The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the adoption of hybrid work, which allows employees to work both remotely and in the office. With this trend becoming a permanent fixture in many organizations, experts predict that hr technology will play an increasingly important role in supporting hybrid work. This article will discuss the technology that will support hybrid work in 2023 and the challenges that come with it.
Overcoming Proximity Bias with Productivity Tracking
One of the challenges that organizations will face in hybrid work is proximity bias. This is the tendency for managers to favor employees who are physically present in the office over those who work remotely. To overcome this, organizations will need to focus on managing by results rather than physical presence. This means that managers will need to focus on measuring the productivity of employees rather than their physical location.
Productivity tracking will play a key role in this. Organizations will need to track the productivity of both remote and in-office workers to ensure that they are performing at the same level. Benchmarking tools and new methods for tracking productivity and performance of hybrid workers will become increasingly important. These tools will collect numerous data points, from measuring employee sentiment to tracking the number of employees using office spaces or training tools.
However, organizations need to be careful not to erode worker trust by excessive employee tracking. HR leaders should prioritize more meaningful metrics, including the quality and quantity of employee output. Additionally, organizations will need to train managers to manage by results rather than physical presence. This will require a shift in mindset for many managers who are used to managing employees based on their physical presence.
The Rise of AI in HR
As organizations seek to do more with less in 2023, the use of AI will grow to include recruiting, identifying skills gaps in the workforce, analyzing engagement survey data, and answering employees’ frequently asked questions. Using AI to analyze worker data beyond traditional demographic and performance metrics will be key. More HR departments now view their workforce data as a strategic asset to help guide key business and talent decisions in areas such as upskilling, scheduling, staffing, and more.
Companies will also begin to find real-world applications for “generative AI,” like ChatGPT from OpenAI. This tool not only acts as a search engine but can perform complex tasks like writing essays or computer code. However, the use of AI in HR will also come under regulatory and legislative scrutiny in the coming year. For example, a New York City law will go into effect in April 2023 that requires employers in that city to conduct an independent audit of AI tools they use for employment decisions.
Recruiting in the Hybrid Work Era
Recruiting will also see significant changes in 2023. With recent labor shortages and the need to improve long-term employee development and retention, improving top-of-the-funnel recruiting processes will be a top priority for HR and talent acquisition leaders. Programmatic job advertising that can strategically deliver ads to the right prospective candidates will be valuable in 2023. This will be important as the economy faces uncertainty, and employers must maximize the efficiency of their job advertisement budgets.
Recruiting leaders will also benefit from more strategic use of video in 2023. Authentic, employee-generated videos result in the most engagement from candidates. Recruiting teams should use videos in job ads, on a career site, in candidate emails, and throughout the hiring process. The videos should communicate the organization’s values, tell the employees’ stories, introduce candidates to the leadership team, and explain the hiring process.
Creating an engaging candidate experience will be critical in 2023. Whether we enter a recession or not, top candidates will always have choices and opportunities. Every recruiting leader should apply for a job on their career site via a mobile device to experience it from