An overarching question of many trends in Human Resource Management (HRM) is the economical impact, that HRM has on business success. The question ist, whether the value of HR management contributions can be measured. Many long-term trends, such as HR benchnmarking, data driven HR and building indicator based models to measure Human Capital are associated with this central issue. There are more recent and more general trends, of course, such as demographic development and digitalization. We tried to measure the impact of high quality HRM and it is
much greater than we expected. If you are interested in the study and its method you may look up the brief article attached to this answer.
as viewed by Boxal and Purcel the HR research must focus on finding the black box between HRM and organisational performance. You can also study Jensen et. al (2014) to review more on this aspect published in Journal of Management.
Moving the focus of and responsibilty for HRM from residing in the HR department to management in general, and developing a shared accountability for managers and dept. Dept still providing core services, of course, but mangers embracing the concept that optimizing people performance IS their job.
One interesting area of research in HRM is talent management and performance sustainability among Gen Y. Researches indicated that Gen Y tends to be more mobile and hopping from one job to another . Articles written by Ryan, 2012 and Williams, 2013 may be helpful.
According to me Green HRM is the hot topic as on today. Environmental sustainability has become most significant issue. Conservation of natural resources and use of Eco-friendly materials in business through HR is important. Waste management and green space development is the important extended area of HRM.
Creating work environment that support gender quality and learning digital attitude have become hot topics in HRM besides stated by my friends.