When it comes to future trends in 2024, there are two letters that will be on the HR radar more than any other: AI. But, while this is a huge trend across a large part of human resources, there are plenty of other trends for you to be considering as the new year approaches. The advent of artificial intelligence has cast its formidable shadow across the landscape of Human Resources, signalling a new era in how we manage talent and cultivate workplace environments, but there are also big shifts happening in wellbeing, benefits and the continued remote work debate.
The Trend: AI (especially in recruitment)
From policy to application letters, all the way through to your software, AI isn’t going anywhere. Expect to see it across your company and within HR. You need to get on board with it now before 2024 arrives. The main thing to know as an HR professional is how it will affect your role, responsibilities and wider teams.
Katie Winstanley, HR Group Director at Morson Group explains: “AI and machine learning will be on the rise and used for various HR functions, including candidate screening, employee engagement analysis, and data-driven decision-making. HR professionals will need to adapt to these technological advancements.”
Jeanne Cordisco, Chief People Officer at O’Reilly adds that AI will play a particular role in the hiring and recruiting process. “Generative AI has the potential to revolutionise hiring and recruiting practices as it can be used to automate repetitive and time-consuming tasks such as screening resumes and scheduling interviews which can save HR professionals valuable time and allow them to focus on more strategic work. The important emphasis on diversity, inclusion and belonging continues to grow and AI will be a major contributor in helping to reduce bias in the hiring process. When programmed to ignore information such as a candidate’s name, age or gender on resumes, candidates will be better evaluated based on their skills and qualifications alone without any implicit bias playing a role in their assessment."
From policy to application letters, all the way through to your software, AI isn’t going anywhere
The Trend: HR is about people (more than ever before)
“Employee engagement will be a top focus for the year ahead. Between the persistent macro-economic conditions, escalating world tensions, and challenges in the tech sector, it’s a perfect storm that is leaving many employees feeling unmotivated. Figuring out how to inject energy and passion back into the workplace and work will be key,” says Kristina Johnson, Chief Human Resources Officer of Amplitude.
Burnout might feel like a buzzword, but it’s also high on the agenda in 2024, she adds. “While a lot of attention remains on whether companies should adopt hybrid, in-office, or remote-first cultures, the main challenge leaders should focus on is creating a ‘stay’ culture. Consider what you’re doing to improve retention. How are you looking critically at your benefits? How are you combatting employee burnout? These are not new challenges for HR teams, but they are the persistent ones we’ll need to tackle in the year ahead.”
The Trend: Saying goodbye to the 'old school' CV
“2024 will see the personal skills profile become core to the overall employee experience,” shares Susie Lee, Client Innovation Officer at Degreed. “Populated with key information on someone’s existing skills, past experiences, current learning, interests and career goals, it will be a single place for employees and organisations to know what skills they currently have and what they need, helping individuals make more informed career decisions and their employers to effectively plan for their business strategies and transformations. Focusing on someone’s skills profile will enable employers to finally understand exactly what motivates their employees, and how to best cater to their aspirations and learning styles. It will vastly benefit employees with greater, more equitable access to opportunities as decisions will be made based on someone’s skills and not connections to the right people, biased ‘gut’ feelings, or other excluding processes.
"The skills profile will become commonplace in learning systems, HR systems, talent marketplaces and more — and it will move with each individual from role to role, project to project, organization to organization. Giving a more detailed view of someone’s capabilities and potential compared to the simple overview of a resume.
"The value of the skills-first learning experience will become widely recognized in 2024 as more C-Suite stakeholders begin looking at L&D as a way to stem chronic skills gaps. An organisation’s agility, growth, and ultimately its value, will be determined by the mix of skills it has within its workforce and what is being built. Learning will play a direct role in building skills for the future, in response to disruptions like AI, so learning leaders will increasingly be called on to provide success metrics that show how prepared the workforce is.”
As well as the 'obvious' wellbeing elements of HR, there is also going to be a huge focus on financial wellbeing in 2024
The Trend: Employee wellbeing 2024 style - more than just bean bags and yoga
Wellbeing, a new trend - not really, you might say. But this is wellbeing 2024: Less focus on the small things (yoga, beanbags, free coffee) and more focus on the things that really underpin mental health for employees. Katie Winstanley adds: “The importance of employee wellbeing has been increasingly recognised and will continue to do so in 2024. HR needs to continue to prioritise mental and physical health support, stress management, and work-life balance initiatives."
As well as the 'obvious' wellbeing elements of HR, there is also going to be a huge focus on financial wellbeing in 2024, with benefits also in that area. It won't simply be enough to offer a pension and healthcare, for example. Employees will be looking to your policy and how that reflects in benefits - think fertility leave, menopause policy and even extra time off for the loss of a pet.
The Trend: Embrace flexiblity (or risk losing your talent)
Rolling your eyes at 'another' person asking about flexble working? You might find yourself left behind if you don't embrace it in 2024, argues Jenny James, Head of HR at compliance eLearning provider, VinciWorks. Flexiblity isn't new, per se, but embracing it and seeing how it can help your staff to work in the right way and therefore stay and grow with your company, is essential.
“To stop attrition, people want more flexibility. So, while flexibility isn’t new, it will help people to gain a better work-life balance," says James. "This includes having policies that allow staff to work from anywhere in the world and allowing staff to have several part-time jobs instead of one full-time job. Also, providing staff with the flexibility to work the hours needed to get the job done rather than a set number a week and having a self-managed holiday policy where employees are in charge of how many days they use during the year (while it’s not unlimited, it gives them the flexibility of taking extra days when they need it, whether that’s to support caring needs for family members or children, to wanting extra days holiday to plan for a big holiday or event such as a wedding or honeymoon – allowing this change in mindset will help organisations to thrive and attract the ideal employees for their roles.”
