5 Top Talent Management Trends 2022

The worldwide pandemic has caused huge workplace disruptions in the last couple of years. The changes will not stop in 2022, considering all the new Covid variants that are continuously emerging and shaping the way of working.

This article explores the underlying talent management trends that are going to shape the current year:

1. Employee wellbeing will be at the core of organizations’ focus

A 2020 American Psychological Association Survey of 3,409 working adults found that 78% regularly felt stressed, while 20% felt their mental health was worse than the previous year. The triggers included lack of separation between work and home, huge workloads, and worries over job security.

Since mental health affects productivity, employers should consider creating methods that help their employees feel emotionally at peace while at work. Moreover, 62% of employees surveyed identified employee wellbeing as a key deciding factor when applying for a new job.

According to Forbes, wellbeing has expanded from an individual to an employee’s entire family and has broadened from financial wellbeing to include mental, social, physical, and career wellbeing. Among the most popular strategies to increase wellbeing at work are giving more control to how employees do their work, allowing more flexibility in schedules, keeping workloads reasonable, and trying to generate a sense of belonging among the team.  

2. Organizations will focus on employee re-skilling and upskilling

People make or break an organization; motivated, skilled people working in a psychologically safe environment. Today, people are being confronted with fear, uncertainty, and doubt. Calling people resources and assets does not foster a mindset of empathy and wellbeing.

Skilled human resources are one of the best assets of any company. With the shortage of multi-talented professionals who can adapt fast to evolving and changing job roles, the re-skilling and upskilling of existing employees has become an important way for companies to stay competitive in the market. The World Economic Forum has estimated that over half of employees (54%) will require significant re-skilling by 2022. Micro and on-demand learning will become the new focus. 

Two-thirds of organizations believe that learning & development programs will be able to address the skills gap, but constraints such as financial support and lack of suitable technology are impeding the process.  

“We are also in an age of massive resignations; attracting skilled staff is hard, retaining them is harder. It is not just salary and position that count; the ability to continually learn and grow, working in a safe environment, flexibility to work from anywhere, being respected, not being seen as simply resources or assets are important.” (Paul Wilkinson)

3. Hybrid work models will become a must 

The pandemic has forced companies to adopt hybrid work models, and everybody figures that productive work can also be done from home. As such, less importance will be given to the place of work, and the focus will shift towards delivering business outcomes. At the same time, the opportunity to go to the office and engage with peer colleagues will also be necessary. Thus, the solution is to allow people to work both remotely and from the office. According to the Gartner report, 90% of HR leaders would like to allow their employees to split their time between working remotely and working in an office post-vaccination.

This puts additional strain on managers as many leaders want to see people working, are fearful and sometimes distrustful, and leading remote workers and helping them feel part of a team are different from their traditional roles. New skills and behaviors are required by managers as well. 

“Companies who will thrive will take advantage of the new remote work culture to leverage talent from around the globe. Hiring strategies will shift towards finding people who are curious and seek out learning. This will necessitate investment in talent development strategies that are robust – following people from onboarding through upskilling to career pathing.” Andrea Tucker

4. Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) are essential 

The key reasons for enterprises to focus on DE&I initiatives are to: 

• get access to a larger talent pool with professionals from diverse backgrounds 
• ensure that employees are satisfied, motivated, and productive
• create a greater sense of belonging within the organization
• attract and retain top talent. 

To realize the full potential of diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace, companies should clearly define their vision and develop strategies for it, especially since it is estimated that DE&I outcomes are going to be challenged by remote work. 

“Companies will look to improve their employer branding, leaning on inclusivity and sustainability to make themselves more appealing to workers who are interested in pursuing their work with people who share their values.” Andrea Tucker 

5. Managerial work will be automated, leaving more space for building human relationships with employees

According to the Harvard Business Review, the managers’ roles will also undergo a shift. Technology products are going to take over managerial tasks such as scheduling, monitoring, providing performance feedback, etc. The research shows that up to 65% of the tasks a manager currently does have the potential to be automated by 2025. More specifically, The Future of Jobs Report indicates that by 2025, the time spent on current tasks at work by humans and machines will be equal. 

This will shift the perception around managers’ responsibilities and extend their skillsets towards creating deeper connections with employees, helping employees to improve career trajectories, and being more proactive in identifying and solving employee needs. 

Resources to address talent management within your organization 

DASA DevOps Certification Program
One trend identified in this blog is the need for organizations to focus on employee upskilling and re-skilling. DASA can help you with that. DASA identified three broad areas, or profiles, of expertise and developed a certification program designed for each profile. We encourage you to look at these profiles and map the upskilling needs of your organization with DASA Certifications.

DASA Membership and Talent Academy
DASA has also developed a flexible approach to membership to suit the size and requirements of each member organization. All options are designed to address challenges, attain agility, and help you deliver business value faster. The membership will give your organization access to Talent Academy, an eLearning platform with micro-sized learning paths specifically tailored for the most significant DevOps roles.