Top 9 Predictions for HR Leaders in SaaS in 2023

1. “Quiet hiring”: HR leaders will turn to “quiet hiring”, by reskilling current employees and providing upskilling opportunities to fulfill employees’ career aspirations.

2. Hybrid flexibility: Smart organisations will provide more flexibility to frontline workers, including more control over their schedules, more paid leave, and more stability in work schedules, rather than limiting flexibility in the name of fairness.

3. Managers will be sandwiched by leader and employee expectations: Leading organisations will recognise the pressure on managers and provide support and training to mitigate the managerial skills gap while clarifying manager priorities and redesigning their roles where necessary.

4. Pursuit of non-traditional candidates: Organisations will need to diversify and expand their talent pipelines by relaxing formal education and experience requirements in job postings and reaching out to internal or external candidates from non-traditional backgrounds.

5. Healing pandemic trauma: To address employee stress, organisations will shift from offering rest as a recovery solution and instead will support proactive rest for employees to help them maintain their emotional resilience and performance. A July 2022 Gartner survey of nearly 3,500 employees found that when organizations offer proactive rest, they see a 26% increase in employee performance.

6. Managing employee burnout: HR will need to take a more proactive approach in preventing employee burnout by implementing well-being programs, redesigning work processes and policies.

7. Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI): Many employees say their company’s DEI efforts are divisive; HR will need to address these concerns.

8. AI in recruiting: Concerns around biases in the use of AI in recruiting will lead to increased transparency by organisations and public disclosure of hiring metrics.

9. Erosion of social skills: With hybrid and remote work, there are three key components to consider for employee collaboration: choice and autonomy for employees, a clear structure and purpose, and an element of fun.