Changes in the workplace have come in thick and fast over the past couple of years. The ongoing labour shortage driven by the “Great Resignation”, the increased demand for flexible and remote work arrangements and the economic climate have led to two huge trends with the current workforce.
Firstly, organizations are finding it more difficult than ever to fill open vacancies, both skilled and unskilled. Secondly, employees have more power than ever before to choose who, when and where they work.
The workforce is changing dramatically. The outlook of the future of work has become more transparent in the past couple of years than any time before it.
The future of work, as defined by Gartner, describes changes in how work will get done over the next decade, influenced by factors such as technological, generational and social shifts. But what about the changes in how work will get done over the next year?
In this blog, we take a look at some of the top trends that will define work in 2022. We hope this gives your workforce strategy some guidance, helping your HR and procurement teams to reach their goals.
An increased dependency on contingent workers
To address the workforce shortage and traditional methods of employment, many organizations in 2022 will become increasingly dependent on the contingent workforce to fulfill their workforce needs.
In fact, according to Gartner research, some 32 percent of organizations are replacing full-time employees with contingent workers as a cost-saving measure. Meanwhile, Staffing Industry Analysts found that business spending in the contingent workforce category rose 22.8 percent year over year.
The contingent workforce has been rising at an increasingly steady pace for the past decade, but we expect to see that ramp up in 2022 as organizations look to gain a competitive edge over others in their industry by using nontraditional staffing to fulfill their workforce requirements and acquire top talent.
Upskilling and investment in current employees
Currently there’s a severe mismatch between the demand for talent and the available supply. Employees are leaving the job market to retire, take a break, start their own business or to even join the contingent workforce.
With new employee talent acquisitions becoming increasingly more difficult, in 2022 we can expect to see organizations turn their attention to upskilling and investing in their current employees.
By training current employees to move into new roles and take on new opportunities, businesses are able to get the skills they lack without looking outside their business and even improve their employee retention strategy.
Hybrid work environments will continue to grow in popularity
The pandemic forced large organizations to operate remotely, and it worked for many. Managers now understand that their employees can be productive from outside the office, and workers now recognize their need for flexible work arrangements.
There are currently three predominant models of work - the physical office, remote work, and the hybrid environment that mixes both physical office spaces with remote flexibility. In 2022, we expect that an increasing number of businesses will give their employees the choice of where they want to work.
Rather than being forced to come into an office between the hours of 9-5, workers will have the flexibility to decide where they work from and what hours they work.
An increase in organization complexity
As businesses look towards new ways to augment their workforce, organization complexity will increase. There will be more vendors to manage, more risk to mitigate and new strategies that need to be implemented to run a successful workforce made up of different categories of workers.
When it comes to businesses managing externally-sourced workers, Vendor Management Systems (VMS) and Managed Services Providers (MSP) will become an essential component of building a productive, efficient and cost-effective workforce.
A renewed focus on employee loyalty and retention
With talent acquisition becoming increasingly more difficult in 2022, we will see businesses turn their attention to improving the loyalty and retention of their existing employees. Skilled employees will be increasingly more difficult to replace upon leaving a business, so keeping them is crucial to ROI.
To do this, companies will look internally at their benefits package, company culture and the employee experience to ensure they offer an environment that employees want to remain at.
Interested in learning more about the top workplace trends in 2022, and how your organization can better achieve its workforce goals? Get in touch with the Contrax team of talent acquisition and contingent workforce experts today, we can help you optimize your workforce in the New Year!
