2022 employee benefits & workplace predictions: The social change movement gains momentum

This past year has seen the rise of the diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) movement, the seeds of which were planted years ago and are just beginning to sprout. In 2022 and years to come, employers will move beyond awareness to developing and refining data-driven programs. DEI will become more ingrained in culture and branch out to include every level of the organization.

Sounds like a tall order, doesn’t it? Here’s what experts have to say.

Diversity Equity & Inclusion (DE&I) becomes a corporate responsibility to which boards and executives will be held accountable

Over the past year, companies moved quickly to improve how they speak and plan for DEI, but 2022 is when actions are quantitatively measured. Companies will evolve to have their own scorecards to measure specific DEI targets, including representation across employees, boards and partners – and the results will be tied to executive compensation. That score will deeply impact organizations’ ability to compete for and retain talent, as well as improve profitability, efficiency and grow the business. At some point soon, there will also be mandates attached to DEI, even further driving the need for companies to move forward now.

–Thanh Nguyen, CEO and co-founder, OpenComp

Cleaning up toxic culture

With the focus on improving workplace culture, we will also see increased attention on rooting out toxic work environments. This year we saw companies, including Activision Blizzard, Basecamp, McDonald’s and others, come to grips with cultures that allowed harassment and bullying to go unchecked for far too long. As employees demand more from their employers, companies who aren’t providing a safe work environment will face greater scrutiny. Every company needs to evaluate policies on all types of harassment and discrimination, communicate them with staff and then implement the right tools and technology solutions to track and manage employee issues effectively.

–Deb Muller, CEO, HR Acuity

Global teams complement corporate DEI initiatives

Global teams introduce perspectives and diversity that is nearly impossible to find if you’re limited to hiring within one city or one country. It’s also a big piece of equity, because global hiring offers access to work everywhere in the world with an internet connection. It can introduce opportunity in places that, historically, haven’t had many options. This is a key reason why I expect more employers to adopt fully remote not just in 2022, but for decades to come. It’s a slow shift for some companies, and many will go hybrid first, but a fully-remote model is one that truly lets you find and hire the best talent––no matter where they are.

–Matt Redler, CEO, Panther

Gender identification optionality expands

For decades, consumers have had two gender options when quoting and enrolling in health insurance – “male” and “female.” But our society is increasingly recognizing a diverse array of gender identifications, and that includes the business world. Not surprisingly, this cultural shift has reached the employee benefits industry, with some forward-thinking carriers already taking steps to adapt. However, change must happen industry-wide to support this unprecedented shift. In the coming year, we expect more and more insurance carriers and benefits providers to signal they are inclusive of all members and give them options beyond “male” and “female.”

–Michael Levin, co-founder and CEO, Vericred

Pressures for pay equity will increase drastically amid continued remote work shifts

Big tech companies, such as Google, got quite some criticism for cutting salaries for their remote employees who relocated to lower cost of living regions. While some companies, such as Zillow, are actively promoting non-location-based compensation strategies.

To avoid turnover and attract top talent, employers will be revamping their compensation models and plans to be less focused on location – and more on skills, experience, and impact – ultimately driving pay equity on a broader scale.

–Samantha Lawrence, senior vice president of people strategy, Hired

Turning advocacy into action

In 2022, we’ll see U.S.-based companies face demands from stakeholders to leverage their platforms for policy changes, especially those with significant cultural and social impact such as immigration, abortion rights, etc. These are policy issues that may seem unrelated to business or private sector interests. The most recent example is the reaction to the Texas Right to Life legislation. Companies will need to work to understand the role they can play on these issues, and work with employees & other stakeholders (customers, civil society, etc.) to define an authentic response that aligns with their business.

–Admas Kanyagia, vice president of social impact, DigitalOcean

Silicon Valley wealth will be redistributed across the U.S.

Work models will turn more to hybrid or remote. The remote worker compensation models that employers chose, however, will greatly impact this distribution: do you pay a local, national, or company headquarters rate? Most employers, to reduce complexity, are choosing a national rate (which can be adjusted for local markets but remains above the average to attract the best talent). The next question for companies to tackle to drive even more significant wealth distribution is how to distribute equity across the roles and geographies.

–Thanh Nguyen, CEO and co-founder, OpenComp

There will be a clear divide between the companies prioritizing and those deprioritizing DEI

The winners: Companies that will double down on their DEI efforts and successfully leverage best practices to expand their talent pipeline will not only deliver on the public DEI commitments they made in 2019/2020, but also attract and retain top talent.

The losers: Companies that will prioritize growth and attrition challenges over DEI initiatives will see even higher attrition as a result, fail to attract and hire top talent, and fall behind competitors.

–Samantha Lawrence, senior vice president of people strategy, Hired