Multiple Job offers to Wane, Cash Conservation: Simplilearn’s Archana Krishna Predicts 2023 Trends

As an eventful 2022 comes to a close, let’s take a minute to catch our breath and take in the quantum of change that the world has been through. This year reiterated that change is the only constant. One learning for business has been to be ready for any eventuality and respond to the changing market conditions proactively. In addition, 2022 also helped drive home the importance of ensuring that your fundamentals are strong, whether it comes to business, operations, or people.

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2023 trends to observe:

Enabling People To Deliver

Amid all the noise around trends such as quiet quitting and employee churn, businesses must focus on building policies and processes that put their employees in the center. People are the most important resource for any business, so ensuring that policies empower and enable people to deliver their best is crucial.

For instance, with the effects of the pandemic receding, it is quickly becoming obvious that working from the office brings immense benefits such as better collaboration, teamwork, approachability, speed of work, and productivity in general. Therefore, except for certain roles that require individuals to work entirely independently, most positions will see a transition back to the office in the next year or two. 

Job roles will evolve to align better with employee expectations. For instance, millennials are seen to detest hierarchy within organizations. More than money, they are motivated by the opportunity to work on interesting and challenging work. As more millennials enter the workforce, recruiters are collaborating with candidates to build job profiles tailored to their individual goals, as well as organizational requirements. 

With the effects of the pandemic receding, it is quickly becoming obvious that working from the office brings immense benefits such as better collaboration, teamwork, approachability, speed of work, and productivity in general.

Strong Business Fundamentals

Since 2020, there has been a fundamental shift in the manner companies are strategizing. Rather than blindly chasing growth and burning funds, there is a much greater emphasis on productivity and profitability. HR teams have a big role in facilitating this shift by ensuring that hiring is well thought out and prudent. Rather than hiring indiscriminately, the focus should be on ensuring that the existing workforce is leveraged optimally. 

Similarly, in some instances, hiring freshers who are likely to bring in new ideas and energy and training them on the requirements may make more sense than hiring experienced workers at higher costs. 

In general, being mindful of cash flows and focusing on conserving cash will continue to be the mantra in 2023 too. 

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Upskilling For Growth

As technology continues to evolve at a breakneck speed, both businesses and individuals must make upskilling a priority. Robust learning and development programs that are nimble and aligned with organizational roadmaps will be crucial to building successful organizations. This is also considered an additional benefit for prospects looking at joining any organization

2023: Through The Looking Glass

Given the uncertain economic and geopolitical landscape in 2023, employees and businesses will seek better stability. The trend of job-hopping every few months and employees sitting on multiple job offers is likely to wane in 2023. Instead, professionals are more likely to stay the course and invest their time and energy in growing within an organization, not just vertically, but horizontally as well. 

The boundary walls between various organizational departments such as Operations, Sales, HR, and Marketing are shattering and there is a greater emphasis on building a 360-degree understanding of the organization. 

Also read: What are the Top Priorities of Global HR Leaders for 2023?

For professionals, enthusiasm, readiness to learn, and flexibility will be key growth drivers in 2023. Flexibility needs to be considered not just in terms of the job profile but also things like location, timings, work-from-home feasibility, etc. The focus must be on excelling in their area of work and building deeper insights. 

While business cycles will continue, the key for businesses and individuals will be to avoid getting swept up in the waves and focus on building strong fundamentals. 

About the Author: Archana co-founded Simplilearn in 2010. She moved from product to lead global HR function at the company.