Articles 
As 2021 comes to a close, HR and talent management leaders are looking at 2022 as a blank canvas, full of possibilities and potential. Emergency policies implemented in the HR world during the past year and a half are not all necessarily here to stay. Some are being discarded and others are being adapted or implemented into HR strategies for this new “world order” we’re coming to.
Now more than ever before, HR departments and companies in general are looking to technology to help them out, automating processes, innovating hiring practices and enabling initiatives to further engage talent.
Let’s take a look at what’s next for HR trends in the new year and era to come.
Trend 1: Skills
This currency for talent has been a long time coming for many leaders in the HR sphere. After a pandemic that forced companies to adapt in an agile manner and caused major hiring freezes, skills proved to be immensely useful. Managers rushed to move employees to where they were needed, regardless of their position title and more related to the skills they possessed that could prove useful to the needs of the company at the time. One example of this? Delta Air Lines.
As roles keep evolving in the coming year, focusing on skills will allow a shift in parameters, therefore encouraging recruiters to consider a more diverse and broader group of candidates. The expectations for more horizontal growth in an employee’s career path have increased and the focus on skills can give talent the opportunity to grow whichever way their skillset takes them. So, just as career paths are becoming more flexible, so are recruiting strategies.
So how can organizations integrate skills into their hiring strategies? Companies need to really understand them in order to have a better grasp regarding which skills make up the company talent pool and which ones are needed. And to do this successfully at scale, they need technology.
Since skills are present at all touchpoints of the talent journey, companies will increasingly look for an end-to-end platform that empowers them to track and collate this data in a cohesive manner. A one-platform approach ensures that data flows from every step of the talent process instead of getting stuck in siloes.
Being able to make use of all this data is the next step, which requires AI and machine learning. They are being constantly developed and, this year will play an even more critical role in helping companies reach new hiring and recruiting potential at scale. When implemented in the right way, these technological tools can provide the company with a snapshot (as well as in-depth analysis) of the skills that make up their workforce, match candidates to specific roles, track skills development and map out career paths for mobility.
Trend 2: Social Media Recruitment
With lockdowns in place and creativity flowing, people looked to social media to promote themselves for job positions they couldn’t interview for in person. Companies soon jumped on board, deciding to promote their openings through social media.
Take TikTok’s pilot program “TikTok Resumes”. Launched in July of 2021, it sought to partner with well-known companies and encourage their users to publish their resumes in a way that completely left behind the conventional: a TikTok video.
Users submitted 800 video resumes in the first 48 hours and it only increased from there, turning the social media app into a creative option for recruitment and job discovery. Gaining traction especially among the younger audience, #TikTokResumes currently has 353.4 million views and 16 percent of recruiters use the social media app to source for candidates (that’s double the number from last year).
Meanwhile, social media apps like Instagram are proving to be valuable tools. In this coming year, companies that want to attract top talent will need to take social media seriously, leveraging these channels to show more than just a logo and a slogan. Company culture is a priority for candidates so many organizations are taking to social media to show a bit of what they do behind the scenes and showcase who they are.
Employee stories, “now hiring” posts and team building activities, among others, are a part of companies’ feeds and help attract new candidates through the power of FOMO. Social media is turning into a unique and attractive platform for recruitment and sourcing in 2022, as well as an insightful tool to connect with potential talent, with 57 percent of recruiters leveraging social media to build their employer brand.
Trend 3: The Great Resignation
It’s a trend that we’ve seen increase this year: 4.3 million people left their jobs in August of 2021 and it’s not looking like it’ll stop any time soon. A recent study highlights that 48 percent of the working population is looking to change their current job and it takes more than a pay raise to entice employees to stay.
It’s a key concern for those in talent management, but for talent acquisition teams, the other side of the resignation coin presents an opportunity. In 2022, 66 percent of recruiters believe that the volume of candidates will increase due to the termination of enhanced unemployment coverage.
If you want to attract the top talent suddenly available, be ready to listen to candidates and develop the right value proposition. Now more than ever it’s worth investing in a CRM with advanced recruitment marketing tools so you can activate effective engagement campaigns and offer a personalized experience to candidates.
Recruiters need to understand the reasons behind candidates’ resignation to their previous roles and present a different scenario, otherwise, the cycle will keep repeating itself. The coming year is about more than just perks for these candidates, it’s about what appeals to the human aspect. And just like with employee retention, talent attraction will likely look to fostering growth and belonging.
With numbers like the ones mentioned, it’s important to look at the data as a company, find the issue and rethink work. This can help to better understand the gaps in the company and develop a plan that lowers turnover and allows for retention. Reasons for this massive exodus have ranged from burnout to wanting more flexibility. Let’s look at the numbers again.
The Culture Factor
In another recent report, 51 percent of people stated their reason for resignation was a lack of sense of belonging at work, which is why this year, company culture will take center stage. For employees, feeling like their work is valued in their company and that they’re part of a team is essentially what gets them to go to work every morning. Without this, what’s the point?
Salaries are just the tip of the iceberg. In order to avoid turnover and sustain employee retention as well as engagement, companies need to be looking at ways in which culture can foster a sense of belonging. A company that strives for transparency and keeps investing in their people, is a company that entices employees to stay.
Some initiatives companies can implement to boost employee retention in 2022 include:
- Ensure the right tone is set from the offset by activating a social onboarding experience that makes new joiners feel like part of the team prior to day one. Newbies can meet their colleagues and connect with the company culture all before their first day, so when they officially start, they feel at home.
- Further developing learning plans to help employees reach their career goals and aspirations and providing employees with mobility opportunities and professional growth. This gives them infinite opportunities to be managers of their own careers. Avature customer L’Oréal has done this with great success.
- Building teams of supportive co-workers and recognizing the work done, making employees feel like they’re appreciated and valued in the organization. With the help of Avature, USI has been able to do this and much more.
Trend 4: Autonomy and the Hybrid Work Model
Flexibility and autonomy have gained traction in the rebuilding of work. As we’ve just read, employees are the ones who are using their voices to address their needs more than ever before. And from the looks of it, the hybrid work model is one of the solutions to those calls that is here to stay.
A report by Jobvite states that 70 percent of organizations will implement a hybrid in-office and remote work policy in the near future. They also highlight that 60 percent of recruiters believe that, in order to avoid turnover and foster retention, companies need to transition to some sort of hybrid work model.
With the help of technology, companies will be able to reach their hybrid work model goals this coming year. From facilitating communication between remote colleagues and global teams through video solutions to supporting all types of employees through contingent workforce management, technology will be the hybrid model’s greatest ally.
This past year and a half, we’ve seen that combining work models is possible, it can be done. The traditional 9-5 is no longer what it used to be and this “personalized hybrid experience” way of working is upon us in the coming year.
Trend 5: Collaborative Learning Platforms
As HR and the way we work keeps evolving, some processes are starting to finally catch up. Such is the case for learning and development, which has long been neglected or outdated, never quite on the same page with specific company processes or employee needs.
Cue collaborative learning platforms. This technology allows the company itself to create its own corporate learning content, taking the reins in every part of the creation. With this approach in mind, corporate learning aims at being a dynamic, ever-evolving part of work, that will never grow irrelevant and that will give the workforce what they need, whenever they need it.
Some benefits of collaborative learning platforms include:
- Agile development. A fast approach to content creation, allowing users to upload and control program creation with a few clicks.
- Knowledge sharing and distribution. Experts in your workforce can create content and spread the knowledge with the rest of the employees, owning the creation of the course from the beginning and updating it as they see fit.
- Always up-to-date. Easy access to edit content, so it’s always up-to-speed with the latest company policies and processes.
- Tailored content. You can make it specific to each location or team, allowing for compliance and unique understanding.
- Scalability. Reaching the hundreds or thousands of employees is no longer an issue.
Let’s look at an example to bring this point to life. Rather than an employee completing generic training that might not address specific areas for improvement, the one-platform approach through collaborative learning enables a tailored employee development experience by leveraging data from other touchpoints with the employee. Managers can highlight what skills need to be worked on during a performance review and employees can find related content that fits their training needs.
In the coming era, it’s out with the purchased books and online programs, and in with the agile learning platform. Having a connected platform approach will help companies gather all the information they need to offer learners the best development plan.
To Conclude…
As we clink our glasses and celebrate the year to come, resolutions remain present. And in the HR industry, radical changes are leading to radical resolutions. The way we work is transforming at warp speed thanks to recent events and shifting to an employee-centric approach even more.
Those organizations that are willing to put the time and effort required to revamp their talent processes and programs accordingly will certainly reap the benefits, not only in the coming year but the ones that follow.