The main shifts seem to have been the development of hybrid ways of working, a big focus on wellbeing with underlying themes around the organisation’s purpose and how HR drives employee experience to ensure that the future is sustainable post-pandemic.

HR trend 1: Flexible or remote working

What the past two years have shown is that organisations can be agile, productive, connected as well as remote. The productivity gains of remote working are now largely incontestable, while the real estate cost savings and staff engagement benefits are hard to ignore, and of course, staff attraction and retention.

This shift has given the organisation an opportunity to re-evaluate what flexible means to them. It could involve altering work hours, pattern of work or even location. Effectively, flexible working allows an employee to achieve the required output and objectives of their job, while also balancing their needs outside of work.

Talent leaders will need to consider employee preferences such as hybrid or even fully remote working roles. However, the organisation needs to be realistic about what flexibility it can support. They will need to review what options they are able to offer and the conditions for each. The rationale behind the decision should be communicated, while being transparent about the considerations for both the employer and employees.

Some roles will need to be broken apart and remade as a set of tasks and competencies that can be performed virtually.

Organisations will need to get creative about how work gets done. This might include shifting from synchronous to asynchronous work (where work doesn’t happen in meetings but independently on shared documents) or ensuring that employees on a particular task are all remote or all in person.

But it’s not just structural changes that need to be considered. Working remotely does bring its own unique challenges and the HR team will need to consider specific tactics to overcome them. That will also include breaking down silos, overcoming remote working challenges to ensure that people feel connected to the company vision, purpose as well as each other.

People leaders will require training to able to manage team members that they do not see regularly, in a consistent way, to support consistency across all employees. Ensure that all employees, including those working remotely, are upskilled, are clear on their expectations and can embrace the trust placed in them to perform at their best and proactively manage the required output.

HR trend 2: A more fluid approach to working groups

The recent pandemic has pushed us to work in new and agile ways. Moving forward, many businesses are expecting to work in a more project-based approach, where teams assemble to achieve specific goals before dispersing back into the organisation. In these, more fluid organisations, the old, hierarchical model will no longer be fit for purpose.

Agile and iterative focus on continuous innovation means leaders need to work to break down silos across the workforce, enabling a spirit of collaboration in which individuals and teams fail fast and learn faster, continuously innovating new solutions during this process.

An agile approach to structures will be required, talent leaders will need to stop thinking about work in terms of jobs and start thinking in terms of capabilities instead. In addition to the considering the talent pipelines, businesses will need to develop learning agility, investing in both upskilling and reskilling.

Formulate clear and transparent career paths and succession plans by fostering two-way communication between employees and managers, prioritise diversity and inclusion, and do not restrict career progression to only managerial roles.

Finally, it’s critical that increased fluidity does not lead to greater fragmentation, so building a connected and collaborative employee structure will unlock a more effective workforce.

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