By Tim Vaughan
— August 29th, 2022
Over the past two years, HR leaders have seen their priorities shift with the Covid-19 pandemic forcing them to focus on new trends.
There have been many significant changes in the working world, from an increase in remote and flexible working arrangements to a greater focus on employee well-being.
HR leaders must stay on top of these changes to attract and retain top talent.
By setting goals and objectives that reflect 2023 workplace trends, HR professionals can also help ensure high levels of employee engagement and gain a competitive edge.
We've compiled a list of the top 10 goals for HR leaders to set and prioritize for the coming year.
Offer opportunities for employee development
In today's workplace, career development is changing, and static career paths are less appealing to employees than ever before.
In fact, employees who have access to professional development opportunities are 15% more engaged with their work.
With the Great Resignation underway, many employees are actively shopping around for new roles with better growth opportunities.
Offering opportunities for employee growth and development in 2023 is an excellent way for HR professionals to attract top talent and retain current employees.
2. Perfect flexible working
HR professionals have been working hard to navigate the challenges associated with the rise of remote and hybrid working.
Having adjusted to a new way of working over the past couple of years, many employees are unwilling to give up the flexibility, work-life balance, and reduced costs of working from home.
In fact, companies that don't offer flexible work models have more difficulty recruiting and retaining employees.
After an uncertain period, 2023 should be the year organizations find a way to perfect their flexible working models.
How HR can make flexible working a success:
- Make employee well-being a top priority
- Find new ways to sustain company culture
- Treat remote and in-person employees equally
- Set clear expectations for employees
3. Enhance the employee experience
The employee experience refers to every aspect of an employee's experience with their organization from beginning to end.
This means from the time an employee stumbles across a job opening to the moment they leave an organization, everything that occurs shapes their experience.
Every company wants their employees' experience to be positive, and this is something HR professionals can help to achieve.
The HR team can help enhance the employee experience in many ways, including:
- Implementing a simple job application process
- Perfecting the onboarding experience
- Making employee wellness a priority
- Acting on employee feedback
- Offering training and development opportunities
- Encouraging open communication
- Carrying out exit interviews
- Conducting employee experience reports
4. Prioritize employee well-being
It's increasingly important for HR leaders to focus on employee well-being. Amongst other things, employee well-being can prevent work-induced stress and create a positive work environment where employees and the company can thrive.
Ways HR can prioritize employee well-being in 2023 include:
- Focusing on the mental health of employees
- Featuring a positive company culture
- Ensuring employees are aware of the well-being benefits available to them
- Developing strong communication channels
5. Provide more support for remote hiring processes
The modern workspace is no longer limited by geographical location and borders. Organizations can tap into a more extensive global talent pool - a win-win for employers and employees.
However, with its continued popularity, HR leaders must improve and refine their approach to remote working. This includes using the right recruitment technology and tools to make the process run as smoothly as possible.
By doing so, HR managers can overcome any hiring challenges and expect the following benefits:
- Manage job postings and schedules of interviews on one platform
- Seek out qualified candidates both far and near
- Ensure fair and accurate applicant screening
- Create a solid talent pipeline of potential candidates for future hiring
6. Increase staff retention
Employee retention refers to an organization's strategies to keep its top talent and mitigate turnover risks.
The HR department can save the company time and money by having practical employee retention goals.
In 2023, HR managers can increase staff retention and eliminate the risk of losing top talent if they make it a goal to:
- Hire the right people from the get-go
- Optimize the onboarding experience
- Create a culture of recognition and feedback
- Offer development opportunities
- Act on insights from exit surveys
- Promote from within
- Offer flexible work arrangements
- Implement recognition and rewards
7. Support remote employees
According to a Buffer study, 99% of people would like to work at least some of the time remotely.
Businesses with remote employees must accept these workers are just as valuable and as the in-office members of their team.
In 2023, human resources leaders should make it a goal to ensure a positive remote working culture by:
- Making sure remote employees stay connected through technology
- Keeping remote employees in the know
- Giving remote employees the tools they need to succeed
- Recognizing good work, whether that’s created by remote or in-house employees
- Helping employees keep track of time management performance
- Encouraging a healthy work-life balance
8. Enter the metaverse
The metaverse is a relatively new phenomenon where individuals enter a virtual world and are replaced by digital avatars. In the metaverse, users can easily communicate with others from all over the world.
According to Gartner, by 2026 25% of people will spend at least one hour per day in the metaverse.
Already many leading organizations are using 2023 as the starting point for implementing the metaverse into their organization. These companies plan to use the space for virtual events, onboarding, career fairs, and meetings.
There is also potential for businesses to use the metaverse for workplace learning and training. In fact, Meta is investing $150 million in creating an immersive learning ecosystem that will make learning more accessible through the metaverse.
9. Organizational change management
Change management is how a company implements change within its internal and external processes.
Human resources departments are responsible for many aspects of the organizational change management process.
One of the most important roles of HR in change management is to ensure that employees are dealing well with changes. To help employees navigate change in 2023, HR leaders can:
- Track staffing levels, employee engagement, and key performance indicators (KPIs) that affect the return on investment (ROI)
- Help analyze the potential impact of the change on the whole business
10. Increase employee engagement
According to a study by Gallup, only 36% of employees are engaged at work. A lack of employee engagement can lead to many problems for businesses, such as low productivity, high turnover, and lost customers.
Some ways that HR can increase employee engagement include:
- Offer training and development opportunities
- Encourage creativity and innovation
- Provide a positive work environment
- Focus on team goals over individual goals
- Reward employees for their accomplishments
Key Takeaway
HR trends are constantly changing as society progresses and technology improves. However, over the past couple of years the global pandemic has accelerated the rate of HR’s shifting strategy.
Moving into 2023, it's important that HR leaders set goals that reflect these changes. This means placing focus on current trends including employee well-being, flexible working, new technologies, and much more.