It’s that time of year when Spotify Wrapped lays bare our guilty musical pleasures, packaging a year of listening habits into an interactive, shareable slideshow. But as the music streaming platform approaches its 20th anniversary, attention is shifting inward, away from consumer-facing algorithms and towards the technology shaping the experience of its own employees.
Leading this internal transformation is Anna Lundström, the chief HR officer, who took the role in April 2025, having previously served as vice-president of HR at the firm. Having joined the company in 2016, she is now responsible for people strategy for Spotify’s global workforce of around 7,500. Lundström stepped into the role at a pivotal moment for Spotify. The firm is evolving from a fast-growing scale-up into a more mature organisation, having recently achieved its first full year of profitability.
“It has been a period of significant change for both Spotify and the wider business world – one that demands a culture reset,” Lundström says. The rapid rise of AI, coupled with the challenges of managing a dispersed workforce, has presented HR teams with a new challenge: to win the battle for genuine human connection.
“In a world that is moving faster than any of us has ever experienced, employees need stability, clarity and psychological safety,” Lundström says. “For organisations to succeed in this era, they must invest deeply in their people.”
HR leads on AI
AI is central to Lundström’s strategy for supporting employee experience. She spearheaded a company-wide hack week, where staff were invited to experiment with AI tools and develop uses relevant to their roles. Successful projects were collected in a shared prompt library, a store of practical examples employees can refer to and build on.
“Shared ownership is important because transformations shouldn’t be led solely by tech, HR or R&D – they must be done together,” Lundström says.
We’re not the underdog anymore
Spotify’s HR team was an early adopter of AI. The team implemented an internal chatbot that provides instant answers to employee questions about policies and processes, from holiday allowances to parental leave and wellness benefits. Importantly, the system is designed to recognise more sensitive questions, such as those concerning pay or wellbeing, and automatically refer them to the relevant HR partner to ensure human judgment and care are applied where it matters most.
Lundström says the system has enabled her team to focus on higher-value work, such as coaching managers and driving strategic initiatives across the business.
Spotify also developed Echo, an AI-powered internal talent marketplace that functions like LinkedIn. Employees create profiles and the platform uses AI to match them with open roles across Spotify, making it easier to explore career growth without leaving the company. The impact has been substantial. The internal fill rate for positions has risen from 22% to nearly 40%, improving both retention and mobility.
Getting in tune with talent
Recognising that passion drives the product, Spotify is doubling down on initiatives that directly enhance staff mental health and work/life balance.
For instance, a benefit introduced in November, the ‘Live Mix’ benefit, provides employees with a stipend to spend on live performances or wellness activities, encouraging them to “tune into the movement”, Lundström explains. “Live music and events foster community and shared experiences. The aim of this policy is to go back to our roots and help staff feel part of something larger while highlighting the value of the work Spotify does for creators.”
Employees need stability, clarity and psychological safety
At the same time, Spotify remains staunchly protective of its work-from-anywhere policy, introduced in 2021. Lundström was one of the two architects of this initiative and says it’s among her proudest achievements. At a time when many companies are urging employees back to the office, Spotify’s approach reflects the belief that flexibility and trust deliver stronger, more committed teams in the long term. Attrition rates dropped by 15% following the firm’s decision to allow employees to work from anywhere.
Despite its commitment to remote working, the company’s leadership recognised the challenges in sustaining culture and collaboration for certain employees in a remote environment. “Early-career hires, including fresh graduates and interns, were struggling to fully absorb Spotify’s culture and build connections,” Lundström says. To address this, the firm’s leadership now requires these employees to attend the office full time in their first year, ensuring they benefit from proximity to seasoned colleagues and a richer cultural immersion.
“Retention is going to be one of the most important competitive differentiators in 2026,” Lundström says. “Investing in our people isn’t just the right thing to do, it delivers real returns. High attrition, burnout and disengagement cost far more than initiatives that support employees and provide meaningful experiences.”
Leading through change and controversy
Spotify’s evolution has not been without controversy. When the Swedish startup was founded in 2006, it presented itself as an antidote to the music industry’s rampant piracy problem, promising an alternative that would funnel revenue from advertising and subscriptions back to rights holders. Over time, the platform has tightened its hold on listeners, broadening its offering beyond music to include podcasts and audiobooks. As the company has grown to dominate the audio streaming market, however, tensions have arisen over how artists are compensated.
The firm’s leadership team acknowledges the controversy, but Lundström explains that as the business grows, the principles on which it was founded must evolve to support that growth. “We’re not the underdog anymore,” she says. “Our business and product has changed. We have to lead the industry now and that requires different muscles.”
Retention is going to be one of the most important competitive differentiators in 2026
She adds that while the company is evolving, Spotify remains committed to transparency. “We’re very clear about where we’re going, what’s changing and what’s not. That openness is who we are and it’s something we’ll continue.”
Spotify’s rise has also turned its co-founder and former chief executive, Daniel Ek, into one of Europe’s wealthiest tech entrepreneurs, with an estimated fortune of around $10bn (£7.4bn). Ek has reinvested some of that wealth into European venture capital, including backing the German defence technology company Helsing, which develops AI-powered weapons systems. His role there as executive chairman triggered backlash from parts of the artistic community, prompting artists including Deerhoof and Massive Attack to call for a boycott of Spotify earlier this year.
Ek has since stepped back from day-to-day leadership a Spotify, a move that the company says was planned well before the controversy. The transition elevated long-serving co-presidents Gustav Söderström and Alex Norström to co-CEOs.
Internally, Lundström says these leadership changes and external criticisms are handled through a culture of open dialogue. “Spotify runs a series of regular forums designed to give employees direct access to senior leaders and space to ask difficult questions, she explains. These initiatives include ‘Unplugged with Daniel’ and ‘Soundchecks with Gustav and Alex’, as well as company-wide town halls featuring the entire senior leadership team.
“That doesn’t change depending on the topic,” Lundström says, whether the issue is brand sentiment, organisational change or reductions in force. “Our responsibility is to share the company’s perspective and provide clarity. Even when the answers are hard, people deserve honesty.”
It’s that time of year when Spotify Wrapped lays bare our guilty musical pleasures, packaging a year of listening habits into an interactive, shareable slideshow. But as the music streaming platform approaches its 20th anniversary, attention is shifting inward, away from consumer-facing algorithms and towards the technology shaping the experience of its own employees.
Leading this internal transformation is Anna Lundström, the chief HR officer, who took the role in April 2025, having previously served as vice-president of HR at the firm. Having joined the company in 2016, she is now responsible for people strategy for Spotify's global workforce of around 7,500. Lundström stepped into the role at a pivotal moment for Spotify. The firm is evolving from a fast-growing scale-up into a more mature organisation, having recently achieved its first full year of profitability.
“It has been a period of significant change for both Spotify and the wider business world – one that demands a culture reset,” Lundström says. The rapid rise of AI, coupled with the challenges of managing a dispersed workforce, has presented HR teams with a new challenge: to win the battle for genuine human connection.
