3 Trends Impacting Human Resources Teams in 2023

Nobody said HR functions were easy, but they can be well-managed

Human resources teams have their work cut out for them. They’re about more than just filling out an employee evaluations form, though that’s a distinctive part of what they do. HR professionals are about creating and maintaining a company culture, all the way from an employee’s point of hire to their retirement. Of course, that only scratches the surface. These teams are in a unique position to work with every other employee of the organization, know and understand all facets of the work the company does, and handle code of conduct implementation and concerns. It’s not easy being an HR professional.

Thankfully HR teams often don’t have to handle everything alone. There are IT teams available to make sure everyone has the tools they need to do their jobs effectively, and a marketing and/or public relations team to support how their company is perceived as a whole. But without the HR team to navigate these treacherous waters, things can get out of hand quickly. In the last few years alone, human resources personnel have faced unprecedented challenges, and while many were entirely unpredictable, some experts are already identifying what might be coming next. Here are some of the upcoming obstacles that HR teams will face in the year ahead.

Cultivating Culture in a Hybrid World

Building a company culture isn’t easy, especially as that company continues to grow or spread out across multiple locations. A 2022 survey of over 2,000 global workers found that 97% of respondents would enjoy working remotely for the rest of their careers, indicating that the love of remote work isn’t a passing fad. Culture, however, continues to be a big part of accepting job offers, or even submitting applications in the first place. As the global economy continues to embrace telecommuting and remote work, creating and maintaining a company culture may prove a larger challenge for HR teams than in the past.

If your team is still working in an all-on-site model, this may seem like it wouldn’t affect you. But keep in mind how many people your team interacts with virtually. Between customers, vendors, and consultants, there are many opportunities for remote connections and your HR team gets to ensure they’re all handled properly. Your company culture extends beyond the reach of just your team, it also includes how your business interacts with the world. And if your digital connections don’t feel the same passion and drive as your in-person team, it can lead to higher turnover rates. In fact, a recent Glassdoor study found that 71% of employees would look for new opportunities if their current company culture begins to deteriorate.

How Can HR Teams Address This?

Managing culture across virtual teams is no easy task, and a lot of these suggestions will depend on what your unique company culture is. Here are a few ways HR teams can cultivate culture in a world gone digital:

• Encourage off-topic chat channels

  • Whether you use Slack, Teams, or something else entirely, encouraging team members to connect over personal interests allows them to create meaningful bonds with their colleagues

• Build extra banter time into meetings

  • You may not have water-cooler banter, but providing even three minutes at the top of a meeting for people to chat and connect can recreate the in-person experience of collaborative problem solving

• Stick to a strong mission and vision

  • Having guiding principles and core values for your team gives them all a united front to stand behind and be passionate about, giving some structure to your company’s culture

• Take the time for onboarding

  • Getting employees started with a structured onboarding process can not only encourage higher productivity, but it can ensure team members know what resources are available to them and how to best connect with others

• Ask your team how they’re feeling about the culture

  • Don’t be afraid to admit you don’t have all the answers! Check-in with everyone in the company regularly to see how they’re feeling about the culture and what would make them feel more connected

Onboarding and Training All New Team Members

While onboarding can go a long way in helping to bring new employees into the company culture, it can do a lot more than that. For HR professionals, designing and implementing a structured, thorough onboarding can be an immense challenge, but one that shouldn’t be overlooked. A standardized onboarding experience can be the difference between an employee’s longevity with the organization or becoming a part of the one-third of employees who quit their job within the first six months.

Not only is onboarding critical to an employee’s success in their role and the business, but it’s also a delicate space for HR professionals to tread. Onboarding applies to everyone joining the company, even those who may be in leadership roles, which can add a stressful element to those performing the training and onboarding. Additionally, in larger or siloed corporate structures, onboarding still applies to everyone, even those who may not interact with anyone else in their onboarding session on a regular basis. 

How Can HR Teams Address This?

So how does an HR professional build connections between every employee, on every team, and in every position?

• Create a structured program

  • Don’t try to treat employees in different departments or levels in different ways, this is a chance to show that everyone is on a level playing field and all employees are respected equally

• Technology can make the most of dull paperwork

  • Onboarding is a unique time when you can tell the stories that make up the history of your organization, so try to streamline all the paperwork with online forms and automated systems to make the most of your time

• Take your time

  • Understand that official onboarding may only last a few days, but many employees don’t feel fully integrated until their first year, so don’t let up on culture check-ins, training reviews, or even meet-and-greets

Rising Social Trends

Much like stealing soap dispensers or the dreaded “Tide Pod Challenge” of 2018, your employees aren’t immune to the impacts of social media trends. While laundry detergent may not be the primary concern for your team, odds are good that you’ve heard about the “Great Resignation” or “Quiet Quitting” trends that are likely to impact your team and talent pool. Different news and media outlets will paint a different picture of any rising fad, one thing rings true: It’s easier than ever for concepts and trends to rise in popularity, at an unprecedented pace. With detailed video, image, and audio content easier to access than ever before, it means that HR professionals have rapid-fire new issues to address.

Unlike other departments, HR teams can’t simply ignore whatever rising trend is playing through the employees’ feeds, but in many cases, it’s also not appropriate to call them out. It’s a delicate balance between acknowledging the fad, being able to identify its potential impact on the team, and ways to mitigate the effects. For example, the “Quiet Quitting” fad, while perceived by many to be a passing fixation, has been found by Gallup to make up at least 50% of the U.S. workforce. HR professionals everywhere are now faced with the task of combating something as intangible as attitude. While the next rising trends have yet to make an appearance, it’s a safe bet that there will be more, and some more pervasive to your employees, in 2023.

How Can HR Teams Address This?

Staying in tune with your colleagues and employees is key, whenever possible try to keep lines of communication open and transparent. But some additional measures you can take are:

• Check-in with your employees

  • Even after onboarding, it’s important to make sure each employee feels valued and heard within the organization, so don’t be afraid to send company-wide polls or ask for anonymous feedback to get real insights into how your teams feel

• Set and respect boundaries

  • Just as the HR team expects each employee to abide by a code of conduct, each individual employee will have their own personal boundaries that their employer should respect as well

• Give everyone a mission to support

  • While it goes along with company culture, having a set mission in place that employees can all work for and feel empowered by will make it more likely for them to find intrinsic value in their work, instead of working just for a paycheck

• Don’t expect everyone to want the same things

  • While some employees may want more than a paycheck from their careers, there’s nothing wrong with working to live instead of living to work, and respecting those differences can make or break your relationship with an employee

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