Flexible, hybrid and remote working were the real buzzwords of 2022.
You couldn’t avoid them, and businesses soon found themselves falling behind in attracting and retaining their people without a forward-thinking, flexible working approach.
The ‘post-pandemic-new-way-of-working’ is now a phrase as commonplace as the term ‘unprecedented times’ was in 2020.
It was even announced at the start of December that flexible working requests would become a legal employee right from day one of employment. That’s huge!
But as we enter 2023, the chatter around remote working turns to how to really make this work longer term, and the other implications associated with home working (think vast, empty, expensive offices and remote teams struggling to maintain a collaborative culture).
So what do we expect to see in 2023, and how can you adopt these new trends into your business, to stay ahead of the curve?
It’s been almost three years since the pandemic started, but it’s unfair to say businesses have had three years to get to grips with remote working. Only in the last 12-18 months have things started to become clearer, and employees have been able to digest that this is something they want to see commonplace, and businesses have put attraction, retention and engagement strategies in place to make it feasible.
What we’re likely to see emerging in 2023 is data to show the emotional and physiological effect that working remotely has on all of us. We truly are social beings, so although flexibility and remote first approaches enrich our lives, there’s likely to be a shift in how employees are coping without regular interactions.
With this being said, we’re likely to find companies investing in employee engagement more heavily in 2023, to help build positive cultures and improve retention.
Try working these into your retention strategy to help with engagement:
Employees will be looking to grow and develop as we move further into 2023, (a focus which was somewhat parked due to adapting to a new way of working in the last couple of years) in order to feel fulfilled and happy in their jobs.
In an effort to keep, as well as attract new talent, it’s a good idea to start looking deeper into your L&D offerings and personal development, and how these might work with remote teams. Look at including this in your benefits package, offering a one off sum for employees to use on online/in-person courses of their choosing, to encourage them to upskill, and improve the chances of retaining them longer term.
And what about your employee’s personal development? Performance and development plans might tie back to your values as a business, to help strengthen its culture. But instead of this, set employees a simple exercise of coming up with their word for 2023, which can form part of their personal development. Make it personal to them, and really allow them to express themselves in what it would mean to live and breathe that word in 2023. For instance, if the employee chose the word ‘confidence’, their personal goals could be made up of a variety of exercises and plans to achieve this, all forming part of a personal development plan.
There was a huge focus on employee mental health in 2022, and this kickstarted thinking around new employee incentives and wellbeing initiatives to improve mental health.
In 2023, we’re likely to see companies personalising these to fit their teams, to form a wider attraction and retention strategy.
For instance, we could see an introduction of company ‘digital detox’ days, to help prevent burnout.
The French Government has gone a step further by legally establishing a ban on emails. As a result, companies in France that employ more than 50 individuals are mandated to provide their employees with the freedom to disconnect from technology outside of work hours.
A good place to start with this is by asking employees what the key things are they struggle with on a daily basis. If you notice any key themes, then it’s a good idea to start working your benefits package around these issues. Employees will feel valued, looked after and listened to, and looking after your people is a really solid step in building and nurturing a positive culture.
So that’s a wrap on our predictions for 2023, and how you can adopt these into your people strategy.
Want to know more? Check our our blog on some of the best data sources to make sure your strategy and 2023 is led by data.
Drop us a line, we’d love to have a chat!
