR Director appointments at Barclays, SATS, and Sopwell House
• C-level HR promotions at Iron Mountain, BT Group, Corsearch, and Constantia Healthcare

These moments matter because new leaders almost always reassess priorities, processes, and existing suppliers as they settle in.

Q4 hires are now implementing plans

Change doesn’t just come from January appointments.

Between October and December 2025, there were 8,300 senior HR hires across UK businesses. Those leaders have now had time to understand the organisation and are beginning to implement plans.

That includes major C-level HR appointments at organisations such as BP, Publicis, Metro Bank, and Experian.

For HR vendors, this is often the point where conversations move from “getting familiar” to “making changes”.

Prospect groups live on Honch right now

Alongside individual moves, January also reveals clear company-level patterns. On Honch right now, you can identify and target HR decision-makers at organisations that have recently reached key milestones:

• Newly funded companies – Target 124 companies that raised funding in December 2025
• International expansion plans – Target 835 companies actively focused on expanding into new markets
• Rapid headcount growth – Target 420 companies that significantly increased their workforce last month
• Employee wellbeing investment – Target 1,700+ companies publicly discussing employee wellbeing and mental health

Each of these scenarios creates pressure on HR teams to review what they have in place – systems, suppliers, and support.

Why this matters for 2026

If you sell to HR leaders, January isn’t about finding interest. It’s about recognising where supplier review conversations are already happening and making sure your outreach aligns with those moments.

New roles, reset budgets, and shifting priorities mean HR teams are already reassessing what they use and who they work with. The opportunity in 2026 isn’t volume – it’s relevance and timing.

How HR revenue teams are using AI differently in 2026

That shift in focus is changing how HR sales and marketing teams use AI.

Rather than automating more outreach, teams are using AI to understand which HR organisations are actively reviewing suppliers, do the research a human would normally have to do, and turn that insight into timely, relevant conversations at scale. Used this way, AI doesn’t replace judgement – it applies it consistently, across far more opportunities than a team could realistically cover manually. Learn more below 👇

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