HR Trends: What's Next for 2023

Shannon
Dec 14, 2022
5 min read

Updated: Dec 19, 2022

When it comes to HR and People Operations, 2022 was an absolute whirlwind, to say the least. We saw an explosion of "Great" trends relating to the employee/employer relationship. We lived through several new phenomenons including:

The Great Resignation
The Great Reflection
The Great Sabbatical
The Great Re-entry

So what's next?

We believe that the 2023 challenges will shape up to surround a focus on the employee experience. HR has played an integral role in successfully guiding organizations through the turbulent storms of the last few years. It's now time to rebuild with purpose and focus on building people-focused and purpose-driven company cultures.

We've identified several common themes and broken down the latest research into 4 areas of focus. With several trends already on the radar for many, the urgency has been accelerated by recent changes to the economic environment.

1. Security & Reassurance

As 2023 fast approaches, we continue to see the cost of living rise at an alarming rate with organizational security and financial stability skyrocketing to the top of the employee priority list. With so much uncertainty at the forefront, employees will be seeking assurance that:

Their jobs are safe
Their organization will continue to demonstrate success
They will continue to be compensated fairly for the work provided

As we continue to see big names like Netflix, Meta, and Shopify, making drastic cuts to their workforce, Pay & Benefits is quickly shaping up to be one of the top drivers of employee's intent to stay. Although talking about compensation is nothing new, the motivations behind it are shifting from seeking 'greater' to 'secure'.

According to a recent Qualtrics survey report, it was noted that employees who are satisfied with their pay and benefits are 26% more likely to have their expectations exceeded at work and 13% more likely to stay with their current employer for 3+ years.

A big area of focus for the upcoming year will surround making improvements to:

Ensuring compensation plans do not fall behind market values
Employee perks that align with organizational and personal values
Remuneration and rewards for individual contributions

As we re-evaluate our pay and benefit structures, it will be increasingly important to design plans that consider the needs of a multigenerational workforce. Communication and transparency are key to generating meaningful dialogue about how to meet your employees' expectations.

2. Well-Being

Through the height of the pandemic, many employees began working from home, giving their all when it came to their individual and organizational contributions. Gone were the strict days of 9-5 clock-ins and outs. The lines between work and personal time have become increasingly blurred. Although these efforts certainly served a purpose and came with great intent, they are not sustainable over time.

Many organizations have been slow to react when it comes to accommodating flexibility and prioritizing work-life balance for their employees. In light of this, staggering amounts of employees took charge of this themselves in 2022 and began to look for roles elsewhere that accommodated this growing need. According to a recent survey conducted by FlexJobs, up to 30% of US employees are considering leaving their current organization and up to 25% of employees have already left. An even scarier figure to note is that 68% of these individuals left their current roles without another opportunity lined up. Simply put, they were tired and burnt out.

With much of the workforce tired and overworked due to increases in demand and poor efficiencies, "quiet-quitting" is also on the rise. A newly coined term for low productivity, employees are becoming more apt to remain in their roles due to economic uncertainty but contributing at levels comparable with the bare minimum.

Individuals that rated their organization to have a positive work-life balance were 63% more likely to go above and beyond in the workplace.

Here's where we can improve:

Supporting and offering more ways for employees to balance work and personal life
Provide greater flexibility and choice when it comes to working hours
Consistently checking in on workloads, process efficiencies, and ensuring people are not overwhelmed
Identifying the pain points and roadblocks when it comes to enabling greater work-life balance practices

Check in with HOW your employees are doing when it comes to their mental, physical, and emotional needs in the workplace.

3. Processes & Operations

With the pandemic drastically speeding up the need for digital transformation, many organizations are stuck in old ways and merely fighting to keep up with demand. As demand increases and processes remain stagnant, employees are often left to pull the extra weight of inefficient practices, resulting in heightened rates of employee burnout.

According to a recent Gallup study, employees who have an increased workload due to poor workplace efficiencies are 2.2 times more likely to experience burnout.

As a result of increased burnout rates, overall productivity has begun to decline, while demand has continued to steadily increase. Burnout is no longer affecting just the employees but the C-suite executives as well. It is because of burnout that leaders have not been able to move away from reactive behaviors toward more proactive efforts to enhance processes.

A clear gap in the present employee experience is leadership has not been able to ACT on feedback vs just listening.

Here's where we can improve:

Operating to overcome poor working conditions as systems fail or demand increases
Focus on employee well-being, morale, and resource availability to relieve excessive efforts and increased hours
Actively listing to employees who say they are burnt out and prioritizing strategies to support improvements

Focus on working smarter, not harder. Show your people that you hear them and you are taking action to remove obstacles. Support empowering your team to make their jobs easier as a collaborative effort.

4. Development & Personal Values

One of the most notable "Greats" of 2022 aside from the "Great Resignation" is the "Great Reflection". The past few years have given employees the opportunity re-think what matters most. People are now placing greater priorities on things outside of just work. Employees are now seeking greater connections and more meaningful opportunities that align with their personal values and goals outside of just a paycheck.

Value alignment has been identified as another key driver of intent to stay within an organization.

Employees are now seeking opportunities that provide broader connections to individual accomplishments as well as financial gain. Organizations play a critical role in supporting individual needs through the growth and development opportunities provided. Organizations must act with intention when it comes to providing access to training and development programs as each and every employee hones different values and needs.

The flip side of this coin is knowing how one's contributions matter. Employees are also seeking purpose as to why they do what they do every day. How do their efforts contribute to their personal and organizational success? Employees that show a misalignment and uncertainty around these areas are more likely to become disengaged in the workplace. Employees who understand how and why their work matters help to strongly support the development of a purpose-driven company culture.

Here's where we can improve:

Invest in your people and develop clear paths for progression into future roles required
Provide employees with opportunities to do things differently, showcasing their talent and investment into impactful organizational changes
Develop promotional policies based on performance vs tenure
Openly communicate organizational purpose and goals to unite and inspire your team