Business Growth: Hiring and Benefit Trends

“If you want one year of prosperity, grow grain. If you want ten years of prosperity, grow trees. If you want one hundred years of prosperity, grow people.” That ancient proverb is applicable today, as it was thousands of years ago, maybe even more so, when it comes to working with people, versus having them work for you.

While there are many areas that need to be addressed in the area of Human Resource management, several surveys and studies have been conducted recently to help companies get a grip on ways to improve the overall employee experience. Here are a few trends for you to consider implementing in your business:

The Hartford conducted a study which showed the following perquisites were of significant interest to employees: paid time off (52%), hospital indemnity insurance (48%), employee assistance programs (56%), and mental health services (51%).

Possibly, one of the more significant pieces of information from one of the surveys was the impact of the multigenerational workforce. It showed baby boomers and Generation X employees end up staying twice as long as Millennial employees. Your company should be cognizant of this trend and respond accordingly, monitoring departure trends based upon the multigenerational workforce in your firm.

LinkedIn recently conducted a survey of more than seven thousand human resource professionals. The results of the survey indicated that people analytics was one of the major future needs or needed outcomes with the main theme being taking care of people. People analytics is defined by Inc Magazine as “using data to bolster your Human Resource department’s ability to consistently find and retain great employees.” People analytics is one major trend that close to half of the companies surveyed indicated they needed help for measuring employee performance in order to “identify flight risks within their ranks, reduce bias in hiring and promotions, predict a job candidate’s potential success in a role, and so on.”

Another area of importance is that of “promoting from within” the company. Many companies overlook the best possible candidates, employees who are right in front of them. The survey showed 82% of respondents agreed this is “becoming increasingly important to the success of the company.” The data seems to bear out that companies who promote from within their ranks retain more of their staff.

A recent study by Gartner indicated 47% of companies surveyed will provide for working remotely part of the time, even though the pandemic is all but finished. Further trends indicate that close to 43% of companies will also be offering flex-days as part of their benefits, allowing staff members to choose when they can work remotely or on-site. The new concept is called hybrid offices and according to Gartner, it is one of the hottest trends so far in 2022.

Many organizations are also providing for coworking space instead of the traditional individual office, dedicated desk, or workplace. When they are planning to work on-site, they reserve a particular place in advance. Some companies are even allowing their employees to choose the hours and/or days they are able to work, which is trending to be radically different than the traditional eight to five job, five days a week.

The above trends alone are impacting the long term and strategic implications of office space and the utilization of real estate assets. Some companies are taking a longer view of this trend and adjusting their capital expenditures for bricks and mortar, accordingly. Sales and marketing software company Hubspot, gives their staff three options; @home, @ office, or @flex allowing them to choose working from home, office, or a flexible plan, for where they want to work most of their time in the coming year. Using this kind of plan not only helps the employee plan their year, it allows the company to plan for how their building will be utilized.

Redefining the employee experience has become a top priority for many companies. In light of the “great resignation”, many organizations are striving to build even stronger leadership teams and building trust among the current workforce, according to a recent study by McKinsey. The employee experience will be defined as focusing on well being and streamlining everyday tasks.

Finally, some companies are even providing for food being delivered to an employee at home, in order to minimize or eliminate the need for grocery shopping and cooking.