In most industries the focus has always been on the customers – how to acquire them, how to keep them and how to maximize their lifetime value. In forthcoming years, the focus will be on employees-how to acquire them, how to keep them, and how to maximize their value they contribute to the business.
Human Resource leaders need to understand three new variables as they formulate their HR strategies for 2023: rising inflation, limited expensive talent, and global supply constraints. 90% of CEO’s expect inflation to rise significantly in the next 12 months, 50% of HR Leaders expect increased talent competition over the next months and 48% of CFO’s believe supply chain shortages will last beyond 2022. These disruptions have a mutual impact on the business and its employees.
Gartner conducted an annual survey of 860 HR leaders in July 2022 and identified the top 5 priorities or challenges for HR Leaders in 2023: leader and manager effectiveness a top priority for 60% of HR leaders, organizational and change management (53%), employee experience (47%), recruiting (46%) and the future of work (42%).
- Leader and Manager Effectiveness
60% of HR leaders say this is a top priority, and 24% say their leadership development approach does not prepare leaders for the future of work.
In today’s workplace, leaders need to be more authentic (enable true self-expression for themselves and their teams), empathetic (show genuine care, respect, and concern for employee well-being), and adaptive (enable flexibility and support that fits the unique needs of team members). HR must help leaders address their emotional barriers and prepare them for the future of work through human leadership and recognition.
As a result of these shifts, leaders have to find new ways to accomplish their core responsibilities, rather than merely a leader-to-employee relationship, the new dynamic is one of human-to-human interaction the new imperative is a “Human-Centric Leader”.
- Organizational and Change Management
Organizational and Change Management is a priority for 53% of HR leaders and 45% of them say their employees are fatigued from the continuous disruption of the last several years.
High employee change fatigue and increased work friction are correlated with a lower intent to stay with the organization. HR leaders can decrease change fatigue and support employees through periods of uncertainty with an “Open-Source Change Strategy”. This tactic is a top-down approach, being more collaborative and involving employees throughout the decision-making process, instead of simply telling them what will happen. Employees should be empowered to create their own change implementation plans and encouraged to talk openly about change, this will improve employee engagement, intent to stay and productivity. The new imperative is adopting an “Open-Source Change Strategy”.
- Employee Experience
Employee Experience is a priority for 47% of HR leaders and 44% of them believe their organizations do not have compelling career paths which is critical for retention.
Employees leave their employers for better development opportunities, for higher compensation and better career trajectories. Progressive HR functions are redefining how careers paths are developed, employees are provided with career options, and diverse colleague examples are shared to show many routes to career progression thus helping employees to create a best-fit career. HR leaders must support managers to identify internal roles or opportunities relevant to potential roles, build hybrid workplacesthat support women’s progression to leadership and eliminate the barriers that women face in progressing to leadership roles and ensure that the organization’s leadership is diverse. The new imperative is “Changing the Traditional HR Approach to Career Growth Opportunities”.
- Recruiting
Recruiting is a priority for 46% of HR leaders and 36% of them believe their sourcing strategies are insufficient for finding the skills they need. Recruiting high quality talent in today’s labour market is a challenge, as talent supply is low in talent pools, retaining talent in a hybrid environment is difficult and even more demanding to attract and convert candidates.
The three most effective strategies for recruiting are:
- Build an intelligence-based sourcing capability and leverage hiring managers earlier in the process as they are the most trusted source by candidates.
- Build an equitable internal labour market.
- Develop onboarding programs that promote new hire engagement
The new imperative is “Leading in a Volatile Labour Market”.
- Future of Work
Future of work is a priority for 42% of HR leaders and 51% of them believe their Workforce Planning (WFP) is limited to headcount planning. WFP is disconnected from today’s reality.
Employers are finding it increasingly difficult to predict future skills, access enough talent, fill future talent gaps and dictate when where and how employees work.
HR needs a new approach to solve and make WFP congruent to today’s evolving workplace. It is important for HR to evaluate tasks and workflows in order to anticipate changing skill needs in the near future, with talent scarcity HR should collaborate with leaders to redeploy tasks flexibly across the organisation and increase resilience. The new imperative is “Match your Planning to today’s Reality”.
Today’s business environments are so complex that companies often spend the bulk of their time managing compliance and keeping pace with accounting, tax, legal, HR, payroll and talent acquisition.
