CHICAGO — 2023 may be well in the rear view mirror, but the effects of that tumultuous year continue to influence what HR professionals are prioritizing in 2024 and beyond, Kerri Nelson, director of mission research for the Society of Human Resource Management, said Tuesday at the organization’s annual conference.

Inflation loomed large in 2023, Nelson said. All the while, HR was navigating the dual challenges of talent retention and acquisition amid an overarching fear of an economic slowdown that would put further pressure on department goals, she added.

At the same time, HR’s attention is being pulled multiple different directions: More than half, 57%, of HR pros said they are working beyond normal capacity right now, and 56% said they lack sufficient staff to cover the workload, according to SHRM’s 2023-2024 State of the Workplace report. One in three HR professionals in understaffed departments are looking for a new job.

“There’s a lot on HR’s plate right now,” Nelson said, outlining the topics HR professionals are focused on, and what they can do to meet these goals.

1. Maintain morale and engagement

Engagement has jumped to the top of HR’s priority list especially in the wake of the pandemic, Nelson said. More than half of workers said they are “used up” at the end of the workday, according to other SHRM research, while 45% said they feel emotionally drained from their work. On top of that, U.S. workers are collectively experiencing 171 million acts of incivility per day — a big focus for SHRM this year.

Workers who rate their workplace as “uncivil” are two times more likely than others to leave their job in the next year, the study said. And workers who are burned out are three times more likely to be actively searching for another job.

But when employers establish a sense of belonging, feelings of burnout drop dramatically. Building a community is very important for workers, Nelson said. And when workers feel fulfilled, they are more likely to go above and beyond — “critical” in a time of labor shortages, she said.

However, while 3 in 4 workers said their organizations say they care about employee mental health, 2 in 5 workers said that their organizations only “pretend to care because it’s trendy,” the study noted.

Employers need to pay attention to how these initiatives are portrayed, Nelson said, and to remember that a supportive culture is at the core of mental health support. Few workers say their leaders set good examples around mental health practices, she continued — a key way culture is communicated.

Workers are also generally unaware of the mental health benefits available to them, while 50% who are aware said they don’t feel comfortable using them, the study indicated. Workers are often told the benefits they have access to upon onboarding, but they may forget about them when they aren’t in a moment of needing them, Nelson said.

Aligning offerings with what workers actually want can go a long way; the benefits workers say they want to improve their mental health include paid time off, mental health days and flexible schedules, the study found.

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