Let’s see the top 10 HR trends that businesses and BPO companies need to update to build a better, more efficient workplace.
Top 10 HR trends businesses and BPO companies need to know in 2022
Entering 2022, we’re encountering changes, especially after the covid-19 pandemic. How we work, where we work, the technologies we apply are all fluxing. Many of these changes have become permanent workplace conditions.
1. Top 10 HR trends: Businesses and BPO companies should include more aspects of employee well-being
Employee well-being is no longer the employee’s package benefit only. Since 2022, employee well-being has included all aspects of their personal and work lives. Today, employee well-being has expanded beyond physical health to include emotional, financial, social, and career wellness.
Since the pandemic, employee well-being has focused not only on the employees themselves, but also on their entire family units. It enhances life experience and personal benefits for workers and their families.
2. Top 10 HR trends: Benefits can influence an employee’s resignation
Research from Paychex and Future Workplace among 603 full-time workers found an interesting fact. There are 62% of workers said benefits are the key factor in quitting or applying for a new job.
This is especially true for Gen Z. 67% strongly agree, or agree that benefits will be their priority factor when considering job offers. The most in-demand benefits include financial well-being, mental/emotional health.
In addition, according to another survey from BrightPlan’s 2021 Wellness Barometer, more than 80% of employees want personal financial support. They want it for retirement or financial education. Some want for financial planning, digital budgeting, and access to financial advisors.
In addition, nearly 30% of the workers surveyed by Paychex and Future Workplace want mental health support. The Global Wellness Institute believes that mental health benefits in the workplace will rise 9.8% in the next five years.
3. Top 10 HR trends: Most workers want hybrid work
An Accenture’s survey found that 83% of workers prefer hybrid work. And 63% of high-growth companies have adopted the “productivity everywhere” model. Also, There is another study from Our Work from Anywhere Future led by Prithwiraj Choudbury, Associate Professor, Harvard Business School. This study said that, workers see freedom to work from anywhere as a crucial benefit of their job.
Besides, employers need to clearly define how they will create a fair and equitable workplace regardless of where they work. They should hare how leaders will communicate, manage employees. And how the whole team can achieve work flexibility while meeting common goals.
4. Top 10 HR trends: Employees tend to seek companies whose values align with their values
Research from Future Workplace and Blue Beyond Consulting is interesting as well. They undercovered eight out of ten employees said that they are more concerned about whether a business or a BPO company’s values align with theirs.
However, there is a significant gap between knowledge workers and company leaders, as seen in The Employee Expectations Gap below.
75% of employees said they expect employers and businesses to become the driving force for good in society. This rate even reaches up to 80% for people under 45 years old.
Furthermore, this research also found that more than half of knowledge workers said they may quit their jobs if the company’s values don’t match theirs. On the other hand, only one in four of knowledge workers will work with a company whose values don’t match their personal values.
Therefore, leaders and businesses, BPO companies should listen to employees, and act on employee expectation gaps by committing to humane working conditions, no matter where they work.
5. Top 10 HR trends: Skills-based recruitment is on the rise
Artificial intelligence is making a significant impact on the labor market, leading to the automation of certain jobs and the creation of new jobs acquiring new skills.
According to the research of 21 HR Jobs of the Future, the number of HR jobs will increase between now and 2030, especially those focusing on working with machines seamlessly.
That’s why candidates possessing these new skills will likely be shortlisted. In fact, Glassdoor report also found that 15 companies including Google, Hilton Hotels, and Apple aim to offer well-paying jobs to employees having in-demand skills but lacking degrees.
6. Top 10 HR trends: Longevity is relevant to multiple careers
Stanford Center on Longevity predicted that half of today’s five-year-olds would likely live to the age of 100, and they can work 60 years or even more.
This questions HR leaders and BPO companies: How can we strengthen the company’s commitment to lifelong learning to upskill and re-skill current workers who can work 60 years?
You may find the answer from Amazon Career Choice. They have committed $1.2 billion in grants to hourly workers with bachelors or associate’s degrees, high school diplomas, GEDs, and English as a second language.
In addition, they also offer proficiency certifications aimed at re-skilling employees in in-demand areas such as engineering, information technology, mechanical and electrical, health care, construction, transportation and accounting.
7. Upgrading HR skills are key to leading workforce transformation
A key finding from conversations with CHROs and CLOs figures out that HR often focuses on training and upskilling key business roles, and forgets about upskilling HR team members.
This requires HR leaders, other business managers, and even BPO companies to generate a new training route for their team members to develop their skills. Skills learning that HR team members need most include commercial and business acumen, people analytics and digital marketing.
8. Human and digital skills are powerful skills
The rapid change in working style requires us to flexibly adapt and be proficient in working with multiple technology platforms like Zoom, Slack, Stream Yard, not to mention virtual reality platforms like Strivv, Immerse, or BodySwaps.
LinkedIn 2021 Learning Report listed the top 10 skills as shown below.
Based on this figure, we can see resilience as the number one strength skill. Resilience is defined by Andrew Shatte, PhD, Co-founder of meQuilibrium, as the ability to demonstrate problem-solving, emotional control, optimism and self-efficacy.
And workers can learn, reinforce and spread resilience throughout the organization. In addition, The 2021 Workplace Learning Report also stated that 59% of learning leaders highly rate up-skilling employees.
9. Top 10 HR trends: Working parents are expecting valuable suggestions
The outbreak of the Covid 19 pandemic, especially the Omicron variant, has caused schools in the US to postpone re-opening or switch to distance learning, making it a crisis for working parents.
McKinsey’s research found that working parents are more likely to have left their jobs during the past 2 years. This comes from the exhaustion from the pressure of working from home and babysitting simultaneously, struggling with returning to the office but not finding any consistent childcare.
This means HR leaders in businesses, including BPO companies are particularly attentive to the unique needs of working parents, considering and facilitating special work ways to address their needs. These benefits include subsidizing child care, expanding parental leave, cutting the workweeks by 60%, or reducing workload to help working parents stay ready before officially returning to work.
10. CHRO’s role has been enhanced
We realized how important the CHRO was in the early days of Covid 19. CHROs now no longer only deal with previous HR jobs but also have more responsibilities. The list of issues CHROs have to face may range from empathizing with employees from various segments, proposing work options, creating a healthy, fair, and equitable working environment for all employees regardless of where they work.
CHRO has emerged as a key member of the C-suite, working with heads of other departments to create a new, adaptive working environment.
In short, 2022 will see many changes in HR trends, requiring HR leaders and business leaders to adapt to new changes smoothly. Based on 10 HR trends, businesses and HR leaders will know what they need to do to update the actual needs of employees.
This is also a great opportunity for BPO companies to use their existing advantages and improve the remuneration regime to attract talents.
