The New Year was not very dramatic this year. As 2022 slid into 2023, most people were just happy to see something like a return to normal in their working lives. As for the changes we’ve seen recently, sometimes the prologue has passed.
This year’s biggest trends are clearly based on existing products that have made steady progress over time. As you consider our 2023 trends, don’t be surprised if you feel like déjà vu.
Generative AI
If you haven’t heard of ChatGPT and its creator, the OpenAI artificial intelligence lab, you haven’t been paying attention. Since the app launched in November 2022, tech professionals around the world have been discussing its potential.
What makes it different? ChatGPT takes raw data and uses it to create a clean result – things like job postings, or content marketing or a video of life in a particular workplace.
In January 2023, 21.1 million monthly users visited the OpenAI website. The ChatGPT page alone generated more than a million visits less than a week after its launch, according to business intelligence firm DemandSage. This is serious traffic. With a $10 billion investment from Microsoft, it’s clear that a number of ChatGPT use cases will be tested, including those in HR.
Of course, often flowering falls, technology has grown quite rapidly. But even with its most basic capabilities, ChatGPT is sure to attract continued interest from professionals and managers across the organization, including HR.
Expanded use of AI
While ChatGPT’s creative capabilities get people thinking, more established AI solutions help HR departments do their short-term jobs. HR teams have already extended the use of AI beyond automation and candidate screening. In 2023, seek AI-powered data collection and analysis to play a greater role in benefits administration, workplace policy implementation, and management of DEI initiatives.
People-centred approach
Stress is endemic in today’s workplace. An AFLAC study found that 59% of American workers experienced at least moderate burnout in 2022, matching what they experienced during the height of the pandemic.
This makes creating a people-centric strategy – one that addresses the mental, physical and financial needs of employees – even more crucial than it has been in the past. This makes sense when you consider the resulting benefits: increased job satisfaction, improved employee recruitment and retention, and improved employee productivity, engagement, and collaboration.
Access to earned wages
With so many employees living paycheck to paycheck and dealing with inflation at the same time, many employers are embracing earned wage access as a way to pay workers faster.
Overall, there is no indication that EVA growth will slow in 2023. On the one hand, providing easy access to earned wages is a growing concern for employers. On the other hand, companies have found that offering EWA brings non-monetary benefits, such as increased engagement and retention, and can also be an effective recruiting tool.
virtual reality learning
Technologies such as augmented reality and virtual reality have attracted an estimated $4.1 billion in investment as companies seek more innovative and engaging ways to improve training and development and collaboration.
Amid this wave, training with virtual reality has become mainstream in many organizations. By helping users walk through real-life scenarios and simulations, experts say, virtual reality makes learning more immersive and effective. It seems to work: PwC studies show that people learn with VR four times faster than in the classroom and become almost three times more confident in applying the skills they have learned.
Employee and leadership development
To be successful, organizations must focus on developing the knowledge of their employees and leaders. Employees need to learn the skills they need to work effectively, while leaders need the skills to manage an ever-changing workforce.
To address this problem, look for employers who are using technologies like virtual reality and personalized learning more aggressively in their learning and development programs.
Employee experience
Nearly half of all HR leaders surveyed by Gartner chose managing the employee experience as their top priority for 2023. Yet almost as many said they lack compelling career paths to help create the experience necessary to attract and retain workers. Organizations will spend more time developing career paths and aligning jobs with opportunities that will allow employees to progress.
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