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Workforce data is attracting more attention than ever. Why? Leaders are realizing the value of seeing data insights from their workforce to make better, data-driven decisions. Let’s look at some of the workforce data trends over the last few years.
Workforce Trends from 2020 to 2022
In all honesty, it’s been quite a rollercoaster ride, hasn’t it? And although executives have known for quite some time that certain characteristics of a healthy workforce were important, the COVID-19 pandemic brought to light how critical they really were. If your organization was like most, it found itself needing to prioritize your workforce’s physical, mental, and emotional health. Those trends over the last three years included, but weren’t limited to:
- Job losses in numbers never seen before – over 25 million
- The Great Resignation that was driven by changing attitudes toward work
- Well-being integrated into the design of work, corporate benefits, and resources
- Data-driven HR to make processes better, understand the workforce better, and support the organization’s strategic goals
- Fully flexible work models to keep talent employed and maintain a healthy work-life balance
Now that we’re at the end of another year, let’s look toward next year’s big workplace trends and what that means for workforce data. It looks like we may continue on this rollercoaster ride in another uncertain year ahead.
Workplace Predictions For 2023
More than half of U.S. CEOs are considering layoffs due to an anticipated 2023 recession, according to KPMG. But, don’t let that get you down too much. Other research indicates that the labor market will be resilient in 2023. When you’re talking about predictions it’s hard to know which side to be on. So, we’ll focus on five of those anticipated trends and after that, we’ll talk about how workforce data will help you navigate through them.
#1. Workers will still have the upper hand.
Yes, we’re hearing about tens of thousands of layoffs primarily in the tech industry. It’s devastating. But when you put it in perspective, it is a small percentage of the 160 million jobs across the U.S. And there is a limited supply of workers because the working age population continues to fall. So, employers will continue to seek out the best talent for their organizations. According to Indeed and Glassdoor economists, hiring will continue to be challenging for HR recruitment teams. Workers will continue to have the upper hand when it comes to pay, benefits, flexibility with schedules, among other demands. Learn how to know if you’re hiring the best person.
#2. Remote and hybrid work aren’t going anywhere.
Today’s employees are now used to – and have built schedules around – the ability to work anywhere at any time. And with the adoption of communication software such as Slack, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams teams can remain connected even when not in-person. In fact, according to HubSpot’s State of Consumer Trends survey, 54% of remote and hybrid workers expect to continue to be able to work their preferred model. And more than half of them would consider leaving the organization if they were required to return to the office full time.
#3. Centralized communication brings transparency.
Think about just a couple of decades ago when email and phones were adequate for communicating with your workforce. Today we have instant messaging, chat apps, video conferences, and social media, to name a few, that help our workforce stay connected. On the other hand, so many options and places to check for information and updates have also brought communication overload. That’s why it’s important to prioritize and select business communication tools that let your workforce work effectively and allow leadership to communicate across the organization in a centralized location. Communication transparency is key with a remote, highly distributed workforce across multiple time zones.
#4. Upskilling and power skills take center stage in training.
Let’s face it. The workforce is more mobile than ever. But you need to retain your best talent. This is where upskilling and power skills training come into play. But we get too far into the why, let’s define both so we’re on the same page. Upskilling in simple terms is training your employees to expand their skills and abilities, and minimize skill gaps in your organization’s workforce. And power skills used to be called soft skills, but really are the key skills – such as analytics, written and verbal communication, collaboration, and teamwork – needed in today’s remote and hybrid workforce environment. There is a desire to learn from the workforce. They understand that jobs are changing. And your training focus can help you recruit and retain the best hires.
#5. Emphasis on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) continues.
Businesses have a responsibility to invest in DEI initiatives. Your leadership, employees, and external stakeholders are counting on real results from your efforts. DEI frameworks are here to stay. The best way to determine what DEI initiatives you need, implement them, and then measure their performance is through workforce data. If your company doesn’t have a good DEI program in place, check out our blog How To Use Data To Create The Ideal DEI Framework to get started. Once you’ve got your DEI framework in place, check out our podcast episode How To Take DEI From Education To Action where we interview Abbie Cown, Global Chief Diversity Office at Atos. You’ll learn how to take small actions across the workforce to make big changes.
Wrapping Up
As an HR leader, you know these trends for 2023. But do you know what data to look at to determine if you have gaps in these areas? Do you have data that tells you what initiatives to put in place? What do you measure to ensure you have successful initiatives?
Employee Cycle is changing the way HR leaders use workforce data, beginning with transforming their disconnected employee data into a user-friendly, centralized, and real-time HR analytics dashboard. This helps companies view, track, and analyze their workforce data from disparate HR systems in one place with HR metrics and KPIs that matter. This can help you avoid risks, save costs, and ultimately increase your employees’ lifetime value.
Want to learn more? Schedule a demo today!