“HR leaders have faced an increasingly unpredictable environment amid many organisations mandating a return to office, permanently higher turnover and burnt-out employees,” warns Emily Rose McRae, senior director in the Gartner HR practice. “This year’s predictions highlight the aspects of work that HR leaders must prioritise over the next 12 months.”
The top nine predictions for HR leaders are:
“Quiet hiring” will create new avenues to snag in-demand talent
Despite worries about a forthcoming recession and some layoff announcements, Gartner benchmarking data shows that a majority of HR leaders still expect the labour market to get more competitive.
Progressive HR leaders will turn to “quiet hiring” to acquire new skills and capabilities without acquiring new full-time employees. For example, they will deploy current employees to the highest priorities, which may necessitate reskilling and stretch assignments. Leaders will also emphasise upskilling to fulfil employees’ career aspirations while meeting organisational needs.
Hybrid flexibility will reach frontline workers
Many organisations have sought to make the workforce-wide experience fair by simply making it equal: mandating on-site work for those who could work elsewhere. More than six in 10 organisations have some sort of on-site requirement for employees whose work can be done remotely.
In 2023, smart organisations will stop limiting flexibility in the name of fairness and will pursue formal strategies for more flexibility for the frontline workforce. To do this, organisations will provide frontline workers more control over their schedules, more paid leave, and more stability in their work schedules.
Sandwiched between leader and employee expectations
“Many managers are struggling with how to balance the need to implement the corporate strategy on behalf of senior leaders and providing the sense of purpose, flexibility, and career opportunities that their employees expect,” said Peter Aykens, chief of research in the Gartner HR practice.
In 2023, leading organisations will recognise the increasing pressure on managers, and they will provide support and training to mitigate the widening managerial skills gap while clarifying manager priorities and redesigning their roles where necessary.
Option to expand talent pipelines
Organisations are being forced to expand and diversify their talent pipelines due to employees increasingly charting non-linear career paths. These organisations are also faced with an inability to meet talent needs through traditional sourcing methods and candidate pools.
To fill critical roles in 2023, organisations will need to become more comfortable assessing candidates solely on their ability to perform in the role, rather than their credentials and prior experience. Organisations will take several approaches to do this, such as relaxing formal education and experience requirements in job postings and reaching out directly to internal or external candidates from non-traditional backgrounds.
Path to more sustainable performance
The challenges of a global pandemic, including unemployment, supply chain shortages, isolation from family and friends and divisive political fractures created intense stress. In fact, in 2022, employees’ stress and worry grew above even 2020 peaks — nearly 60% of employees are stressed at their jobs every day.
This year, leading organisations will shift from offering rest as a recovery solution and instead will support proactive rest for employees to help them maintain their emotional resilience and performance. A July 2022 Gartner survey of nearly 3,500 employees found that when organisations offer proactive rest, they see a 26% increase in employee performance.
Push forward DEI despite resistance
Although organisations still prioritise diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts, many employees say their organisation’s DEI efforts are divisive. This pushback to DEI efforts can decrease workforce engagement, inclusion and trust.
To address this fraught moment for DEI, in 2023, HR must equip managers with tools and strategies to engage resistant employees and address pushback early before it evolves into more disruptive forms of DEI resistance. This is crucial for maintaining the momentum of DEI efforts and achieving greater maturity and strategic impact.
Personalisation creates new data risks
Organisations are increasingly using emerging technologies – artificial intelligence (AI) assistants, wearables, etc. – to collect more data on employees’ health, family situations, living conditions and mental health in order to respond more effectively to their needs. However, using these technologies can potentially create a looming privacy crisis.
Progressive organisations will use 2023 to create an employee data bill of rights that prioritises transparency around how they collect, use and store employee data, and which allows employees to opt-out of practices they find objectionable.
The downside of using AI-recruiting tech
With more organisations leveraging AI in recruiting, the ethical implications of these practices have become more urgent. For example, a new New York City law was enacted on January 1 that limits employers’ use of AI recruiting tools and requires organisations to undergo annual bias audits and publicly disclose their hiring metrics.
Organisations that use AI and machine learning in their hiring processes, as well as the vendors they rely on for these services, will face pressure to get ahead of new regulations and be more transparent about how they are using AI – and give employees and candidates the choice to opt-out from AI-led processes.
The repercussion of Gen Z skills gaps
The rise in remote and hybrid work has meant that many new-to-the-workforce employees have had few in-person opportunities to observe norms and determine what is appropriate or effective within their organisations.
Rather than forcing employees back to in-person work to establish connections, leaders need to build intentional connections among employees across geographic – and generational – boundaries.
Gartner's research shows that there are three key elements to creating intentional interactions among employees: employee choice and autonomy, a clear structure and purpose, and a sense of levity and fun.
