HR Trends 2023: What Future Holds for HR, Considering the Impact of the Pandemic on the Way We Work

At the end of 2020, Accountor Group and the Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences started a joint research project aimed at studying the impact of international, social, economic and business changes on organizations, as well as on the role of HR managers at different companies.

 The project included a survey of 176 HR professionals who were interviewed about their opinions on the current condition of their companies and about how things could change in the next three years.

Here are five HR trends that are expected to intensify in the coming years.

Trend 1.

Responsibility and sustainable development are not new phenomena, but, according to the survey, they will become even more important in the coming years.

79% of respondents believe that the role of responsibility/accountability as of a business value will we growing, and this is 9% more than last year. The impact of sustainable development at companies is getting stronger in all areas (economic, environmental, social and humanitarian), compared to the results of last year's survey.

Trend 2:

Remote work has been implemented in many companies due to the COVID19 exceptional situation.

84 out of 108 respondents who answered the open-ended question noted that the role of remote work has been increasing, and they believe that this trend will continue in the future.

Interestingly, according to estimates of half of the respondents, remote work will also increase labor productivity within 2-3 years. This is especially true for small companies with fewer than 50 employees. HR professionals believe remote productivity and workflow flexibility will be increasing in the coming years.

Trend 3:

Independence is the most important trend in the labor process. In practice, it looks like more responsibility will be shifted to individuals and teams.

The survey results show that the opportunities for employees to influence business processes at their companies will be increasing in the near future. For example, the staff will be able to make more impact on work systematization, on system development  and on organizational changes.

On the other hand, experts believe that staff empowerment will have the most impact on working methods and feedback practices.

Meanwhile, self-development is getting more and more important.

76% of respondents believe that the responsibility of employees for their education will be increasing, whereas, the, so to say, “self-employment” of personnel will be getting more and more support.

Trend 4:

Digitalization. The pandemic has accelerated the process of digital transformation in many companies.

The development of digitalization, automation and robotics will have a significant impact on the work of HR managers in the nearest 2-3 years. Of course, this will facilitate everyday work by eliminating manual operations and speeding up processes and data processing.

This trend, in turn, is going to give the HR sphere more opportunities for such processes as planning, coaching and development, while simultaneously changing the role of HR managers.

Also, using social networks may expand the possibilities of the recruitment process and boost the company’s employer image.

Trend 5:

The most important information in organizations is moving to digital platforms.

A significant difference from the results of the previous year's survey is that the most important source of information for an organization, according to respondents, is no longer a person, but digital platforms.

In a 2019 survey, 88% of respondents believed that people where the most reliable source of information when it comes to learning about the company.

According to a new survey, 86% of respondents now believe that the most important information about the company is stored on digital platforms.

2020 was exceptional in many ways. The pandemic quickly changed the daily lives of individuals, businesses, and organizations.

However, almost any crisis creates new opportunities for development. For now, we may say that 2020 had some positive consequences as it boosted digitalization, readiness for change, discussion of values, and trust in HR managers. Today, these factors have become more important than ever before.