5 Emerging Trends in HR 2022 & Beyond

It is no secret that the business ecosystem is evolving and that these changes have significantly impacted employee productivity. In any given establishment, the employees are the hamsters on the wheel, ensuring that a business is meeting its goals and hitting its profits. It, therefore, comes as no surprise that as companies move towards a new age, HR departments everywhere have to go back to the drawing board and see how they can create an environment that boosts employee productivity. These HR trends significantly contribute to the performance of a given organization.

Let’s look at some of the emerging HR trends in 2022!

Key Takeaways: 

1. It is important to remember that in the hybrid work model, different employees respond differently to both working from the office and working from home.
2. According to a report compiled by the Academy to Innovate HR (AIHR), only around 4 in 10 HR professionals can read, apply and use data to make effective decisions that are used to drive value within companies.
3. A report done in 2018, revealed that the global market for outsourcing was valued at $85.6 billion. About 300,000 positions are outsourced annually.
4. A Non- Executive Director at Fuzu called Eddy Vasiberg pointed out the importance of studying one’s body and mental health as an employee.
5. McKinsey conducted a study and concluded that 77 percent of industry leaders identified retraining as moderately and very vital for any organization.

What are the key HR trends for 2022?

1. The hybrid work-model
2. HR embracing data literacy
3. Outsourcing
4. Embracing employee well-being
5. Focusing on reskilling and up skilling

1)  The hybrid work model

A study conducted this year in April by Stanford, revealed that working from home boosted the productivity of the study participants by 13%. The participants of this survey were 16,000 employees who had worked from home for 9 months. According to the results of the study, the increase in productivity was attributed to the workers taking fewer breaks and fewer sick days. Additionally, the survey disclosed that the levels of work satisfaction by employees had increased and that the rate of attrition had reduced by a whopping 50 percent.

Evidently, working from home has its perks, but there are also downsides to this concept. These include; isolation, which leads to a lack of motivation and teamwork, constant distractions depending on your living conditions, and a lack of clear transition from work to home since you are already working from home! 

The question remains, what can HR do in order to ensure that the hybrid work model leads to optimal productivity among employees? 

How HR can effectively implement the hybrid model

For the hybrid work model to work, you need to design a policy that engages employees on both fronts. Finding out how to motivate employees at your company who are working from home or from your offices is integral. Whatever policy you select should target employees as individuals, not as a group i.e., their personal career growth.

What is important to remember when it comes to the hybrid work model is that different employees respond differently to both working from the office and working from home. 

2)  HR embracing data literacy

Another trend that is picking up pace in the HR ecosystem is the shift towards data literacy from people analytics. According to a report compiled by the Academy to Innovate HR (AIHR), only around 4 in 10 HR professionals can read, apply and use data to make effective decisions that are used to drive value within companies.

This shift to data literacy has the potential of vastly improving an organization’s performance through the HR department. Once a company-wide collection and analysis of data is done, HR can assist in the designing of a program that can boost employee productivity. In addition to this, data analytics is a reliable technique of measuring employee performance, a crucial aspect within the HR department. 

HR professionals play a significant role in organizations. They act as school crosswalk guards, ensuring that employees stay on the correct lane workwise. 

This need to shift focus from analyzing people to conducting comprehensive data analytics has been influenced by the fact that not a lot of companies have a good grasp of what specific departments drive their overall performance, only 9 percent of companies have a good understanding of which talent dimensions contribute to their performance. 

Sobering right?

3) Outsourcing

It can be quite taxing to hire and build an effective HR team. Hiring skilled staff and organizing training sessions for new employees can be quite costly in terms of money and time. Let’s not forget the whole process of successfully introducing your company’s culture to new staff. 

Outsourcing is becoming a beloved HR trend as it enables HR departments to outsource tasks such as payroll, onboarding, generation of statutory reports, etc., to experts who are focused on these specific tasks. These tasks can easily be ineffectively executed by new staff who are yet to properly grasp how to efficiently conduct certain activities. Since these tasks are delegated to individuals who are experts in these respective areas, it means that the HR department does not have to worry about costly risks that can cripple their company. 

Outsourcing can guarantee that such events do not occur. Assignments within the company will be completed effectively and within the desired timeframe. This will boost employee productivity which reflects positively on any given company.

A report done by Statista in 2019, revealed that the global market for outsourcing was valued at $92.5 billion. About 300,000 positions are outsourced annually. Clearly, organizations across the world are becoming more and more open to the concept of outsourcing. 

As a HR professional, you should consider this HR trend and see the best ways of increasing operational efficiency through it. 

4) Employee well-being

We all want to work in a healthy environment that nurtures and fine-tunes our skills and capabilities. A Non- Executive Director at Fuzu called Eddy Vasiberg pointed out the importance of studying one’s body and mental health as an employee. Being honest with how you feel physically and mentally will ensure that the work you produce is in line with the goal of your company. 

An article compiled by Wahome Ngatia on some of the things an employer should do in order to create a work environment that embraces employee wellbeing highlighted the following factors: work-life balance, employee downtime/decompression time, partnering with mental health service providers like Wazi, having regular check-in meetings, allowing employees to have flexible working hours and creating policies that reinforce the mental health of employees. 

Every employee in your organization is looking to grow financially and mentally. Once they establish that your organization offers such a work environment, you will be able to retain them and attract new employees.

5) Focusing on reskilling and up skilling

First off, what’s the difference?

Reskilling occurs when you are in the process of learning new skills while up skilling is sharpening your core skill. When you are at a point in your career when you need to pivot and do a smooth career switch, you will need to be open to obtaining new skills. Up skilling normally occurs when someone wants to get a promotion, apply for a pay rise or even break out on their own to establish their own business.

Reskilling and up skilling are not always about someone wanting to break away from the company they are working for. These two concepts happen to be quite significant to companies as they place employees in a better position to improve their productivity. As a result the company is able to compete effectively in the market. Additionally, reskilling and up skilling enables a business to properly address industry trends and to cater to the needs of consumers within the market.

McKinsey conducted a study and concluded that 77 percent of industry leaders identified retraining as moderately and very vital for any organization. On a personal level, through reskilling and up skilling,  employees are able to increase their performance, a factor that can vastly increase their overall attitude towards work. 

As an HR professional, you should consider recommending the adoption of this trend as a way of boosting employee performance and productivity. This HR trend has the potential of putting any given company on the map. 

Now, HR tasks are not easy and more often than not, organizations suffer glitches in their operations because of an inefficiency from the HR department. So the question is, how do you ensure that your department is on top of its tasks? 

The answer lies in Elevate HR.

What exactly is Elevate HR?

Elevate HR is a cloud-based HR platform that serves the African market. The platform enables its users to effectively accomplish HR tasks such as; payroll processing, salary advancements, generation of statutory reports, onboarding of employees, and the analysis of payroll performances. 

Some of the companies that Elevate HR is currently working with include; TatuMart, Oyester International, AICNandi and JENGA School. Oyester International is receiving our payroll outsourcing services while the rest of the aforementioned organizations are using our payroll management module to make their HR tasks more efficient. 

By using the services provided by the Elevate HR platform, you will be able to boost employee morale, which will, in turn, cause a surge in productivity. Given emerging trends such as the hybrid work model, it is vital that HR professionals have a seamless structure surrounding the payment of salaries and how to effectively onboard new employees. Elevate HR can be your flashlight in the dark, helping you create a positive and motivating company culture for employees in different work environments. The platform is easy to use, its services cost effective and you can save a lot of time by choosing to utilize either their payroll or outsourcing services.

Learn more about how to get a demo or outsource HR tasks for improved company productivity through Elevate HR here.