HR Predictions for 2023 from Pyn
What's going to shape the HR practice in 2023, thoughts from Pyn's CEO informed by conversations with HR and EX leaders
Written by
Joris Luijke, Co-Founder & Co-CEO
Last year, my article on post-pandemic HR predictions became one of our most read for the year. It articulated long term trends following the world’s rapid move to remote work.
To explore these predictions further, we hosted a webinar on the topic with Julie Major G., Director of Talent Acceleration at Shopify and Nadia Vatalidis, VP of People at Remote.
So as we begin a new year, from the hundreds of conversations I’ve had with HR and EX leaders over the past 6 months, here are the things I think will shape 2023.
1. We’ll “push” the right info to employees
When the pandemic hit, most HR teams started to rethink ways to communicate and document information. The first push was to ensure processes are written down properly. It resulted in a new generation of The Employee Handbook (with Gitlab’s handbook as an example) with pages and pages of information on ‘the way we do things’ for employees and teams.
Still, getting answers to what seem like simple questions can feel like a large obstacle to a worker based at home. Employees now have to wade through an ocean of information and the volume is only increasing. No one can find anything.
Now HR moves to "push" info to people (personalized and well timed based on people's needs) to avoid folk from having to wait or search for answers
2. DEIB will survive on a shoestring
Challenging social events and remote strategies and global perspective contributed to an increased interest (and budget) for DEIB work.
Sadly, I suspect the economic downturn will squeeze budgets and staffing for DEIB work. On all fronts, teams will have to do more with less and learn to lean on scalable systems so they don’t rely on manual efforts as much.
And it is sad, because DEIB work was often underfunded to begin with. My cents: if you really care about this work, don’t cut your diversity budget.
3. A new level of employee experience is coming
McKinsey’s presented the “New HR Operating Model”, describing a model of Excellence in selected "moments that matter" along the employee journey (vs HRBP model and centralized centers of excellence).
I think EX is a game-changer for organizations, especially for hybrid or remote teams and some companies seem to agree: when we wrote about the emerging EX role a few months ago, LinkedIn had close to 250,000 job postings in the United States alone that mention the term “employee experience” and over 13,000 for director and above EX positions.
HR and EX leaders have an opportunity to bridge cross-functional gaps and data fragmentation challenges and design efficient journeys, from onboarding to development to exit.
HRIS systems are not set up to easily deliver support at moments throughout the employee journey, and if they do - the experience is subpar.
Companies need a way to design and deliver the promise of better EX and I expect, and am excited for, Pyn to play a vital role here!
4. As people struggle, mental health apps thrive
Did you feel stressed, anxious, and fatigued more than usual the past years? You were not alone! With the rising cost of living, feeling of disconnection with hybrid or remote work, social challenges, and an unsettled economy - the stressors on people won’t likely change
The past few years, plenty of mental health apps have popped up to facilitate connecting therapists with employees. Apps like Headspace, Olivia, Ginger will continue to do well because employees will continue to need support.
5. Compensation clarity will be in high demand
Inflation, pay transparency mandates, and the need to localize salaries for remote workers (or not), put intense pressure on HR to revise their comp strategies on the fly.
As I suggested in my post-pandemic HR predictions last year, most employers made adjustments to their approaches, though most still lack a consistent approach.
Problem with pay, you can’t just ‘wing it’, nor provide short term fixes. Employees demand clarity and in 2023 your company will need clarity on all fronts.
I expect many companies will refine their compensation philosophy documents and practices and more HR tech players will provide tools to facilitate compensation planning.
6. Manager training & support adjusts to a new reality
Of all employees, middle managers are reporting the highest levels of stress and anxiety and the worst work-life balance, according to research from Slack Technologies’ Future Forum.
Yet, middle managers are also key in making remote work, work. Gitlab CEO, Sid Sijbrandij, explains that, when they moved to remote, managers had never been more important.
Managers need guidance quickly when they encounter challenging situations, and standard manager training falls short in providing that point-of-need support. Manager training has simply become ‘yet another task’ a manager needs to do.
So, with extremely high demands on middle managers, we need to find ways to make their lives easier.
Companies are now equipping their managers to make informed decisions in the moment. Providing timely, targeted support ensures they don't have to hunt around for answers or cycle back through manager training materials - giving them far more confidence and clarity when responding to a situation.
7. The domino effect of layoffs will continue (for a bit)
All of us in HR felt the whiplash when companies’ high valuations and need for fast growth turned into cash preservation and layoffs. And I don’t think it’s over yet.
If your business is burning cash, preserving cash will most likely have been a topic of discussion at the board meetings. And even solid businesses are digging in for a longer winter that will last well into the summer.
8. AI won’t be coming for the jobs of HR or EX leaders
Sure, Chat-GTP is mindblowing and AI will impact our field, no doubt. But let’s face it: its impact on HR and EX will be minimal in the next 12 months.
Don’t get me wrong, I believe that some HR platforms will likely explore incorporating this new technology and folks in your team may well experiment with Chat-GTP to write things like job descriptions, OKRs, interview questions, and more.
But for now - though it may make us more efficient in our jobs - I don’t think it will fundamentally change our work.
Joris dreamt of having Pyn as Head of People at Atlassian and Squarespace. Now dreams of getting a sleep-in on Sunday.