According to Forbes The human brain unconsciously processes 11 million pieces of information per second compared to just 40 consciously processed. With such a significant number of decisions being processed and reached without being consciously aware, it is vital for organizations to become aware of the risks associated with this in the day to day running of their business and educate their people in order to develop and maintain a truly inclusive and high performing culture.
So, what is Unconscious Bias?
Unconscious or implicit bias refers to the alliances that are made between different qualities and social categories such as race, gender or disability and are judgments that are made without conscious awareness. These automatic preferences or stereotypes are a major contributor to a lack of workplace diversity. In 1998, a milestone study carried out by a team of social phycologists at the University of Washington and Yale analyzed the reality behind people's biases and measured the root cause of their prejudice, concluding that biases ran through “90-95% of people”. Unfortunately, this sameness thinking is becoming a common reality in our lives, our workplace culture, and According to McKinsey & Company, is even becoming hard coded into artificial intelligence (AI).
Every time we make a decision, our background, life experiences and cultural values all impact our reasoning. Over time, the human brain has developed an ability to use these experiences to create short-cuts and enable us to navigate the incredible amount of information we're exposed to on a daily basis. This cognitive function can be very helpful, but often leads to snap decisions being made which, in many cases, can be wrong or poorly informed. In the workplace this can have a negative impact on recruitment decisions, slow down employee development, impair diversity and drive up attrition.
Types of Unconscious Bias
A common component to many people's cognitive behaviors, the concept of unconscious bias is made even more complex by the many types of biases that can exist. Some of them include;
gender bias – preference towards one gender over another which often comes from deep rooted beliefs about gender roles and stereotypes.
affinity bias – an unconscious preference towards people who share qualities or viewpoints with us or with someone close to us.
Halo effect – Viewing one particularly strong positive trait about someone in a way that overpowers our judgment of them and can skew our ability to see any of their negative traits.
Horns Effect – Focussing on one badly perceived trait that can cloud judgement of the positive ones.
Beauty bias – a social behavior that often adversely affects women in the workplace. For example, attractive women being viewed as less competent than their male counterparts and tall people being treated like leaders from their peers from a young age.
Confirmation bias – selectively seeking information to back up an opinion that is already held without looking at the bigger picture
The Impact of Unconscious Bias in the Work Place
Although widely recognized that diversity of thought and innovation are key to secure bottom-line results and workplace productivity, our unconscious preferences for people who are like us continues to severely challenge our ability to create these conditions.
Biases can sneak into every encounter we have from the language used in job specifications and decisions on who to hire or promote to managers overlooking poor performance of those they know and like.
In recruitment, biases can lead to generalizations that determine the right candidate for the job not based on their skills, but on the perceived origin of their name or nationality. One study by Raconteur revealed that on average 24 per cent of job applicants of white British origin received a positive response from employers, compared with only 15 per cent of ethnic minority applicants with identical CV's and cover letters. Gender biases are also common with many job roles that historically attract one gender over the other, for example female nurses or male engineers. While in some industries there may be traditional stereotypes, it is important for managers to advertise and hire on the qualities and characteristics required for the job and be aware of how easily gender biases can arise.
In some more severe cases, strong preferential bias of any kind can lead to workplace bullying, harassment or discrimination putting businesses at high risk of reputational damage and any associated financial costs as issues develop.
Overcoming Unconscious Bias and Promoting Diversity
Implicit biases can be hard to address because by their very nature they are unconscious and may be hard to recognize and accept. However, promoting a culture of respect for difference encourages diverse ideas to be expressed leading to greater creativity and innovation. This is important in the workplace but also in the way that businesses respond to customer needs and ultimately strengthen their business brand.
To eliminate unconscious bias in the workplace, consider the following;
Educate employees on the types on unconscious bias and negatives consequences that can arise from allowing such behavior to become normalized
Monitor each other for unconscious bias and question comments or remarks on cultural or gender stereotypes
Reconsider the rationale behind an initial decision to establish if all facts were considered or if biases have crept in.
Deliberately slow down decision making to reduce the likelihood of a making a snap decision.
Invest in setting up Diversity and Inclusion committee to build and maintain processes and enforce cultural behaviors that align with the diversity goals of the company.
Lasana Harris, a neuroscientist who studies bias and social learning at University College London, said that the concept of unconscious bias should not absolve people of discriminatory behavior, but “if you're aware of these [biases] then you can bring to bear all of your critical skills and intelligence to see it's wrong to think like that” and that these are thoughts we all have the ability to control.
In the workplace, this starts with awareness and becoming mindful of unconscious bias, but it is of particular importance for those with decision making power on hiring, promotions and business best practice. Individual awareness and ownership must also be underpinned by policy, processes and frameworks to truly promote diversity throughout the workplace.
The late management guru Peter Drucker once said that “Trying to predict the future is like trying to drive down a country road at night with no lights, while looking out the back window.”
When it comes to anticipating new trends in technology, change is happening so fast that the back window may as well be fogged up.
2022 saw NFTs go from flavor of the month to yesterday's leftovers; cryptocurrency experience a long cold winter; and nuclear fusion take its first steps from the realms of science fiction towards becoming science fact.
But for those who follow the latest developments in innovation, it is possible to see patterns in where societies are heading, and forecast which technologies will take them there.
As we begin 2023, CNN asked four experts to predict which technologies will shape our lives this year – here's what they said.
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence (AI) has become part of our daily lives, found in everything from e-commerce to social media algorithms. Ayesha Khanna, co-founder and CEO of Addo, an AI and data solutions firm, predicts an explosion of AI-generated images and music in 2023. She adds that while it will not replace humans, “AI will become the new team member for humans in many jobs, contributing ideas and drafts.”
Bernard Marr, A futurist and author of books including “Future Skills” and “Business Trends in Practice,” also anticipates that this year, “a focus of AI will be the augmentation of workers, as new tools become available to enable workforces to fully leverage AI. “
But Khanna warns that more work will be needed to ensure that generative AI co-pilots – such as GitHub's Copilot, a tool designed to help developers code – are accurate and unbiased, especially in industries like healthcare, where there could be serious consequences to an AI assistant recommending the wrong treatment to a doctor.
“Retail and entertainment companies will launch increasing pilots on how to build customer engagement and loyalty in the various metaverses, especially game platforms like Roblox,” she says.
“Metaverse natives who have grown up gaming and socializing in alternate digital realities will drive companies to host concerts, fashion weeks, customer journeys and edutainment activities in 2023.”
Marr adds that more small companies will join the bigger organizations that have already established “outposts” on metaverse platforms.
“The metaverse will also become more mobile and accessible through devices such as headsets and smart glasses, and businesses will need to consider how they can leverage these opportunities to create immersive and efficient experiences,” he says.
“The entire field of sustainability, underpinned by technologies, will play a monumental role in 2023,” he says Abishur Prakash, co-founder and geopolitical futurist at the Center for Innovating the Future (CIF), in Toronto, and author of “The World is Vertical: How Technology is Remaking Globalization.”
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Cynthia Selin, an associate professor at the School for the Future of Innovation in Society and the School of Sustainability at Arizona State University, believes that in 2023, as we continue to build more capacity for renewables, short-term and long-term energy storage such as Batteries and hydrogen will be key.
“Clean energy projects, like those taking electricity generated by solar power from Africa to Europe, will advance in 2023, adding a new dimension to the global energy war.”
“Continued investment and favorable policy conditions … mean that clean hydrogen (including hydrogen made using renewable energy) could see sustained growth, the development of necessary infrastructure, and better cost competitiveness,” she says. “In terms of consumer-facing developments in relation to hydrogen, in '23 the most likely area of attention will be in long-haul trucking.”
Selin believes carbon capture and storage – removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and storing it – will grow in importance.
“Direct air capture may continue to gain attention alongside natural removal mechanisms like reforestation,” she says. “New demonstration projects are sprouting up worldwide in tandem with supportive policies, building our capacity to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”
Semiconductors and self-reliance
Prakash predicts the war in Ukraine will usher in a new era of geopolitics and globalization.
“The pursuit of self-reliance, a catalyst of vertical globalization, will accelerate in 2023, affecting every aspect of technology,” he says. “Automakers in China are buying their own ships to export their cars to the world,” he adds, and points to Apple's plans to move production outside China.
Another trend to watch will be the fight over the semiconductors that power our smartphones, computers, automobiles and home appliances. Prakash says semiconductors are set to upend world affairs in 2023, and become an area of competition between the US and China.
Adobe Stock
The Internet of Things
The Internet of Things (IoT) is the network of connected sensors and infrastructure that can collect data on everything from household heating to traffic jams on city streets.
Selin believes the IoT will continue to transform the energy sector in 2023. “Smart thermostats to track energy consumption and regulate temperatures help in reducing energy consumption and costs. More and more devices are coming to the market that use smart sensors and data-driven intelligence to inform energy choices and drive energy efficiency.”
Marr predicts 2023 will see a rise in IoT products and services related to health and well-being, “with devices such as smartwatches offering sophisticated sensors for monitoring various health indicators.”
He adds that there will also be a focus on “enabling more complex machine-to-machine interactions by developing global standards and protocols that devices can use to communicate with each other, as well as improving IoT security to prevent attacks.”
The late American economist Peter Drucker once said that “trying to predict the future is like driving down a farm road at night with no lights, while looking out the back window,” where the future is a mystery.
In terms of anticipating new trends in technology, it can be said that change is happening very quickly, with 2022 seeing an even greater shift towards automation. But for those who follow the latest developments in innovation, we could see even more patterns and technologies as 2023 begins.
In this context, CNN asked four experts to predict the technologies that will shape our lives this year. Here are the highlights of their responses.
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence (AI) has become part of our current reality, and is present in every aspect of daily life, from e-commerce to social media algorithms.
Ayesha Khanna, co-founder and CEO of Addo, an AI and data solutions company, predicts that there will be a huge increase in AI-generated photos and music in 2023. She adds that although AI will not replace... Humans, but it will become a new member to assist humanity in many functions.”
Expects future author Bernard Marr, author of the book “Future Skills: The 20 Skills and Competencies Everyone Needs to Succeed in a Digital World”The focus of artificial intelligence this year will be on “increasing workers, as new tools are available to enable the workforce to fully benefit from artificial intelligence.”
But Khanna warns that more work will be needed to ensure Copilot's generative AI technologies are accurate and unbiased, especially in fields like healthcare, where there are serious consequences if an AI-powered virtual assistant makes a doctor's recommendation. With the wrong treatment.
Metaverse
The metaverse is a huge social network that includes a combination of virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), mixed reality (MR), and 3D environments, in addition to artificial intelligence technologies, to be interacted with in real time, effectively and continuously, with unlimited numbers participating. From people around the world, it provides a real immersion environment for users and a real feeling, and real virtual communication in environments that are completely similar to the environments in reality, and in which different types of transactions take place such as communications, payment, etc.
Khanna pointed out that Meta, which was formerly known as Facebook, has incurred billions of dollars in losses in its efforts in the field of metaverse technology, but the idea of spending time in virtual Internet worlds has become part of the consciousness. year, and is scheduled to increase in 2023.
“Retail and entertainment companies will increasingly launch pilot programs on how to build customer engagement and loyalty at various scales, especially gaming platforms like Roblox,” she says.
Mar points out that more small companies will join larger organizations that have already established “outposts” on metaverse platforms. “Metaverse technology will also become more portable and accessible through devices such as headphones and smart glasses, and companies will be forced to think about how to leverage these opportunities to create immersive and effective experiences,” he says.
Sustainability Tech
says Abishwar Prakash, co-founder and geopolitical futurist at the Center for Future Innovation (CIF) in Toronto and author of “The World is Vertical: How Technology is Reshaping Globalization”“The entire field of sustainability, supported by technologies, will play a huge role in 2023.” He adds: “In 2023, clean energy projects, such as those transporting solar-generated electricity from Africa to Europe, will advance, adding a new dimension to the global energy war.”
Cynthia Selin, a professor at Arizona State University, believes that in 2023, amid the promotion of renewable energy sources, short-term and long-term energy storage such as batteries and hydrogen will be key.
“Continued investment and favorable policy conditions...mean that clean hydrogen (including hydrogen made using renewable energy) can see sustainable growth, development of the necessary infrastructure, and better cost competitiveness,” says Celine. She also believes carbon capture and storage – removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and storing it – will also become increasingly important.
Semiconductors industry and self-reliance
Prakash predicts that the war in Ukraine will usher in a new era of geopolitics and globalization, adding: “The quest for self-reliance, a catalyst for vertical globalization – the emergence of geopolitical blocs based on technology dominance – will accelerate in 2023, and will affect every aspect of technology.” .
“Automakers in China are buying their own ships to export their cars to the world,” he says, and points to Apple’s plans to move production outside China.
Prakash points to another trend: the struggle over semiconductors that power our smartphones, computers, cars and home appliances. He says, “Semiconductors may turn global affairs in 2023 and become an area of competition between the United States and China.”
Internet of Things (IoT)
The Internet of Things (IoT) refers to a set of connected devices and technological means that facilitate communication between devices and the cloud, as well as between the devices themselves. Thanks to the advent of affordable computer chips and high-bandwidth communications, we now have billions of devices connected to the Internet.
Celine believes that the Internet of Things will continue to bring changes to the energy sector in 2023. “Smart thermostats to track energy consumption and regulate temperatures help reduce energy consumption and costs,” she says. “More devices are coming to the market that use smart sensors and data-driven intelligence to inform energy choices and increase energy efficiency.”
Marr expects that 2023 will witness a rise in Internet of Things products and services related to health and well-being, “with devices such as smart watches that offer advanced sensors to monitor various health indicators.”
He adds that there will be a focus on “enabling more complex interactions between machines by developing global standards and protocols that devices can use to communicate with each other, in addition to improving the security architecture of the Internet of Things to prevent attacks.”
Human resources (HR) trends are practices and techniques that companies often use to understand and meet employee needs, add value to the business and align specific functions with commercial demands. As industries and society evolve, many HR departments update their practices to enhance both company and employee experiences. HR professionals who want to increase the efficiency and value of their organizations may benefit from learning about these trends.
In this article, we discuss why it's important to learn HR trends and recognize 11 developing trends.
The importance of HR trends
It's important to learn HR trends because market climates, employee needs, industry practices and company policies often change as time progresses and technology evolves. World events and societal shifts also often affect how employees and companies approach daily operations.
For example, many employees now desire more flexibility as technology now allows many work-from-home opportunities. Companies often observe these trends and incorporate them into the organization to enhance practices and the employee experience. Observing trends often helps organizations determine what changes may optimize the business.
11 industry trends in HR
Here's a list of HR trends that may be helpful for HR professionals and organizations:
1. Treating diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) as an integral strategy
As the country grows more diverse, many companies seek to represent that diversity at all levels of an organization. This is especially true for leadership roles. Treating DEI as an integral strategy means more than creating an inclusive workplace.
It also means taking action to promote inclusion and ensure equity. This typically helps companies build a more positive employee experience. Many organizations make these efforts to specifically benefit people who have historically faced inequality in the workplace.
Encouraging discussions about DEI can often help organizations change corporate culture. Companies that actively promote a diverse environment may even attract more talented candidates. Here's a list of potential actions an organization can perform to ensure inclusion and equity throughout the workforce:
Creating a zero-tolerance approach to bullying
Ensuring that diversity remains an important part of work culture by observing leaders modeling the behavior the organization wants to see
Addressing bias in diversity training
Incorporating bias assessments into performance reviews
Applying DEI metrics to a company's key performance indicators (KPIs)
2. Listening to what employees have to share
Many organizations face challenges when attracting new talent and maintaining a substantial employee retention rate. As people continually search for better opportunities, some companies have shown a greater appreciation for their employees.
Companies that listen to their employees often don't focus on controlling a conversation or forming a response before an employee finishes what they have to share. Some upper management professionals have emphasized using active listening when communicating with employees to truly understand their thoughts and concerns.
Active listening refers to typically listening to another person attentively, taking notes or genuinely trying to understand why the person relays their message. It also includes holding responses until the other person is done communicating their thoughts, ideas or questions, thoughtfully processing the information and then offering a response.
Listening to people typically demonstrates respect and inspires feelings of trust, validation and understanding. Empathetic listening typically inspires motivation and belonging. Here are a few ways in which upper management professionals may develop better listening skills:
Giving a person your full attention and avoiding multitasking
Letting the other person complete their thoughts before responding
Trying to understand the actual meaning of a person's message, including nonverbal cues
Asking thoughtful questions
Building a company culture that encourages employees to express themselves
3. Upskilling and reskilling your workforce
Some companies feel as if new hires, such as recent graduates, don't completely possess all the right skills to excel at their jobs. Competent employees typically ensure that an organization can grow and change in today's environment. This means that many companies are upskilling and reskilling their employees.
Upskilling refers to the process of learning new skills. Reskilling refers to learning how to do a different job with new skills. Reskilling often helps companies create a more adaptable workforce, while upskilling can provide employees with better career advancement opportunities.
Here's a list of actions a company may perform to upskill and reskill employees:
Encouraging training and development for all employees
Rewarding successful development accomplishments
Using multiple methods for training, such as face-to-face, online and hybrid options
Feedback
4. Nurturing a positive company culture
A company's culture involves attitudes, beliefs and behaviors among employees and management. As hybrid and work-from-home options become available, some companies wonder how to maintain a positive work culture.
Many employees value a work-life balance for all team members. Five elements of a positive work culture include relationships, peer support, communication, diversity and technology. Here's a list of ways employers may enhance their work culture:
Helping employees maintain relationships and forming new ones as new employees appear
Teaching employees how to better collaborate while providing resources to maintain them
Adapting new communication technology
Including diversity, equity and inclusion into the business strategy
5. Using data to enhance employee experiences
Employers have increasingly emphasized employee experiences to maintain employee retention as many people continue to seek better working conditions. Many companies have used technology and data to learn more about their employees' opinions and personal lives to improve employee engagement strategies and employee experiences.
Data may provide assistance in the form of a personalized onboarding program, which may help new employees feel valued and supported. Companies may also use data from professional rewards and recognition programs that emphasize an employee's accomplishments. Emphasizing engagement with these programs may help some companies gain more data and insight into employee values.
6. Creating more wellness initiatives
More companies have started emphasizing employee wellness support to help with productivity, employee turnover and client satisfaction. This includes wellness in different forms, such as financial, social, mental and physical.
Employees who feel well are more likely to perform better at work. Some examples of financial wellness initiatives include providing elder insurance, tuition forgiveness and access to financial planners. Some physical wellness examples include on-site workout facilities or discounts on gym memberships in the employee's area.
Mental health wellness initiatives may include encouraging communication between supervisors and peers and providing access to telehealth professionals and a certain amount of sick or rest days. Social wellness initiatives may include providing access to employee engagement platforms. Incorporating more of these initiatives into a workplace often helps employees improve their focus and productivity because they may provide some relief across many channels.
7. Providing care for caretakers
Many employees take care of others in their lives while maintaining their careers, such as elderly parents, children and spouses. Management leaders often face challenges caring for those in their workplaces and personal lives.
Some companies have emphasized additional support and recognition to those in management positions to provide some relief as they perform their duties. Here's a list of actions some companies perform to provide additional support to managers:
Providing clear goals and expectations
Gathering and listening to feedback
Recognizing efforts
Providing additional tools and resources for job duties
Providing more training opportunities
8. Emphasizing the role of teams among employees
When people work from home, participating in a virtual team often helps them form new relationships and access new resources. Teams may contribute to a more positive work culture when all employees feel valued as equals among their peers.
Many organizations have even designed superteams, which combine a larger amount of people and technology to produce a higher work output. Successful teams often emphasize the role of a work culture that celebrates growth, adaptability and resilience. Other factors contributing to this success include enabling employees through upskilling, reskilling and mobility and using new technologies.
9. Implementing innovative recruitment
As companies compete for talent, some have started implementing different tactics to attract and retain qualified candidates. Many companies now use social media to contact potential employees instead of conventional job boards.
This approach often helps recruiters target specific groups of candidates within a market on a social media platform. Since social media profiles typically provide more information about an employer, candidates now typically prefer employers who remain transparent about their values and goals.
Candidates also usually consider the overall imagery and tone of company social media posts before applying for a job. Companies may choose to advertise attractive benefits when attracting potential candidates on social media. This includes career advancement opportunities, nonmonetary benefits, a competitive salary, work flexibility and a positive work-life balance.
10. Balancing remote work flexibility with on-site business requirements
Some employees prefer working remotely over working in an office. Many employers have developed strategies for maintaining employee needs and preferences while still addressing on-site business requirements. Organizations can typically encourage employees to return to the office by using some of these tactics:
Crafting an equal back-to-office strategy that addresses those who can and can't perform remote work
Offering a place of community and engagement
Using rewards and recognition as motivation
Communicating with transparency
Using change management strategies
11. Using skills-based hiring
As technology advances, many jobs require new skills and competencies. This is typically true with the rise of artificial intelligence, which has both automated and created functions.
Many companies have emphasized skills and competencies when hiring new employees to meet the demands of the current industry. This also means that some organizations look specifically for certain skills instead of a person's degree or credentials.
Skills-based hiring typically increases the number of potential external candidates, but it also usually increases internal employees' opportunities for career advancement. This means that an employee may earn educational pathways for specific industries.
In this era characterized by speed, knowledge explosion, and openness of the world to each other thanks to social media, and thanks to technical development and artificial intelligence, the features of markets have changed and have become across all borders without obstacles. With the course of accelerating environmental, health, economic, political and technological events, it is expected that this will result in the emergence of many trends in various industries. In our current article, we will highlight some special trends related to the field of human resources during the year 2022, which are expected to be accelerated and responded to in a way that achieves Flexibility in dealing with noticeable and accelerating changes in work environments.
1- Adopting a diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) perspective as an integrated strategy
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) is a term used to describe programs and policies that encourage the representation and participation of diverse groups of individuals of diverse genders, ethnicities, abilities, religions, cultures, ages, and experiences. In short, DEI means ensuring that all individuals or groups within an organization are treated and represented fairly and equitably, ensuring that all individuals thrive personally and professionally.
In the context of this perspective, implementing diversity, equity and inclusion in work environments has become a priority for most companies from various sectors. This is especially true for leadership roles. Adopting a DEI perspective as an integrated strategy means more than just creating inclusive work environments. This helps companies create more positive work experiences for employees. Many companies and organizations are making these efforts on behalf of people who have been exposed to inequality in the workplace in the past.
Discussions about DEI practices can also help companies change their culture. Companies that promote diverse work environments may attract more talent. Below is a list of potential actions companies can take to ensure diversity, equity, and inclusion in their work environments:
Adopting a zero-tolerance approach to bullying
Ensure diversity is an important part of the work culture by monitoring leaders who embody the behaviors the company wants to see
Address bias by conducting training on the concept of diversity
Incorporate bias assessments into employee performance evaluations
Apply DEI standards to company key performance indicators (KPIs)
2-Realizing the difference between listening to employees and listening to them
Many companies face numerous challenges in attracting new talent and retaining employees. “Hearing” refers to being aware of sound, while “listening” refers to paying attention and focusing on what others are saying. Some specialists in senior management have emphasized the skill of active listening when communicating with employees to better understand their ideas and concerns.
Listening usually refers to making eye contact, taking notes, or trying to understand why someone is conveying their message. Listening also involves holding down responses until the other person has finished speaking, carefully processing the information and then responding. Without active listening, people often feel that their voices are not heard and that they are not valued. Thus, the skill of listening helps foster respect between people and inspires feelings of trust and understanding among them. Here are some ways in which listening skills can be developed better:
Give the person full attention while speaking
Allow the other person to finish speaking before responding
Trying to understand the actual meaning of a person's message, including non-verbal cues
Ask thoughtful questions
Build a company culture that encourages employees to express themselves
3- Refine employees’ skills and rehabilitate them
New employees, such as recent graduates, often lack all the right skills to excel at their job. This means that employees' skills must be constantly improved and reskilled, which contributes to creating a more adaptable workforce. Below are some of the measures that companies may need to implement to hone and reskill employees:
Encouraging employees to attend training and monitor development on an ongoing basis
Reward successful development achievements
Conduct training in multiple ways, such as face-to-face and online.
Provide focused feedback
4-Developing a positive culture within the company
Company culture is a set of behaviors, attitudes, and interactions that establish an overall feeling within a company. A company's culture often stems from its leadership positions – employees tend to emulate the way company leaders deal with each other and other employees. Factors such as company policies, transparency, and incentive programs can also affect the overall company culture. Here are some ways employers can foster a positive culture in their companies:
Help employees maintain relationships and form new ones when hiring new employees
Teach employees how to collaborate better
Adopting new communications technology
Embed diversity, equity and inclusion practices into business strategy
5-Use data to improve employee experiences
It has become very common for employees to search for better working conditions, And thereforeEmployers are increasingly inclined to subsidize employee experiences to retain them. Many companies have used technology and data to learn more about their employees' opinions and personal lives to improve strategies to boost employee engagement and improve employee experiences.
Data can be used in the form of customized onboarding programs to help new employees feel valued and supported. Companies may also use data from professional rewards and recognition programs that emphasize employee accomplishments, which helps companies obtain more data and information about employees' values.
6-Creating more welfare initiatives
Companies in general have begun to focus on well-being programs to improve employee engagement and productivity and ensure customer satisfaction. This includes well-being in various forms, such as financial, social and health well-being. Examples of well-being initiatives include providing health insurance services for the elderly; Providing gyms and sports facilities at reduced prices; facilitating access to telehealth professionals; Facilitating access to interaction platforms among employees.
7-Supporting caregivers
A caregiver is anyone who provides assistance to another person in need. Therefore, caregiver employees are more vulnerable to psychological stress, especially administrative leaders who often face challenges in dealing with those in their workplace and caring for their family members. Here are some actions that some companies are taking to provide additional support to managers and administrative leaders:
Set clear goals and expectations
Collect notes and listen to them
Recognizing and appreciating efforts
Providing additional tools and resources to facilitate job performance
Providing more training opportunities
8- Emphasizing the importance of teamwork among employees
When people work remotely and participate in virtual teams, it helps them form new relationships and access new resources. Teams may contribute to a more positive work culture when all employees feel valued and equal to their peers. Many companies have even formed super teams that combine a large number of people and technological tools to deliver high-quality performance. Successful work teams often emphasize the role of a positive work culture that encourages development, adaptability and flexibility. Another factor that contributes to this success is empowering employees by improving and honing their skills.
9- Applying innovative recruitment methods
Companies are competing with each other to attract the best talent, and some have begun implementing different tactics to attract and retain qualified candidates. Many companies are now using social media platforms to attract potential employees, and this approach often helps reach specific groups of candidates in a particular sector through these platforms. Since employer profiles on social media platforms include a lot of information about the nature of the company's work, candidates now typically prefer employers who are transparent about their values and goals.
Candidates now tend to pay attention to the company's public image and the quality of its social media posts before applying for a job. In this context, companies may, for example, choose to advertise attractive benefits when searching for potential candidates through these platforms; This includes career advancement opportunities, non-monetary benefits, competitive salaries, work flexibility, and work-life balance.
10- Balancing the flexibility of remote work with the requirements of working in offices
Some employees prefer to work remotely instead of being in offices. Many employers have developed strategies to respond to employee needs and preferences while still meeting the demands of office work. Companies can encourage employees to return to the office using some of these methods:
Formulate a balanced return-to-office strategy that works for both employees who can and cannot work remotely
Creating a collaborative and interactive workplace
Use rewards as incentives
Communicate transparently
Use change management strategies
11-Skills-based employment
Many jobs require new skills and competencies amid the technological advancements that our world is witnessing today. This means that some companies are looking for specific skills rather than university degrees and academic qualifications. Hence, skills-based hiring will focus more on the new and creative skills an employee brings to the table, and encourage applicants to put in more effort in order to meet these requirements. Moreover, skills-based recruitment means that employees will bring new and unconventional ideas to the team and the work environment in contrast to what they have learned and acquired through traditional learning.
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