Owners of businesses big and small are constantly tasked with solving HR problems. Those problems only seem to grow as the business landscape faces mass disruption after the economic disturbances and other considerable changes the working world has undergone in the past several years.
Unforeseen circumstances are nothing new to business owners, and adjusting to them in order to keep their business thriving is in the job description. If you want to meet these HR issues head-on, the first step is to know what they are and why they’re occurring. So below, we outline the five HR priorities business leaders are facing in 2023 according to a report by Gartner.
1. Recruiting in the World of Hybrid Work
Many businesses learned during the pandemic that remote and hybrid work was not only possible without a major loss of productivity, but also preferred by many employees. In fact, 52% of employees say flexible work policies will affect their decision to stay at their organizations. While many positives came from this revelation, it has left companies scrambling to adjust to an entirely new recruiting landscape.
One of the biggest issues in recruiting today has been persistently low unemployment combined with the continual challenge of finding quality, skilled personnel – making it more difficult to attract talented candidates. On top of this, the shift to remote and hybrid work has resulted in reduced retention rates.
In response to these issues, HR leaders have been expanding their parameters in seeking qualified candidates and how they’re defining those qualifications. Part of this shift involves expanding and revamping internal hiring and improving the onboarding process, both of which serve to improve retention rates.
2. Maintaining a Strong Employee Experience
The employee experience has been altered just as much as the business owner’s experience in recent years, and in many ways, those alterations have been negative. It’s not just the changes in the day-to-day lives of employees that have negatively affected the employee experience; a transformation in employee perspective has resulted in shifting priorities, changing how the employee experience is perceived.
That shift in priorities has made employee retention far more difficult, and business owners must adjust to keep their best talent on board. Employees are no longer willing to remain loyal to a company that doesn’t provide a clear path forward for their career or that they feel is not fairly compensating them. This is a massive issue for businesses. In fact, 44% of HR leaders believe their organizations do not offer compelling career paths. Thus, career development and fair compensation are two of the biggest keys to improving employee retention today.
3. Outdated Workforce Planning
Planning has essentially been turned on its head in recent years. And with the working world seemingly stabilizing, albeit with a radically altered appearance, it’s time for business owners to plan for the future of work accordingly. Former workforce planning strategies may no longer be effective, as it’s hard to predict the skills and resources that will be needed to support future technologies. This is why the future of work is a top priority for 42% of HR leaders.
4. Change Management
The overarching theme of nearly every HR issue today is adjusting to big change.
These changes involve more than the switch to remote and hybrid work and its various implications; they are also due to the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic, the widespread social and political tensions it has caused or exacerbated, and a number of other changes that began well before early 2020.
If you feel worn out from all this upheaval, just know that your employees feel the same way. According to Gartner, 45% say their employees are fatigued from change. HR leaders need to address change exhaustion in employees if they want to combat the inflated retention rates that businesses all over have been seeing.
5. The Need for a New Kind of Leadership
24% of HR leaders say their leadership development approach doesn’t prepare leaders for the future of work. In many ways, the tried-and-true tenets of good leadership in the workplace no longer apply in the modern business landscape. While the degradation of these concepts may have been fast-tracked by the switch to remote and hybrid work, the makings of this shift have roots that extend well before it.
The modern worker values different things and holds different priorities than workers of the past. They want a better work-life balance, a more personal approach to leadership, and a more egalitarian approach to workplace dynamics. These preferences were quieter before the COVID-19 pandemic, but now they have become undeniable priorities.
Tackle Your HR Issues with the Help of Focus HR
You do not need to adjust to the various changes in today’s business landscape alone. Partnering with Focus HR can relieve some of that burden by providing you with the tools and resources you need to adapt and thrive.
If you’re looking for better solutions to your company’s HR challenges, we can help. Contact Focus HR today to request a consultation.
