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It may be hard to fathom, but there are currently under 50 days left in 2022. It’s been an eventful year, and as always, the months have flown past us all.
You’re likely still reeling from the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, the challenging talent market and a financial crisis affecting millions, yet more challenges are on the horizon. Some may just affect your organisation, and some may be global. However, the first step in being able to overcome these challenges, is knowing about them.
Luckily, recent research from Garner has outlined exactly what is causing HR sleepless nights in 2022, and what will carry over into 2023, to become the most significant strategic challenges of the year. Let’s look at five that are likely to affect you most.
Leadership and line manager effectiveness
We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again; HR does not exist in a vacuum. The function is absolutely relying on other senior leaders, team leaders and line managers to be the ones to carry out policies and ensure that people are truly being managed well.
Today’s work environment requires leaders to be more authentic, empathetic and adaptive. These three imperatives represent a new call for leadership: “human” leadership.
According to Gartner’s research, this is a priority for 60% of HR leaders, whilst a concerning 24% say their leadership development approach does not prepare leaders for the future of work.
Organisational design and change management
A whopping 53% of HR leaders believe that OD and change management are the pivotal factor in their success for 2023. Yet, 45% believe that their employees are fatigued from all of the change they’ve experienced so far over the past few years, let alone what’s to come in 2023.
Whether it’s digital transformation, the effect of the economy on business or simply all of the drastic changes in society and politics that are fuelling internal change, it’s inevitable that it won’t stop as we enter the new year.
As a result, employee resilience is a must. H must ascertain how to inbuild agility into their cultures, and help people thrive through it, not struggle against it.
Employee experience
This brings us perfectly onto employee experience. According to the research, it’s a top priority for 47% of HR leaders, yet 44% believe their organisations do not have compelling career paths.
The research found that many HR leaders struggle to identify the internal moves that employees must make to grow their careers. In fact, just one in four employees would voice confidence about their career at their organisation, and three out of four are looking for a new role elsewhere as a result.
Recruiting
Yes, it’s a big one, and it’s not going away. Recruitment struggles have plagued not just hospitality or customer services, but all industries – and this will continue into 2023.
46% of HR leaders would place the challenges surrounding sourcing talent as one of their key concerns for the new year, and with a recession looming, the pressure is understandably on to ensure that your organisation has the skills it needs to see it through.
However, recruitment is not simply about creating a fancy job advert or offering the highest salary. The expectations of workers have changed, and a key priority for all should be
Future of work
It’s the big one. With so much uncertainty looming and the very basis of work life changing so drastically seemingly every day, understanding the future of work and how it will affect you is absolutely key.
Unsurprisingly, this is a top priority for 42% of HR leaders. Yet, whilst we can anticipate some changes, 43% of respondents said that they do not have an explicit future of work strategy.
The data also found that workforce planning, or anticipating future talent needs, is at the epicentre of a future of work strategy and is therefore a top priority for HR leaders.
