New trends that will shape the labor market in 2023
In the aftermath of a pandemic and with a global recession at our doorstep, you may believe that companies will be calling the shots this year. Well, think again! Job seekers are demanding their needs be met and companies are in search of specific skilled talent profiles that continue to remain scarce in the current job market.
Here are the new trends that will shape the talent market over the next twelve months.
-Talent retention
Transparency is highly valued by your employees and helps build an environment of trust and respect amongst all the way up the chain of command. Nonetheless, it is important to remember that authoritarian systems are outdated and do not produce the same results as cooperative and collaborative work models. The 2020 mindset is gone, and with it the ways of work that followed workplace practices that were unreceptive to feedback, which often produced an unmotivated workforce and ultimately caused quiet-quitting. By focusing on positive company culture and recalibrating leadership, phenomena like this can be avoided. Employees and job seekers place great importance on the adaptability and flexibility of a prospective workplace, and it also helps to build a much-needed sense of community because it helps bring leaders and teams together.
Gen Z and Millennials’ philosophies strongly influence their job selections, choose workplaces and organizations that match their personal values and life goals rather than a high-paying job for the sake of securing an income. These generations were born in financial chaos and faced unprecedented circumstances, all the while thriving within them. That’s why they are not intimidated by job-hopping: they are prepared for the worst by bringing their best but only if it reciprocates their expectations. The talent that Gen Zers and Millennials bring to the table has been honed by multidisciplinary approaches and they exploit that fact when making career choices. This is the power that they hold and that can be leveraged by employees who know what they’re doing.
-Upskilling & talent
As pointed before, we are redefining the way the corporations work. Companies have learned that it is better to hire by skills and not just experience. Sometimes the perfect applicant is located on the other side of the globe but hiring can be easily arranged in an after home-office era, where remote work is popular and productive, and these contenders know that. The candidate considered for hiring must be multi skilled, no matter their location. Current workers must also be upskilled if employers want a well-prepared workforce while increasing retention rates and productivity. This acts as a motivator for employees because they will keep upgrading their resumés and getting paid for it, which is ultimately an attractive asset in working for any company. Promoting employee development by aligning company goals is a win-win, no matter how you look at it.
-Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI)
These minorities have found that they found strength in numbers and if they voice their concerns together and loud, companies will listen. Families need flexibility for growth and security, disabled people need understanding of their talents and the impact of their contributions, LGBTTTIQA+ people still need respectful conditions, and businesses need committed, resilient people they can trust can count on. Adversity has made these minorities stronger rather than dissipate them because they have chosen to sharpen their individuality.
Tapping into the potential of minority workers and updating policies are two ways to create a resilient workforce. The goal is to be as diverse as the customer. Young families in need of childcare, people with disabilities with specific needs, non-binary people want to feel safe, and foreign workers are the foundation of a committed workforce that companies often overlook, underpay and underestimate. The damage that previous approaches to working have done by overlooking to the advantages of having a diverse, equitable and inclusive workforce should not be repeated as it may jeopardize growth. HR and the corporate leaders must work closer than ever to answer and meet employee needs, to recognize this gap and act accordingly, to bring awareness to the fact that change is inevitable.
Artificial Intelligence technologies have yet to replace us in the workplace, although it may appear so, and applicants are counting on visionary leaders to acknowledge the fact that human capital still very much holds the larger end of the stick. Therefore, human capital has a key value even in era of automatization, even if the world climate may misleadingly indicate otherwise, and we’ll benefit from taking advantage of this to upscale our hiring processes.