Charting The Path Ahead: HR Trends For 2024

Essential conversations for organizational success

HR continually evolves to fulfill the ever-changing needs of organizations and the workplace, emphasizing the importance of forecasting HR trends. Allowing organizations to proactively prepare for the future and helping employers in making well-informed decisions, these discussions about what comes next are not just trending topics, but essential conversations for every organization's success.
 

As 2024 approaches, taking stock of the past twelve months and assessing successes, challenges, and future prospects becomes essential. In the coming year, I foresee the emergence of three critical HR trends: data-driven decision-making, the return to office-based work, and the cultivation of human-centric cultures. Both employers and employees need to remain informed about these trends.

Data-Driven Decision-Making

In today’s workplace, research and data have taken a prominent role, and it’s no surprise that data-driven decision-making is on the rise and will only continue growing in 2024, especially in the realm of people analytics. According to Forbes, data-led companies tend to be more innovative, create new products, and find ways to make their organizations more efficient and cost-effective. Instead of relying on intuition or historically unreliable methods that fail to consider individual circumstances, using data provides employers with essential insights to quickly identify the scope of workplace issues and prevent further issues from happening. By focusing on people analytics and real-time data, organizations can quickly gather insights and make informed organizational decisions in areas such as leadership, sales, and other decisions.

The adoption and continuation of data-driven decision-making will reshape the future of HR technology positively. Employers will adopt a much more comprehensive and thoughtful approach to decisions that were previously incomplete and rushed.

Return to Office

The COVID-19 pandemic completely changed how the workplace operated, with measures such as quarantine, remote work, and reduced in-office collaboration significantly changing the norms. As COVID-19 restrictions have eased and 2024 approaches, employees should anticipate a greater push for a complete return to the office, as organizations across the nation have been shifting in that direction and transitioned their employees to a fully in-office setting.

It is expected that by 2024, 9 out of 10 organizations will have reinstated in-office work, aligning with the increasing importance of reemphasizing the fundamental principles of the workplace.

In-person communication methods are essential for fostering workplace collaboration, productivity and efficiency, benefiting both employers and employees alike. Misunderstandings can escalate quickly in virtual environments, whereas in-person communication allows for effective conflict resolution and paves the way for a positive workplace environment. In the year ahead, although each organization’s approach may vary slightly, employers will strive to provide employees with a reason to encourage their return.

Human-Centric Cultures

As employees return to the office, organizations must prioritize and design a flexible workplace where human-centric traits like collaboration, creativity and empathy are at the forefront of cultures. After all, organizations rely on people to function effectively. Ensuring a positive “employee experience” is imperative for both organizational success and employee retention, as the relationship between employers and employees greatly affects the overall workplace experience.

I anticipate an emphasis will be placed on proactively addressing workplace toxicity because when employers tackle toxicity at its root, employees and cultures have the potential to thrive.

Creating a workplace where employees will genuinely want to work is an appealing characteristic, which provides a sense of purpose and ensures that the needs of all employees are met.

The HR industry undergoes constant change, so by anticipating, understanding and preparing for the future, organizations can put their best foot forward, ready to thrive in the evolving workforce while reducing instances of harassment, discrimination and misconduct. By recognizing trends such as data-driven decision-making, returning to the office and human-centric cultures, organizations can (and will) set the stage for a productive and motivated workplace in 2024.

Author Bio

Jared Pope is a Benefits and Employment Law specialist with over a decade of experience in human resources, ERISA, benefits and employment matters. Recognizing drastic issues within the “system” for managing workplace harassment and discrimination, Jared founded Work Shield in 2018, as the first and only start-to-finish workplace harassment and discrimination solution and technology platform.