The future of work is right around the corner, and it’ll bring interesting trends that organizations should evaluate. The pandemic represented a major shift, and businesses were forced to close their doors or implement a remote work system.
Even though the pandemic is still not over, businesses are now reopening and adopting sanitary measures. The economy is affected by the Great Resignation with millions of people quitting their jobs. How are all these factors affecting the future of work?
Employee Turnover Might Increase
In November of 2021, the number of resignations increased by 3 percent to 4.5 million, the highest number ever recorded by BLS. The reasons people leave their jobs are driven by a pursuit of work-life balance, stability, and salary increase.
What’s interesting about this change is that it doesn’t seem to stop in the future of work. It is one of the reasons HR managers are concerned. The two factors that drive this trend: are a wide list of competitor employers and fewer interpersonal connections at work.
Since everyone works remotely or in a hybrid environment, they have less interaction with their coworkers, which means they will not develop strong emotional attachments to that particular job. Eventually, workers will find it easier to leave.
In addition to that, the HR competition is real, and companies are doing their best to offer highly competitive benefits and compensation. That also increases the risk of employees resignations.
Not All Employers Support Vaccine Mandates
According to Harvard Business Review, despite the government’s efforts to protect workers with the vaccine mandate, only two percent of employers will stick to the vaccine mandate. This mandate consists of either vaccinating employees or providing a weekly COVID-19 test whenever a company has more than 100 employees.
This happens because businesses don’t want to increase their turnover rate by obligating workers to go through weekly checkups or get vaccinated.
Salary Change
One of the main reasons employees joined the Great Resignation was to obtain better salaries. Inflation is more prominent every day, and people can’t keep up with the rising prices and cost of living.
A recent Gartner survey revealed that 91 percent of HR leaders are worried about the massive resignations. Since employers are concerned about their turnover rate, they allocate resources to compete for talent and provide higher wages. According to the Harvard Business Review research we mentioned above, salary increases have gone from 2 percent to 4 percent in 2021.
However, some employers cannot afford this change and would rather reduce the number of working hours than provide a salary increase. As work-life balance becomes a priority for most employees, reduced hours seem an appealing factor to consider. This helps small employers compete with large corporations that do provide higher wages.
Reskilling Will Become the Norm
Reskilling is becoming more and more relevant these days. With the rapid advance of technology, the need to remain valuable increases. Employees must update their skills to stay afloat with the constant changes in the market.
Besides, reskilling represents a cost-saving benefit for companies compared to hiring new talent. Paying for an employee’s online course, on-the-job training, or college degree can benefit companies. They will retain talent, lower costs of the hiring process, and bring innovative skills to the organization.
AI Reliance on Decision-Making
Data science has become a key factor in business decision-making. Relying on data analysis for optimizing processes is not new for most companies. However, one trend is gaining more popularity across large corporations like IBM integrating Artificial intelligence into HR decision-making.
This trend promises to lower costs in the recruitment process by automating repetitive tasks. AI can schedule calls, screen each candidate’s CV, segment them by keywords, and more. This way, HR managers can focus on more relevant aspects of the hiring process and improve their quality of outcomes.
In Summary
The future of work seems to bring a couple of challenges for companies regarding turnover management. Companies will need to become competitive for employees to stay while also optimizing their processes. This entire movement of the Great Resignation seems to be having an effect on how we will experience work in the future. Employees want more freedom, better salaries, and more opportunities to grow.
