Human resource management today is not what it was a few years back. Even for people who are not working in human resources, it is evident that a lot has changed in this sector. Everyone felt changes like shifting from office work to work from home and the demand for greater diversity. But there were other, more subtle, trends in human resources management that have changed the HR industry. So, today we will explore the most important ones to help you better organise your company.
Mental health is the focus of Human resource management
For the first time in many years, we had the chance to globally experience the same problem. Turns out that no one was prepared for this amount of stress. An HR department had the difficult task to come up with the best techniques that would help employees during this period.
The latest trends in this area are focusing on mental and physical wellbeing, professional consultations and meditations as a preventive measure. For people working in the HR department, this trend means exploring ways to give access to licensed counsellors and provide employees with valuable mental health recourses. Another important trend is teaching managers the best ways to discuss mental health with their employees and the best ways to deal with it.
So, even though it seems that the pandemic is going to be over soon, the focus on the mental will still have the greatest importance for HR teams.
Work from home and Automated Documentation
Work from home and hybrid work in the past year has dramatically impacted productivity. According to several studies, remote workers have one more workday per week than people who commute to work. That makes them 47% more productive. But for the human resources department, the fact that people are not in the office means that the signing of various documents will take longer. Smaller business solutions can send emails and wait for people to print, sign, scan, and send them back. But if you are running a company with more than fifteen people, this can become a big issue.
Innovative companies already use automated documentation systems that digitalise paper processes to ease the whole process. This process cuts down the time significantly. Furthermore, the best news is that only 6% of HR teams obtain signatures in this form. So, if your company haven’t moved to automated documents, this is the perfect moment. Digitalisation will allow you to jump a significant obstacle in the business world before others. This is especially crucial for businesses that will continue to work from home, even after the pandemic is over.
Redefined employee experience
The digitalisation of processes and focus on employees' well-being will be the two most important human resource management trends in 2023. These two will lead to redefining employee experience.
According to the research from Hartford’s Future of Benefits Study, employees are now highly interested in paid time off (52%), mental health services (51%), wellness benefits (51%) and employee assistance programs (56%). There are even interesting statistics that some employees are interested in pet insurance and student loan repayment plans.
This all shows that employees sometimes crave benefits that are not always connected to the company. Some of the great ideas seen recently are food delivery straight to employees’ homes and sending equipment for parties. Of course, some of these benefits won’t work for each company. But that doesn’t mean that we can’t find other creative ways. We can always ask them what would they like and brainstorm new ideas.
Other hot topics in human resources management
These trends above aren’t the only trends in HR for 2023. There are many other hot topics like four days work week, disclosing salaries in job descriptions, inclusive benefits... We will discuss all of those in our next blog posts. We hope you will give us your insights about modern hr trends in 2023 and beyond.
On a related topic check out why HR is an essential asset for successful warehouse management!