In 2017, organizations focused on the well-being and satisfaction of their employees. Business leaders looked to build a better environment for their workforce and invested in strategies to help recruit and retain top talent. Buzzwords like ‘culture’ and ‘engagement’ were in the forefront of business discussions.
The year 2018 will bring a fresh set of trends that may significantly impact the way businesses operate. Leaders will look for ways to provide employees with the tools they need to thrive and develop. Key trends will focus on technology and digital integration, collaboration and the employee experience.
There will be a focus on collaboration, including the use of social networks. Another popular prediction includes innovative work arrangements allowing work to become more adaptive and less formal. Interested? Read on for more.
Digital Integration and Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Alexa…. Siri… Hey Google…
Technology continues to transform the way employees go about their daily activities. Digital tools have become more user-friendly than ever before. With these advances, investment in digital tools and strategies is expected to reach an all-time high in 2018. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is seeping into every industry and profession. While AI can take many forms, in 2018 we will most likely see a sharp increase in recruitment using the AI-enabled ‘chatbots’ to match candidates with jobs.
Cisco forecasts that by the end of 2018, 82 percent of all consumer Internet traffic will be video. Live and recorded video, as well as video ads, increasingly dominate our feeds across Facebook and Snapchat and even on Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn. It’s estimated that nearly half of businesses are implementing social videos, with another 25-30 percent planning to implement them in 2018.
The Employee Experience
Culture and employee engagement were top priorities in 2017. The ‘employee experience’ is quickly becoming the new focus for 2018. Susan Peters, Senior Vice President of HR at General Electric, defines this as, “seeing the world through the eyes of our employees, staying connected, and being aware of their major milestones.”
With the growing influence of younger generations and the increasing transparency of the digitalization age, employees are expecting a more engaging and enjoyable work experience. This will be a year where leaders develop the ‘employee experience’ to include engagement, culture and performance management.
We can expect to see more businesses move away from traditional, structured training programs leaning towards more self-directed, social, informal learning platforms. Social connectivity will also help create an environment of user-generated content and shared ideas, making learning more digestible and engaging. In place of fixed, formal content, this will lead to a more organic workplace learning environment with a viral-like impact.
In 2018, companies will increasingly turn to existing employees to fill open positions, offering training and encouraging employees to seek promotions. With fewer new employees expected to enter the workforce in the coming years, employers are seeing the advantage of investing in people that are already familiar with, and loyal to, their company. Businesses can no longer rely on a one-size-fits-all approach to talent management if they want to attract and retain top talent. Tailored and personalized learning opportunities for employees of all types will become the norm. Continuous learning will be a hot trend this year. Digital training is an increasingly attractive option because it gives employers the ability to measure employee productivity through user data. It also allows for a more collaborative experience between departments. As a result, work-from-home and other flexible workplace options are expected to become more and more common place.