We had long gone past the days when recruiters posted job openings, and applicants started flooding in. However, it is no secret that the industry in general, and the tech industry in particular, is changing rapidly.
Every workplace undergoes changes, whether it is through remodeling or recruiting new employees. As times change, current employees may expect more from a workplace, and what you offer job seekers may determine whether they want to work for you or not.
No matter what, workplaces will always exist, but they will change over time. As their employees’ demands change over time, they sometimes need to adjust their views and attitudes. Besides that, the recent pandemic has left a lasting impression on the mindsets of both employees and employers. Even after restrictions are lifted, some of the new working norms introduced by the pandemic will remain. Thus, employers in 2022 will need to pay attention to the ever-changing market demands to maintain their competitive edge.
So, without further ado, here’s what employees most want out of a workplace in 2022 that you as an employer need to pay attention to.
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A new work-life balance
Whether it’s dealing with complex changes at work and home or being unable to attend work at all due to social distancing and isolation, we’ve all been through a lot in recent years. It has become evident that many employees need a better work-life balance to be able to function correctly. Work-life balance is arguably more important than salary to most employees. And this is something that the recent pandemic has definitely taught us. However, more meaningful benefits such as group income protection can be desirable for workers when it comes to finances. Therefore, if you want to attract the best ones from the industry, you need to enhance the perks and privileges that you’re offering to your employees.
Similarly, a recent survey by Gallup shows that almost 61% of the people looking for a job within the US prefer their work-life balance and mental well-being over the salaries being offered. Likewise, recent studies have highlighted how burnt out, overwhelmed, and stressed the workplace is. A growing number of workers are now aware of the value of job flexibility options, regardless of whether they are experiencing burnout or not. Consequently, freedom to work when, where, and how one wants has become a new norm in the workplace.
Flexible working
Remote working or working from home became essential for everyone during the pandemic but proved to be an effective means of working for many employees – so much so that many businesses still let their employees work from home and give them the option of hybrid working.
Organisations should be well accustomed to flexibility and hybrid work models by 2022. Research shows that 50% of people value flexibility. There is no way to catch up if these topics haven’t been addressed by your organisation by now.
Flexibility and freedom of working both at home and in the workplace is something employees desire in 2022. Being in the workplace is extremely beneficial and important for socialisation, but remote working from time to time can give employees peace of mind as they don’t have to worry about commuting costs. In this sense, hybrid working gives employees the best of both worlds.
Recognition for their work
The more individuals enjoy what they do, the more they desire to excel at it. Praise your employees on their development and achievements, and recognise the work that they do for your business. Employees might dream of having a high-paying wage and unlimited days off, but being praised for their work is desirable too. In the absence of recognition for their work, they may feel underappreciated for what they do.
So, if you want your organisation to retain your best employees, you must learn how to appreciate them. Otherwise, you might lose them for good. You see, the thing is that like every other individual, your employees also crave appreciation, and the more you appreciate them for their efforts, the better they perform. It is for this reason that employee recognition is so important. It motivates employees to work just as hard on their next project when they are rewarded for their contributions. They will stay with the organisation if they are recognised for their contributions, their performance will be elevated, and they will be more likely to perform well.
Workplaces should be able to hire elastically
According to different human resource firms, the need of the hour is that businesses should embrace “elastic hiring,” so that employees can be assigned different roles according to their skills as needed. In addition, as employees seek to expand their career horizons, companies should be more accommodating of employees with a variety of responsibilities.
Like the gig economy, elastic hiring utilizes workers’ individual skills against projects and company goals and moves employees within teams as needed. “Employees want opportunities like this to move within their company. One in five workers are interested in working for more than one employer and want the flexibility, exposure, and freedom that comes with it. This approach is likely to become more common with forward-thinking companies looking to develop, retain, and motivate their talent.
By demonstrating their ability to adapt to fluid situations, elastic hiring gives employees an opportunity to showcase their abilities and set themselves up for potential promotions in the future.
Learning and developmental opportunities
When employees are able to improve their skills and abilities, they become more motivated and determined to succeed at work. Ensure that you are appropriately assigning training and growth opportunities. Make sure your employees have the opportunity to expand their knowledge in new fields by developing strategies to give them adequate opportunities to do so. Whenever possible, you should encourage your employees to advance in their careers.
It is important to have access to opportunities for upskilling. It is important for employees to have opportunities for growth and education. Finding meaning in their work goes hand in hand with developing a growth mindset.
A similar benefit of training and development can be seen in employee productivity. Again, training and development programs that are effective help employees work more efficiently.
Moreover, the pandemic has forced workers to consider their goals in life. And without opportunities for growth and learning, workers will look elsewhere for their needs to be met. Therefore, if you want to retain and hire new employees, you must provide development and career advancements to your employees.
More engagement for remote workers
As hybrid working has become the norm, remote teams are essential to every organisation. However, because they don’t see each other every day at the same workplace, remote workers might easily feel alienated from one another and from the organisations which they work for. As a result, businesses with remote work models must pursue more measures to increase engagement for remote employees so they don’t feel left out.
So, to keep your employees, especially fully remote teams motivated and engaged like your in-house team, companies need to put in some extra effort and come up with innovative ways that help in keeping their employees engaged. Some of the ways you can achieve this are:
- Holding virtual hangouts and conversations regularly.
- Meeting in person once a year at some exotic destination.
- Arranging virtual movie nights where every team member gets to pick out a movie.
- And other such activities.
Overall, in the modern age, employees desire flexibility, a clear path of progression, recognition, and meaningful benefits – sometimes even more than a pay rise. Therefore, as an employer and business owner, it is imperative for your growth to understand this changing mindset of your workforce.
Workers want more benefits
Workers need to believe that their employers have their best interests in mind, and businesses should take measures to ease these responsibilities. In 2022, workers desire greater benefits in addition to good pay as some hybrid and remote employees prepare for unknowns like the omicron version. Employers can achieve this by paying attention to changes in vacation rules and allocating additional funds to safeguard the future success of their workforce.
Moving forward, employees will choose to work for organizations that embrace these changes and help employees maintain a healthy work-life balance.
A good environment for work
The fact that employees spend the majority of their time in their homes, they have realized that along with physical health, their mental health is important too, and they need to focus much on it. Moreover, after all the covid situations when workers are back, they need a friendly environment where they can work peacefully. Covid made them realize that working with groups is much easier and more fun than working alone in a room, due to which they depend on a friendly environment with their colleagues.
Self-actualization
Self-actualization is a lofty, lifelong endeavor that aids individuals in discovering their life’s purpose, clarity, and passion. Self-actualization is an employee refers to reaching their maximum potential, regardless of the path they choose. It might imply that workers are motivated, effective, content, and challenged. Instead, it indicates that workers are continuously learning to become better people that ultimately help your business.
PowerSkills are developed by coaching
Companies face many L&D challenges, but PowerSkills are among the most popular. PowerSkills prepare people for leadership, teamwork, collaboration, communication, storytelling, and strategic thinking. In addition, powerSkills are valuable skills that are sustainable and powerful. Examples include empathy, forgiveness, humility, and awe. “While these kinds of ‘softer skills’ were not widely discussed prior to the pandemic, we now know they are essential to success.
“Soft skills such as time management and strategic thinking aren’t easy to develop. However, every organization has its own context for these abilities, and we need to learn them together with teams and leaders.”
A company’s leadership model will be revisited to determine which PowerSkills suits its business in 2022, with a continued focus on coaching and PowerSkills.
Skills taxonomy and talent intelligence
Every organization is figuring out what skills its employees possess, what skills are needed, and where the gaps are as the economy grows and companies transform. So it is not only a matter of learning and development but also of talent intelligence.
Automobile companies are transforming into electric vehicle companies and artificial intelligence companies, healthcare companies into IT and digital health companies, pharma companies into genetic engineering, oil companies into renewable energy and services, and telcos into 5G and content companies. Across the board, senior leaders are always trying to determine what skills they need next.
While these approaches do work for hiring experts or new employees with the necessary skills, they are neither sustainable nor effective. Therefore, an HR trend that is key to solving the skills challenge is the development of a skills taxonomy.
Thus, leaders will have to create a skills architecture team in 2022, bringing together the COEs that will be involved. Rather than assigning HR people to strategic areas, leaders should assign “capability leaders” instead.
By identifying critical capabilities, assessing and selecting SkillsTech, searching for external data, and applying this information to recruiting, mobility, training, and reward problems, you will be able to build a multi-year roadmap.
HR will have to build a new center of excellence (COE), the COE of skills architecture. This team will own job architectures, skills technologies, skills taxonomies, and coordination of the capability academies. It’s the most significant HR change in years (probably as significant as employee engagement and employee listening).
The Way Forward!
In all, the business world is drastically changing, and in 2022 and beyond, companies need to rethink and reconsider the way they treat their employees if they truly want to retain them. We hope that you’ll find this information useful as an employer to retain your existing team as well as hire a new compatible one. However, as an employer and business owner, you must stay up-to-date with the latest progress to make your organisation thrive. Remember the happier and satisfied your employees are, the better they perform at work.
