Six leadership trends you need to know for HR in 2022
With so much up in the air in the business world over the last couple of years, it’s no wonder many leaders have felt as though they could fall behind at any moment. Now 2022 is fast approaching, and we’re feeling a further sense of worry and hurried forethought about what a new year of business will bring.
By focussing on the upcoming trends across leadership and HR, leaders can get ahead for the new year and start business off to a bang in January and beyond.
1. Hybrid office working and remote working: the ‘new normal’ is here to stay
It may have become a necessity during the pandemic, but employees working remotely is a trend that’s likely to continue even after the pandemic ends, and leaders need to keep up. The vast majority of employers will allow workers to become at least partially hybrid or else risk losing talent to their competitors, as many have become used to splitting their time between working remotely and coming into the office.
The longevity of hybrid working offers potentially a more significant challenge for younger and more inexperienced workers and those who are introverted. Leaders will need to identify these hurdles — for example, missing out on shadowing seniors and taking part in casual conversations instead of formal meetings — and act to ensure every kind of employee is getting the most out of their work and not missing out on experience.
Working with teams that aren’t physically present most of the time also presents challenges that we’ve begun tackling already; however, it still remains one of the biggest shifts in the modern workplace for leaders to adjust to. Leaning on HR professionals will play a crucial part in ensuring productivity and efficiency remains, no matter how workers choose to work.
2. There will be fewer location-based pay employment roles
In line with the above, will companies continue to pay employees based on location if they are working remotely or in a hybrid structure? In the past, city working = city living = higher living costs = higher salaries. But that shouldn’t necessarily be the case if employees work remotely and have moved to more affordable areas.
It’s one of the more controversial HR trends for 2022 and a knotty area, as some location-relevant roles will always require physical presence. So, while employers should be wary of reducing salaries unless they want a monumental pushback from workers, it’s more likely that the weighting on London and other cities will diminish and eventually disappear.
Something we haven’t heard many employers talking about when they really should be is offering subsidies for those who do have to come into the workplace (on top of the market rate for the salary). There’s plenty of competition, and leaders will need to make their roles more appealing to those skilled professionals with increasing access to hybrid and remote opportunities.
There are no simple answers yet, and they will likely differ from employer to employer. Still, since HR professionals are involved in recruitment and hiring, as well as salary negotiations, leaders should work closely with their HR counterparts to come to their own solutions.
3. Gen Z is a new generation of employees — what will be different?
Millennials have been entering employment for several years, and now, members of Generation Z are graduating from secondary school and college to enter the workforce too. Younger generations will continue to make up an increasingly larger percentage of the staff at most companies year on year.
Change is already happening as companies adjust to this new generation. The challenge is that they have a different set of ideas and priorities for their professional careers — especially true since the pandemic hit. Many are looking for flexible schedules even if they’re not working 100% remotely and idealise employers who are conscious of wellbeing even if they are not currently struggling with their health.
In a highly competitive working realm, the two younger generations prefer to regularly contact their managers, seeking consistent feedback on their job performance, as well as more inclusive and elite opportunities to collaborate on projects at earlier stages.
To win top young talent, leaders will need to work closely with HR professionals to adapt to these preferences and adjust policies to give young employees the flexibility, growth opportunities and collaboration they are actively seeking at the start of their careers.
4. Employee wellness efforts are gaining more and more traction
Employee wellness has, quite rightfully, been gaining awareness for several years. Yet another consequence of the pandemic is that employee wellness will become even more important going forward since much of the population experienced either mental or physical health problems, or even both, during the lockdowns in the UK.
High levels of stress combined with people worrying about their health, family and the security their job provides means workers are now even more aware of all of the fragilities of their home and professional life, as well as how the two combine. To tackle this, HR is already implementing new wellness efforts, not just concerning physical illness and stopping the spread of the virus but to protect mental wellbeing and reinstate the feeling of job security at work too.
In order to avoid the stress, anxiety, depression and burning out that have all been prevalent in recent years, the next challenge in 2022 is for leaders to work with HR to ensure their team is full of happy, healthy employees.
5. Developing talent internally will be on the up
As a reaction to the high unemployment caused by the pandemic and increased employee retention efforts, more companies are promoting from within when looking for talent. For employee retention, leaders must add more mobility to incentivise employees long-term. Mentoring and coaching will play a fundamental role in this aspect of leadership come 2022.
While this is more of a challenge — as different strategies will be developed for identifying and training internal candidates versus simply finding pre-qualified external talent — the method benefits a business immensely. The company ensures they have a ripe internal talent pool and can self-serve the positions needed to help the business thrive in the future.
The good news is that internal progression is also a great motivator for employees and can actually save businesses money in the long term, so it’s a win-win. Leaders should work with human resources as well as their own team members to identify individuals who will be a good fit for more advanced positions in the company.
6. AI assistance with people and recruitment is not just for big businesses anymore
More and more employees are using AI daily, and that trend will continue to extend into leadership and HR departments in 2022. AI technology gets more advanced and sophisticated by the day, so while still there are flaws for things like people and recruitment tech, it will become an increasingly important part of people analytics, recruitment and hiring going forward.
Screening, interviewing and onboarding new employees will be increasingly remote, and AI will support this new screening and hiring process. Leaders should look to HR professionals for more data points, playing a critical role in supporting internal team decisions and problem-solving to benefit the business and its employees.
That means HR analytics are going to be sought after by companies big and small, no longer remaining in the realm of big company thinking. Leaders will need to keep up with the industry technology and best practices as AI flaws are gradually ironed out in future. AI is still lacking but getting closer all the time, so it’s important to monitor new tech closely, even if this work takes up more time than it saves initially.
Leadership advice for 2022 from the HR experts
Shamila Mhearban, HR Delivery Director at Gingko People, says:
“A leader’s role will need to adapt to connect people to their purpose. People are questioning their work, why they should do it, what’s the goal and whether it aligns with their values. If leaders do not tap into this change, they will fail to engage their employees.
Businesses should adapt to using technology more and more but also understand the impact of this on human behaviour. The pandemic has given rise to ‘employer snooping’, and there is software out there to support this ‘big brother’ approach. Leaders in businesses will be required to harness this technology but understand the human psychology that impacts implementation and address this proactively.
Throughout all of these changes in 2022, it’s absolutely vital that leaders figure out how to protect company culture and values, particularly if their workforce is remote. Actively being pro-diversity and supporting ‘intelligent inclusion’ also factors highly on the culture scale. Yet, the scrutiny in this space is set to increase for sure, especially considering the growth of and reliance on platforms such as ‘Glassdoor’ where employees can anonymously rate their employer. While culture is a little intangible without first putting the work in, it’s a mistake not to recognise the very real challenges of protecting company culture early on in the new year.
Above all, it’s clear just how important relying on HR will be for leaders going forward, so for business success in 2022, my best advice is to work together to identify, implement, advance and evolve.”
The six trends we’ve explored above are just the start of the leadership outlook for 2022. Like everything in the business world, people and HR is constantly evolving, so it’s critical that leaders keep up with the current and future human resources in order to stay ahead.
If you need to level up your HR support for 2022 and beyond, reach out to our experts today for a discussion.
