2022: Human resources and recruiting predictions

2021 was tumultuous for companies and their HR teams – they had to contend with the Great Resignation, shifts to remote and hybrid work models, and evolving employee preferences to attract and retain talent.

What will the recruiting, workplace, and HR trends be for 2022 and what hurdles will companies have to overcome?

HR teams will need to navigate increasingly complex compliance challenges.

With hiring occurring across borders due to remote work, HR teams will need to navigate the increasing complexities around international payroll, benefits, and taxes – complying with different city, state, and federal ordinances. With the shift towards global employment, HR professionals will need new skill sets to operate and stay compliant in this new environment.

We’ve already seen a variety of solutions emerge that help companies manage all of their global employment needs. Such tools, especially PEO (professional employer organization) platforms, will continue to grow and see wider adoption as employers look to hire around the world. Enabling even small startups to easily and compliantly hire global talent and compete with bigger players, PEO platforms will be a true game-changer for global hiring and access to talent.

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

Some tech companies, such as Google, were criticized for cutting the salaries of remote employees who relocated to lower cost of living regions. This approach can erode trust between the company and employees and even lead to workers withholding their relocation. Meanwhile, other companies, including Zillow, are actively promoting non-location-based compensation strategies.

Employees will increasingly be paid based on their skills, experience, the value they provide to the organization, and the impact they make – not based on where they chose to live and work. To avoid turnover and attract top talent, employers will be revamping their compensation plans to be more aligned with their flexible work models and less focused on location – ultimately driving pay equity on a broader, global scale.

The recruiter role will change significantly as companies revamp their recruitment strategies.

Rather than waiting until they need to fill an open position, it’s critical for companies to find and engage with talent continuously to accelerate hiring and stay competitive in this candidate-driven market.

This will significantly change the role of the recruiter as they need to be even more strategic to better personalize their outreach, categorize candidates, and proactively fill up talent pipelines to handle the combined pressures of talent attrition and company growth.

HR tech will be critical to support these efforts by increasing efficiencies and helping build a strong pipeline of qualified and interested candidates in a way that HR teams alone cannot achieve. We see the increasing adoption of tools reflected in the large amount of VC investments, with HR tech startups having received more than $9.2 billion in funding globally so far this year, a 130% increase from 2020.

Employer branding will make or break companies in 2022.

Employer branding has risen to a top, dire priority for companies to attract and retain talent – and it will continue to be top of mind next year. Companies need to effectively communicate their company benefits, perks, values, vision, and most importantly culture, leaning into their unique value proposition and conveying what makes them different. We saw that candidate preferences have changed dramatically this year and companies will need to ensure they adjust their value proposition and policies accordingly to stay competitive.

HR teams will implement more employer brand-focused initiatives, such as hosting and attending industry and recruiting events, updating their career pages and Glassdoor, applying for company awards, and even hiring a Head of Employer Brand to ensure all communications are aligned and consistent across various channels.

Companies will also need to pay special attention to the critical period after an employee leaves as employee enthusiasm for their former employer and engagement post-exit is key to a strong employer brand and supports future recruiting efforts. Most employers neglect this which is a huge missed opportunity. HR teams will have to build and engage with an active employee alumni network to turn former employees into loyal brand ambassadors who tell others about their amazing work experience and share open positions.

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

Numerous studies have shown that diverse workforces lead to the best business results. Gender-diverse companies are 15% more likely to have financial returns, while ethnically diverse companies typically experience a 35% performance increase compared to their homogenous counterparts. When it comes to leadership, research has shown that diverse management teams generate 19 times more revenue than non-diverse teams.

Companies that will double down on their diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts and successfully leverage best practices to expand their talent pipeline will not only deliver on the public DEI commitments they made in the last two years, but also attract and retain top talent and achieve their business goals. They will stand out among the top employers by adopting the right tools to support the achievement of their DEI goals, such as tools that help reduce bias in the hiring process, surface underrepresented talent, and ensure inclusive language in their content.

Despite the undeniable benefits of prioritizing DEI, many companies still struggle to take action. Companies that will prioritize business growth and attrition challenges over DEI initiatives will see higher employee churn as a result, fail to attract and hire top talent, and fall behind competitors. It’s easy to tell employees and candidates you’re committed to DEI, but only those who will walk the walk will win talent and achieve business growth and success in 2022 and beyond.