Happy Friday! ‘This week in CX’ brings you the latest roundup of industry news.
This week, we’ve been exploring the widespread misconceptions about the downfall of DEI, the growing trust in AI for critical workplace decisions, and the debate over whether office attendance improves employee well-being.
We’re also discussing new updates from Gartner, Volkswagen Group and more.
Key news
- LVMH defied expectations with a 1% Q4 sales rise to €23.9bn (£20bn), outperforming forecasts. Strong European and US sales boosted performance, however significant investments in Tiffany and the group’s watches and jewellery division weighed on profits. “It’s not great, but it’s also not a catastrophe compared to some commentaries,” CFO Jean-Jacques Guiony told the Financial Times. The luxury sector has shown signs of stabilising after a tough 2024, with Richemont and Burberry also posting strong earnings in January. “We’re in a ‘wait and see’ mode,” Guiony added.
- Volkswagen Group’s CEO, Oliver Blume, has confirmed that the German carmaker is in discussions with Chinese partners about potential investments in Europe. Audi CEO, Gernot Döllner, previously described such a partnership as “thinkable“. To reduce costs, Volkswagen is considering closing various German factories, with Chinese buyers reportedly showing interest in the plants, according to Reuters. Additionally, to mitigate the impact of tariffs announced by the new US administration, Volkswagen is exploring the establishment of production sites in the US for its Audi and Porsche brands, as reported by Handelsblatt.
- It’s been a banner week for artificial intelligence – and now Alibaba’s entering the race. The Chinese online retailer has released a new AI model it says outperforms models from DeepSeek, OpenAI and Meta. Known as Qwen2.5 Max, the chatbot arrived shortly after Chinese competitor DeepSeek unveiled its latest AI model, which shocked the industry by achieving competitive results at a fraction of the cost. Alibaba’s timing suggests DeepSeek has rattled rivals both at home and abroad, Reuters reports.
CXM news stories
Here’s the full news stories that CXM have reported on in the past week. Learn all about the latest news about employee wellbeing, the role of AI in decision-making and the first week of Trump.
Employee pay increases to shrink in 2025
Employee raises are set to shrink in 2025, according to a recent Gartner survey of 300 CFOs and financial executives. While compensation remains one of the top priorities for budget allocation—second only to enterprise technology spending—the trend of slowing wage growth continues for the third consecutive year.
Only 61% of CFOs intend to boost employee salaries in 2025, a notable drop from 71% in 2024 and 86% in 2023.
“The slowdown in pay increases reflects falling rates of inflation and lower levels of voluntary employee attrition. However, even though the labour market is cooling, CFOs must balance the potential risks of attrition and low engagement as employees still face stubbornly high costs for household necessities,” said Randeep Rathindran, VP, Research in the Gartner Finance practice.
The trend toward more conservative pay raises is clear. The percentage of CFOs planning salary increases of 10% or more has dropped from 16% in 2023 to just 11% in 2025. Similarly, while 70% of CFOs had planned raises between 4% and 9% in 2023, that number has fallen to 50% for 2025.
Experts at Gartner suggest that finance leaders collaborate closely with HR teams to develop targeted compensation strategies. Ensuring competitive pay for critical roles will be essential to retaining top talent while maintaining financial discipline in an evolving job market.