According to leading research and insights firm Gartner, the top priorities for business owners and HR specialists in 2022 are shifting to meet current times and economic conditions.
Interviewing over 500 owners, here are some of their key findings and recommendations you can apply in your planning for 2022.
Despite the pandemic placing financial strain and pressure on many businesses, Gartner found that in 2021, the need for optimising costs was down by 17%, and investing in business transformation was up by 11% from previous years.
Building employee skills and competencies has commonly been a challenge, regardless of time or era, however the shift in varying skills and the need for new skills we don’t know exist yet will be a key focus in 2022 — making it difficult for workforce planning.
The Gartner survey found one in three skills that were required for general roles in 2018, will no longer be needed in 2022, with a critical focus on a suite of tech-related competencies, including skills in the use of Python, SQL and cloud computing.
In a world which is constantly changing — sometimes shifting dramatically within a 24 hour period — it is no surprise that employees are experiencing a sense of ‘change whiplash’ and fatigue.
The survey found that today’s average employee can only absorb half the amount of change before becoming fatigued as they did in 2019, impacting on team innovation, discretionary effort, performance, team collaboration, employee inclusion and intent to stay with an organisation.
Focusing on managing the small and incremental day-to-day changes, building trust and team cohesion are ways to mitigate the risk of burnout and change fatigue.
As mentioned in our blog from last week, the constant disruption and changes in circumstances due to the pandemic has resulted in a complete unravelling of workforce planning.
Post-Covid-19, it is likely we will see an increase in contingent workers, a greater role of the employer as a social security net, more polarising perspectives of work being view as either humanising or de-humanising, differing approaches to crisis management, and a focus on employee resilience over efficiency.
Business owners and managers can workforce plan effectively by developing ‘scenario analyses’ (eg. Scenario A will require X approach, scenario B will require Y approach and scenario C will require Z approach) to assess future talent needs.
Particularly focused around mid-level managers, advancing the right talent has been highlighted as a key focus in 2022, with crisis management being mentioned as a critical skill for leaders.
Barriers to leadership advancement include unclear paths and steps to advance, lack of exposure to senior leadership and lack of mentors or career support.
To align with current challenges, the following leadership skills are considered as critical in modern leadership:
76% of employees and job seekers have stated that a diverse and inclusive workforce is one of the most important factors they look at when evaluating company suitability and potential job offers.
Developing a Diversity & Inclusion Policy or statement, or incorporating this into your Culture Code which is advertised in your external recruitment drives can position your business as an employer of choice.
Want to start your year fresh and with a bang? Are you ready to step into the next level of your leadership, business growth and potential?
Take our signature Bespoke HR Culture IQ Score to see how you benchmark against 13 key areas of business, and where your strengths and opportunities lie.
This fully customised report will address the areas in your business that may be leading to people problems, productivity bottlenecks and lower levels of engagement and staff retention.
Take the FREE assessment here. It takes 10 minutes to complete.
created with