The new year is on the horizon, and everyone is predicting what 2023 HR trends to anticipate. Recently, HR Exchange Network posted a question on Terkel.io to discover what Human Resources and business leaders will be navigating, challenging, and experiencing in the year ahead. Here are the answers:
Bring It with Gamification
“Gamification is one of the biggest HR trends of 2023. It’s the use of game-like elements in non-game contexts, such as using points, badges, and leaderboards to encourage employees to achieve their goals. Gamification can also be used to engage employees in learning new skills or knowledge. There are many ways to gamify your HR program, but one of the most important things to keep in mind is that you need to make sure the games you create are fun and challenging.” -Antreas Koutis, Administrative Manager, Financer
Become the Great Communicator
“Many employers face an uncertain future in 2023. Rising inflation, utilities prices, and the possibility of economic recessions are all combining to introduce doubt about the next 12 months. One of the biggest questions for HR and senior leaders is going to be what they do on staff pay in response. Raise salaries to keep people afloat or hold back because the possibility of a recession may erode profitability? For those companies who can’t raise salaries to match inflation, benefits are going to become even more important.
Crucially though, employers may not need to introduce new benefits, just to communicate better about existing ones…2023 may be the year that HR seeks to make benefits communications louder through a multichannel communications strategy that reaches every worker, no matter where they are.” -Scott Hitchins, CMO, Interact Software
Meet in the Metaverse
“The biggest HR trend is Metaverse. According to Gartner, 25% of people will spend at least one hour daily in the metaverse by 2026. This suggests that some of these initiatives, such as virtual events, employee onboarding, career fairs, and meetings, will be launched by the biggest companies in this field in 2023. The metaverse makes it possible to reimagine a creative, collaborative, and productive world without being restricted by physical conventions.
The small number of companies that have begun to take advantage of the metaverse’s possibilities will have more modern employer brands, more exciting interactions with remote applicants, and even be able to increase productivity. To employ technology effectively, our HR ensures healthy metaverse working procedures by creating new hybrid working policies and training leaders through sessions on how to lead in this unique, upcoming setting.” -Shaun Connell, Founder, Writing Tips Institute
Put Out the Fire to End Burnout
“One of the biggest HR trends of 2023 will be the initiatives to counter or avoid employee burnout. Employee wellness will be emphasized more because it’s one of the factors that applicants prioritize when looking for a job. If you want to hire quality talent, you must attract them with quality compensation, which is why wellness programs that prioritize employee health, happiness, and contentment will be a big deal in the future.
To prepare for this, we have already slowly implemented a few programs. A part of our employee benefits includes a health care plan that encompasses mental health services. They may not be open to seeking help from peers and their manager, but at least you made it known that you have provided it for their use at any time in case they need counseling and therapy.” -Debbie Meeuws, Owner and CEO, Nature’s Arc Organic
Get Your People to Stay
“I think one of the biggest HR trends of 2023 will be a focus on employee retention. With the economy slowly recovering from the pandemic, companies will be more worried about losing their top talent to competitors. Companies will increasingly recognize that it is more cost-effective to invest in retaining existing employees than to constantly recruit and train new ones.
They’ll therefore invest more in employee development and engagement programs. I’m preparing for this trend by ensuring that our HR policies and practices are aligned with our company’s strategy and goals. We’ll also need to focus on creating a positive work environment and offering competitive benefits packages.” -Johannes Larsson, Founder and CEO, JohannesLarsson.com
Make It the Year of Flexibility
“One of the biggest HR trends of 2023 will be the continued rise of remote work. With more and more companies embracing flexible work arrangements, it’s likely that even more employees will be working from home in the next few years. To prepare for this trend, my HR team and I are focusing on creating policies and procedures that will make it easy for employees to work remotely. We’re also working on ensuring that our communication and collaboration tools are up to date so that everyone can stay connected no matter where they are.” -Erik Pham, CEO, Health Canal
Invest in Self-Care
“A subtle problem is affecting organizations. According to the American Psychological Association (APA), the pandemic’s effects on workplace stress were felt by more than three out of five employees. Eighty-seven percent of Americans are concerned about inflation, and seven in 10 workers are worried that their income hasn’t grown to reflect increases in purchasing power. In order to address the burnout dilemma, HR must first address its own.
Even though it may go against the basic requirement of their profession to prioritize helping others, human resources specialists should put on their own oxygen masks first. If not, the department won’t have the resources to help the rest of the business. The next thing we expect HR to do is to take a more proactive approach to resilience and well-being. This requires developing a more comprehensive employee welfare strategy that gives priority to their financial, physical, and mental well-being.” -Brad Burnie, Founder, Starships
Promote from Within
“One potential HR trend in 2023 is the prioritization of internal mobility to boost employee morale and foster career development. Companies will invest in reskilling and upskilling their existing employees to prepare them for more extensive and technical roles. Doing so will allow these employees to progress in their chosen fields, which equates to team growth and professional satisfaction.
As early as now, we’re slowly diverting our efforts to internal mobility, which financially benefits our company and accelerates our recruitment process. Since we no longer need to outsource talents, we can focus more on our current employees, allowing us to assess better who deserves to get promoted based on their running performances. It also lets us save on future financial expenses, as spending to retain existing talents is more budget-friendly than acquiring new ones.” -Sam Tabak, Board Member, RMBH Charities
Be More Transparent about Pay
“Given the new laws that have gone into effect recently (New York’s Pay Transparency and Colorado’s Equal Pay) along with the new laws going into effect in Washington and California, keeping pay behind closed doors is going to become increasingly difficult. There are many different approaches to this, but I am in favor of first making sure all employees within the company are within the band and then making all bands public. While it may be a bit radical, I’ll tell you why.
First, it increases transparency and equitability for your employee population, which I’ve seen often results in more buy-in than less. Second, it wastes less time for the company and candidates during the recruiting process. Lastly, attracting more talent within range, which long-term is better ROI. While this sort of transparency can be very hard for companies, in my experience it’s a ton harder to deal with the potential ramifications of not posting them, both from a compliance perspective and as a talent retention tool.” -Cheyenne Horvat, Manager, People Ops, Carta
Rely More on Advanced HR Tech
“Algorithmic HR is already gaining ground in the gig economy. Experts are anticipating that by 2023, the majority of HR departments across the industry will start relying on it as well for HR management. The prediction is there will be vast incorporation of AI for HR functions such as hiring and firing candidates, growing the candidate pool, and facilitating employee engagement in the workplace.
In our company, we’re preparing to incorporate algorithmic HR in our operations by slowly integrating AI and machine learning into our recruitment process. We’re conducting A/B testing to find the best AI tools that work best for us. We want to take ownership of this new system so that we can ensure that there is fairness and inclusion in this process.” -Stacie Tyler, CFO, Walk Big Media
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