The job of the future is now the task of the present as 2023 approaches. Numerous changes that had already begun before the epidemic was expedited are now a permanent part of our working life.
There will be superficial similarities in how HR leaders deploy current and new technologies in an unpredictable economic environment, experts predicted. Talent conditions will differ tremendously by industry, with some businesses continuing to lay off workers while others increase compensation and benefits to retain and recruit workers amid persistent labor shortages.
THE TOP HR TRENDS.
1. Employee Welfare Is a Human Right.
Companies are designing environments to be engines of well-being as occupational stress is on the increase. Stress at work affects the individual worker and affects the individual’s friendships, family ties, and interactions with coworkers. In the future, 81% of employees said they would search for workplaces that promote mental health, according to the most recent Surgeon General report on psychological health and well-being.
HR will need to first deal with its own burnout issue. Human resources specialists should put on their personal oxygen masks first, even if this may go against their profession’s inherent need to prioritize aiding others. If not, the department won’t be able to support the rest of the company.
Next, we anticipate HR to adopt a more proactive stance toward resilience and well-being. This entails creating a more all-encompassing strategy for employee welfare that prioritizes their emotional, physical, and financial health.
One firm that is implementing a well-being personnel strategy that emphasizes the complete person, rather than just the individual, is Delta Air Lines. Ed Bastian, CEO of Delta Air Lines, began by creating a new job and appointing Dr. Henry Ting as the first Chief Health and Well-being Officer.
2. A Rise in Skills-Based Hiring Is Seen as Businesses Hiring for Potential Rather Than Academic Credentials.
As more businesses prioritize experience over academic credentials, according to recent data by Remote, hiring based on skills has increased by 63% in the past year.
For over two-thirds of American citizens without a bachelor’s degree, skills-based hiring helps to reduce pay and career restrictions in addition to expanding the talent pool for companies. Employers benefit from skills-based recruiting because it boosts hiring efficiency, diversifies the workforce’s perspectives, and widens the talent pool.
This transition is speeding up as more and more occupations, including those in computer assistance and software engineering, don’t require a degree to be employed. According to the Burning Glass Institute’s analysis of millions of internet job postings, 44% of positions in 2021 will require a college degree, down from 51% in 2017.
As skills become the labor market’s currency in 2023, the trend toward skills-based hiring will quicken.
3. Flexibility for all workers is the way of the future of work.
Flexibility no longer merely refers to working remotely; it also includes having the freedom to determine one’s own work schedule. Spending four or even three days each week while putting in more hours each day is one option.
When asked what makes a difference most in terms of flexible work, more knowledgeable workers and persons working chose flexibility in when work gets done over adaptability in where work gets done in an Executive Networks Global Research study of 1,301 workers titled “The 2023 Future of Working and Learning Survey.”
Modernized policies and transparent communication are desired by the workforce. We anticipate that by 2023, HR professionals will have established clear guidelines for when, when, and how work is performed. As firms explore various workplace tactics, they will enable internal discussions about this issue and encourage their company to make decisions, even if they are just temporary.
Additionally, HR professionals will educate themselves and management on combating proximity bias, which is an ingrained propensity to prefer local employees over distant workers. Establishing objective performance indicators, promotion standards, and pay raise standards will be their focus.
HR will then reimagine what an office does next. The planning and use of the workplace will be impacted by clear working policies. Better-designed offices, adaptable areas to prevent possible home loneliness and workspace concessions to update home amenities will result from this.
4. The evolving role of the CHRO.
The board turned to the CHRO to lead and respond at times of crisis, such as the COVID-19 outbreak, the early stages of the conflict in Ukraine, and growing prices. As a result, HR has been in the news since the beginning of 2020. In most firms, the CHRO has taken the lead on the board of directors when it comes to discussing policy, business continuity, employee productivity, and safety.
Additionally, the CHRO oversees promoting ESG (environmental, social, and corporate governance) objectives. The CHRO can own this subject because of investors’ hunger for firms with this emphasis and increasingly ambitious ESG targets.
The CEO’s growing role makes this worse. Employees have greater confidence in their CEO than in politicians, the media, or any other CEOs, according to the 2022 Edelman Trust Barometer. Additionally, 60% of workers want their CEO to take a stand on social and political topics that are important to them. Due to the CEO’s evolving position, the CHRO now has the opportunity to comprehend employee sentiment and advise the CEO on when and how to speak up.
Together, these elements suggest that 2023 will be the year when the CHRO truly establishes itself as an indispensable member of the board and a crucial counselor to the CEO.
5. Beyond Compliance, ESG Reporting Will Attract Talent.
ESG (environmental, social, and governance) reporting is becoming more crucial as a result of increased legal requirements, pressure from investors and boards of directors, and input from a variety of stakeholders, including customers and potential and present workers.
According to the Governance & Accountability Institute, 92 percent of S&P 500 firms and 70 percent of Russell 1000 corporations produced sustainability reports in 2020, including the Cisco Purpose Report and the Arrow Electronics ESG Report. In reality, executive-level variable remuneration now takes accountability for ESG targets into consideration. One-third of businesses use ESG measures in executive-level variable remuneration plans, according to Executive Networks’ research, The CHRO of the Future.
The S in ESG will be more significant for HR and business executives as new rules and boards of directors focus on talent concerns such as talent acquisition and retention, diversity of new recruits and current employees, next-generation talent development, pay fairness, and transparency.
But the board is not the only party affected by this. According to a recent Nielsen poll, 83% of millennials and 48% of consumers overall are concerned about ESG. Nine out of ten workers stated they would exchange a percentage of their lifetime earnings for a greater purpose at work, according to a Harvard Business Review survey.
“Business and HR executives need to build a plan to address the transformative impact ESG reporting will have on their companies and be proactive in linking the corporate strategy to ESG-related outcomes,” says Scott Walker, CEO of XpertHR.
6. The Crisis of HR Burnout Must Be Addressed.
Regular communication with your HR team members is more crucial than ever. They have witnessed significant changes in the workplace that go much beyond people management firsthand. They are addressing problems with their mental health and wellbeing, business continuity, strategies for returning to the office, furloughs, and working and studying from a distance. A recent SHRM study of 726 HR practitioners across seven nations found that 42% of HR teams were experiencing burnout.
The HR burnout dilemma is not just one of the pandemic’s casualties. It illustrates how the HR function has developed to become more intricate, strategic, and cross-functional. Since the financial crisis, CFOs have expanded their responsibilities; over the past three years, HR has done the same. Leaders must be aware of the scope of the changes affecting HR and provide them with improved training, access to coaching, and acknowledgment for the increased contribution they make to the success of the company.
7. A New Blended Workforce Is Created by Humans And Robots.
The concept of a mixed workforce has altered as a result of the rising use of automation. Previously, we thought of the term as referring to a combination of full-time, part-time, and freelance employees. An increase in part-time workers and gig workers, as well as a decrease in the use of full-time employees, were noted in Executive Networks’ CHRO of the Future report. A sample of CHROs predicted that by 2025, there will be a significant increase in the use of digital automation help (bots).
HR automation demonstrates value by accelerating the hiring process and improving the employee experience by offering additional self-service options. We must be conscious of the necessity to routinely carry out audits of these AI tools to make sure the data underlying the algorithms is impartial as we consider the future mixed workforce. A new New York City ordinance approved in December 2021 mandates that AI and algorithm-based technologies for recruitment, hiring, or promotion be audited for prejudice before being employed, and this is already required in several states, including New York. This new hybrid workforce has the added benefit of ensuring AI is visible and understandable.
8. Creating groups with a purpose.
Additionally, HR will concentrate on establishing purpose-driven businesses in 2023.
The relevance of purpose in today’s enterprises is one of the basic transformations we’ve witnessed over the last several years. This is the outcome of four motivating factors:
A. COVID
Nearly two-thirds of US employees acknowledge that the epidemic has significantly changed their priorities. 82% of respondents think it’s critical for a business to have a mission.
B. Automation.
As the first activities to be automated are those that are mundane and repetitive, 81% of workers feel that this will result in more meaningful employment.
C. Demographic change.
While Gen Z and Millennials place greater emphasis on values and purpose than their elder counterparts do, retired people may choose to work longer if the employment is meaningful to them.
D. Changing psychological contract.
Changed work expectations are demonstrated by the anti-work movement in the US, silent resigning, and the lying flat movement in China.
9. Bring the vibe from off-site to the office in the future.
The enormous, impressive corporate office is being forced to undergo a facelift as businesses and people become acclimated to hybrid and remote work. While companies maintain that physical presence is still required, employees continue to seek flexible work options. Microsoft recently released data based on 122 billion email exchanges and 2.3 billion meeting engagements that showed contacts with employees’ immediate teams and tight networks are reinforced while secondary networks are becoming smaller as a result of remote work. This results in missed opportunities for innovation and the requirement to provide workers a motivational cause to come to work.
One of the earliest internet companies, Dropbox, has been repurposing some of its premises as Dropbox Studios. These locations are intended to be “magical community spaces,” fusing a coffee shop, a collaboration area, and a venue for group training to create what I refer to as the “off-site, on-site.” Dropbox published a Virtual First Toolkit including these lessons to aid other businesses.
“This is already happening,” claims Kirschner, “as more heads of real estate are reporting to CHROs and novel uses are being discovered for extra space, including turning it into areas for holding community events and staff collaboration spaces.”
For HR, 2023 will be a year of tremendous potential. But there are a lot of obstacles to overcome.
HR must first put their own needs first and keep strengthening their resilience. This will put HR practitioners in a better position to improve employee welfare and assist firms in preparing for new challenges.
Second, firms must embrace a broader viewpoint and recognize that HR trends affect the entire company, not just one department. They need to think about how HR can be a crucial part of managing organizational transformation. To effectively manage the changes in the corporate environment, business executives and HR must work closely and urgently together.
Thirdly, companies must acknowledge that we are on the verge of a new era, one that puts the needs of people first and views enterprises not just as frameworks for optimizing efficiency and profit but also as sources of meaning for their varied, empowered, and engaged workforces.
It’s time for HR to stand up, seize the possibilities that 2023 will offer, and redefine the value proposition of the function as a business leader and creator of competitive people skills. Driving strategic impact via people is HR’s fundamental strength.
