These are the 3 HR trends for 2022: Realign, Reconnect and Redeploy

In the past two pandemic-riddled years, turning trends into reality has been a tough task for HR professionals. Could 2022 be the year the tide turns? HRM software provider Talentsoft uncovers the 3 HR trends for the upcoming year.

Jasper Spanjaart on December 13, 2021 Average reading time: 4 min
Share this article:
These are the 3 HR trends for 2022: Realign, Reconnect and Redeploy

Even though HR teams everywhere had set their goals at the beginning of 2020, March would throw a curveball at them the size of a full-on, worldwide pandemic. Employee safety was suddenly atop the list. Remote productivity shot up the list. Over the course of the past two, pandemic-filled years, reactivity became the norm for HR teams — and justifiably so.

“Companies now have two choices. One is to assemble the puzzle back into the same picture it once was. The second is look at it, and say it’s time for a new design.”

“What will perhaps become a bit bigger next year is HR busting boxes”, says Rishita Jones of NRG HR. “It’s like we’ve had an HR puzzle. And the pandemic got a hold of this puzzle, threw it up in the air and scattered it all over the place. Companies now have two choices. One is to assemble the puzzle back into the same picture it once was. The second is to look at it, and say it’s time for a new design, a new picture, a new future.”

HR trend #1: Realign

When organisations set out goals and missions to accomplish — seldom is reactivity part of the strategy. That’s why Talentsoft has identified realignment as the first trend for 2022. “Reacting to situations might be an effective way to get through emergencies, but it’s no way to build a long-term vision. 2022 is the year to step back from reactivity and become proactive in responding to what’s going on around you.”

“Reacting to situations might be an effective way to get through emergencies, but it’s no way to build a long-term vision.”

“The biggest area that we see changing is the area of learning”, says Rebecca Wettemann, principal at analyst firm Valoir. “It’s time to think more broadly about learning experiences and about mentoring and coaching. And even peer-to-peer mentoring can be a really important asset in building both employee engagement and skills and talent.”

For organisations, it’s an opportunity to focus on success planning rather than succession planning, as Wettemann smartly puts it. “It can be as simple as identifying the top skills for key roles”, she says. “And identifying the right mentors and coaches to help employees get there. In so many cases in the past, coaching and mentoring was only applied to the top level of talent. Now with technology, we can really offer that kind of mentor-led skills building.”

HR trend #2: Reconnect

As many workforces operated remotely, work collaboration between colleagues changed for the first time in their existence. That’s why the focus must be on reconnection, according to Talentsoft. And while employee experience was once largely built up out of perks and benefits. The focus should now be on practices and policies that reconnect and create a deeper sense of togetherness between employees in an organisation.

“If organisations want to move the needle on improving employee wellbeing, the systems and policies of work themselves have to change.”

“The future of work is employee wellbeing”, Jones argues. “And if organisations want to move the needle on improving employee wellbeing, the systems and policies of work themselves have to change. It’s not just about launching a meditation app or creating a yoga room. You can’t tackle something as immense as this with band-aid solutions — because we’re ultimately not addressing the root cause of the problem.”

Human resources professionals will need to find methods of detecting mental health distress among employees and making sure they have the resources to deal with those issues.”

The first step for organisations would be to measure the mental state of the workforce, according to Talensoft. “What this means for HR departments is that there will need to be a new, concerted effort to create wellness programs and employee assistance programs that focus equally on mental health. Human resources professionals will need to find methods of detecting mental health distress among employees and making sure they have the resources to deal with those issues.”

HR trend #3: Redeploy

Europe, and indeed much of the world, will face an unprecedented labour shortage in the forthcoming years. Moreover, by 2030, the World Economic Forum predicts that more than 1 billion people worldwide will need to be retrained. So the onus is on HR professionals to find ways to redeploy employees. Talensoft: “The HR team needs to take the lead, initiate learning paths.”

“In many ways, every organisation is absolutely desperate to upskill and reskill.”

Therein lies an opportunity for organisations and HR departments to truly understand the skills of their employees, according to David Perring, Director of Research at the Fosway Group. “In many ways, every organisation is absolutely desperate to upskill and reskill. It’s about identifying matches within the workforce, but also about fundamental skills gaps between what you want to do in the future and the resources that are available to you today.”

It is all about identifying skills and connecting people with opportunities. So they don’t have to search for it, but it comes to them.”

“To some extent, skills intelligence and talent mobility have become a key trend for 2021, but I think it’s going to run on into 2022”, Perring says. “They are so deeply intertwined, it’s difficult to separate one without the other. It is all about identifying skills and connecting people with opportunities. So they don’t have to search for it, but it comes to them.”

Download the full HR Trends 2022 Ebook by Talentsoft

Share this article:
Jasper Spanjaart

Jasper Spanjaart

Editor-in-Chief and Writer at ToTalent.eu
Editor-in-Chief and writer for European Total Talent Acquisition platform ToTalent.eu.
Watch full profile

Premium partners View all partners

Intelligence Group
Ravecruitment
Recruitment Tech
Timetohire
Werf&

Read the newsletter about total talent acquisition.