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After two long years of pandemic economics, businesses and job seekers alike are adapting to recovery. There’s no going back to business as usual or the way things were before late 2019 though. As everyone deals with labor shortages and retention issues with tactics and strategies prompted by COVID-19 conditions, talent acquisition professionals are looking at 2023 recruiting.
Economic outlets like Fitch Ratings are predicting lower labor demand in 2023 because of the expected economic downturn, complicating an already historically tight labor market. Industry experts like Josh Bersin look at major talent acquisition trends going into the new year, especially HR tech. SuccessFactors principal architect Luke Marson cautions employers that candidates are worried about inflation and the economy, making salaries and employee experience bigger issues in 2023.
Bersin discusses the HR tech market as “going crazy”. Marson counsels that 2023 recruitment strategies need to include ongoing and emerging trends. And with the coming changes in the labor market outlined by Fitch Ratings, talent acquisition professionals must pay attention to recruiting predictions for successful recruiting in 2023.
Bersin describes the HR tech market as “going crazy,” explaining that the HR tech market is very big and very stable, with lots of players and niches. He says that the HR tech from a decade ago was pretty much on the back end with applicant tracking systems and customer relations management software. But going into 2023, HR tech is on the front end for employee experience, with apps and integrated super apps.
HR Tech professionals predict that HR tech in 2023 is shifting to employee experience tech to attract and engage a post-pandemic workforce. HR technologies will merge or be replaced altogether by employee experience platforms instead of multiple tools. AI and machine learning are predicted to be tools to improve productivity and efficiency, enabling HR leaders to proactively address problems in workforce management before they turn serious. Employee self-service platforms for more direct access to and input for their own personnel files will be prominent in 2023.
Research and consulting firm Gartner reports that almost half of HR leaders hold employee experience as a top priority in their organizations. The typical career development path doesn’t work in a post-pandemic job market and working world as skills become obsolete and people think differently about work. This creates new challenges for employers and HR leaders to take more proactive roles in their workforce career development.
Experts are defining employee experience as a business driver, making it imperative to go beyond employee engagement and truly understand (and offer) what is important to employees. The entire employee lifecycle has to be a seamless part of recruiting strategy. It will require tactics like regular and transparent employee/manager communications and real-time feedback. Employers will have to go beyond traditional connections such as annual employee surveys and performance reviews and service awards. Real-time reward and recognition, better working relationships, and quarterly performance discussions will evolve and replace typical time-centered interactions.
In 2023, it will be important for employers to look at and adopt new sourcing and retention tactics. Global consultancy Korn Ferry reports that the unprecedented disruptions to business and the world of work caused by the worldwide pandemic mean changes are inevitable going forward. As employees think differently about what they want and need from work, they are not following traditional career paths and seek more opportunities that fit their work/life paradigms.
Moving to other areas within an organization rather than following an upward career path and seeking opportunities for specialized projects and teamwork will be prominent in 2023 and beyond. This means employers also have to look at internal mobility for workforce development, rather than (or in addition to) traditional outside recruiting. There will be more need for internal workforce development through reskilling and upskilling and tailored career development.
Keeping track of former employees and maintaining professional relationships with them will be more prominent in 2023. Boomerang hiring, hiring back former workers, fills a huge need in a labor market rife with skills shortages and openings that go unfilled. In an uncertain economy, retired workers and workers who have left the company are more open to returning to former employers. Employers benefit from a boomerang hiring strategy with employees who are already familiar with the company culture and processes and whose employment record they know.
In a dynamic economy, employers need to use smarter workforce planning. Deliberate workforce planning with collaboration among business units helps identify the roles and skills needed and how to fill them. Different hiring tactics and a focus on employee experience are needed for the changing landscape of the 2023 job market and the world of work.
COVID-19 has shown the world that employers and employees can adapt quickly to urgent business needs, as well as changed everyone's priorities for work and business management. It's important to remember that there are no guarantees that previous workforce strategies will work in 2023. Employers should not count on the same recruiting and talent acquisition processes they've always used but should look at industry predictions and trends and adjust their recruiting going forward.