Changing Work Trends That Took Place in 2023
Business leaders had to deal with an environment that was more uncertain in 2022 due to changing return-to-office regulations, increased employee turnover, and more burned-out employees than ever before.
Organisations have been confronting tough issues in 2023, including the need to contain expenses amidst an impending economic downturn, a competitive recruitment market, and an overworked staff. Employers’ responses to these changing scenarios may indicate whether or not they are a preferred employer in today’s economy.
Work Life Trends Shaping 2023
Employers will “quietly hire” talented individuals
In the second half of 2022, the theme of “quiet quitting”—the notion that workers refuse to go “above and beyond” and do the bare minimum required in their jobs—dominated news stories about the workplace. Organisations retain people when employees “quiet quit,” but they lose their skills and talents.
Smart businesses will adopt “quiet hiring” in 2023 as a method of acquiring new skills and capabilities without adding more full-time staff, turning current practise on its head. This will manifest as:
Promoting internal talent mobility by assigning workers to the departments that require them the most. Organisations can give employees a one-time bonus, a rise, extra paid time off, a promotion, more flexibility, and other benefits as compensation for their changing positions.
Offering staff specialised upskilling opportunities to assist them in meeting changing organisational needs.
Flexibility in hybrid systems will become prevalent
It’s important to establish appropriate flexibility for frontline workers, such as those in manufacturing and healthcare, while we move towards a more permanent period of hybrid work for desk-based professionals.
Frontline workers want flexibility in terms of the tasks they take on, the people they collaborate with, and the amount of time they put in. They especially want paid time off and control over their work schedule.
The recruitment of unconventional applicants will widen talent pools
Organisations have long discussed the strategic benefits of broadening and growing their talent pools. The time to act is now, as more workers choose nonlinear career pathways and businesses struggle to get the talent they need using conventional sourcing techniques.
Organisations will need to feel more at ease evaluating candidates only on the abilities required to succeed in the post, rather than their credentials and prior experience, to fill essential roles in 2023. This will be accomplished by businesses directly contacting internal or external candidates from atypical backgrounds who might not have access to or even be aware of certain professional opportunities by removing formal education and experience criteria from job ads.
Personalising employee support will increase the risks associated with data
Being a human organisation requires learning more about the individuals that make up its workforce. This change has the potential to trample on very personal and private information boundaries. Emerging technologies like wearables, artificial intelligence (AI) assistants, and others are increasingly being used by businesses to gather information about their workers’ physical and mental health as well as their living arrangements and family situations.
These technologies have the potential to lead to a growing privacy dilemma, even while they can help businesses respond to employees’ needs more quickly. Leading companies will create an employee data bill of rights in 2023 to support workers’ desire for healthy limits as well as their general wellbeing.
More transparency in hiring tech will result from concerns about AI bias
The urgency of addressing these issues has increased as more businesses use AI for recruiting. It is anticipate that this issue will reach a boiling point in 2023, especially when governments start to examine the use of AI in employment.
For instance, a new rule in New York City went into effect on January 1 and places restrictions on companies’ use of AI recruiting tools and mandates that businesses conduct annual audits of their hiring practises for prejudice.
In order to stay ahead of new rules, businesses that employ AI and machine learning in their employment procedures will face pressure. This entails making their use of AI more transparent, making their audit data available, etc.
Conclusion
In the current work environment, companies that are successful in addressing the most important aspects of work — finding and keeping key talent, providing all employees with holistic support, and addressing how they ethically collect and use employee data — will stand out as employers of choice. Companies may set themselves up for success in the future by developing solid future-of-work strategies that anticipate these trends and proactively address new difficulties.
