Heading into 2023: HR leaders share the biggest challenges

We calmly and boldly stepped into 2023 like grown adults who pretend to understand the meaning behind New Yorker cartoons without actually skimming through the comments. Now we're contemplating the road ahead, wondering what speed bumps and horrific traffic jams might await us around the bend. We researched a bit, to find the biggest HR challenges in 2023 that human resources leaders might be expecting. Here’s an effort to help you navigate this journey into the unknown.

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Comparing the HR challenges in 2023 v/s the last year.

1. From Battling Burnout in 2022 to Prioritizing Employee’s Mental Health in 2023

2. From Attracting Talent in 2022 to Winning the Talent War in 2023

3. From Keeping Employees Safe in 2022 to Providing Great Employee Experiences in 2023

4. From ‘the Great Resignation’ in 2022 to ‘the Great Reengagement’ in 2023

5. From Automating Routine Tasks in 2022 to Mandating an all-in-one HR system in 2023

6. From Adapting to Hybrid Work Models in 2022 to Creating a More Productive Workforce in 2023

7. From Leading in a New Environment in 2022 to Equipping Future Leaders in 2023

8. From Struggling with all the Change in 2022 to Embracing it in 2023

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8 Biggest HR challenges in 2023

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1. Prioritizing Employee Mental Health

All of us are aware about the multiple findings that indicate employee mental health is worsening - triggered rates of depression, anxiety, stress and burnout as a result of the pandemic. This is creating problems at work and has prompted employers to take action which has become one of the HR challenges.

"The past two years thrust mental health into the spotlight as a universal issue, with significant implications for individuals, teams, and entire organizations, which is why the conversation has expanded from HR benefits leaders to the boardroom," said Dr Joe Grasso, Ph.D., Senior Director of Workforce Mental Health at Lyra Health.

Employers should strategically align their leaders, culture initiatives, management practices, and resources to specifically support the mental health and employee wellbeing.

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Also read : How to give employees the best employee experience

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2. Winning the Talent War

“I expect to face two major HR challenges next year,” said Annette Reavis, Chief People Officer at EnvoyOne. “One, hiring the right people as quickly as we can. Two, reintroducing the people team and explaining why our team’s core value is so important.”

The global talent crisis is making it difficult for businesses to recruit qualified staff to fill open positions which has become one of the current issues in human resource management 2023. HR leaders must design more effective talent evaluation tools to reduce the effects of the shortage and win the raging talent war. Skills tests and remote interviewing techniques may be used as part of this task, as these methods may help to speed up the hiring process.

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3.  Working towards ‘The Great Reengagement’

“Managing an office environment used to be something I thought about on rare occasions,” said Carla Yudhishthu, Chief People Officer at Mineral, “and now it’s top of my mind. That’s on top of dealing with things like ensuring employees feel connected to a bigger purpose at work and figuring out how to turn the “Great Resignation” into the “Great Reengagement” for our company.”
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Also read : The Ultimate Employee Engagement Guide in 2023

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Bernand Coleman, Chief Diversity Officer at Gusto, questions, “How do you keep everyone engaged, fulfilled, and happy? We are operating in such a dynamically changing and challenging environment that people are seeking and expecting more from companies and greater fulfillment from their roles. The pandemic, this new way of working will require lots of pivots and adaptability to stay ahead of the curve.”

4. Providing Great Employee Experiences

The shift is clear when comparing the HR problems in 2023 to 2020. Employee experience was ranked first in the poll for 2020, followed by leadership development, learning, next-generation leaders and people analytics. Employee mental health is now the top priority in 2023, followed by DEI, employee experience, and managing remote workers - employee experience remaining common in both the years.

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5. Mandating an all-in-one HR system

Current issues in human resource management 2023 are now tackled by focusing on a core platform for employee management, using one-view integrated HR systems.
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6. Creating More Productive Workforce

Too many people were compelled to adapt hybrid work models, and many are finding it difficult to stay productive in such conditions. Employees thus appear to find it difficult to maintain their previous levels of productivity. HR leaders who properly prepare for these HR challenges to overcome in 2023 will develop productive staff.

Tracking productivity with staff management or monitoring software can assist improve quality and time management at work. Employees at all levels, from line workers to C-suite executives, will profit.

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7. Equipping Future Leaders

The C-suite only evaluated 38% of its mid-level leaders as "very good" or "excellent," according to DDI's research that polled 368 CEOs and 2,102 HR experts. This is a troubling tendency, given the worldwide talent war, which makes internal promotion critical to a company's long-term success.

These HR challenges 2023 needs to be examined to prepare future leaders with adequate succession planning. The training should focus on developing empathy-driven managers who are aware of their subordinates' needs.

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8. Embracing change

Many businesses make the mistake of reacting to external causes of change, rather than proactively embracing it. Businesses have been compelled to adopt a "adapt or perish" mentality as a method of survival as a result of the COVID-19 epidemic, yet forward-thinking enterprises that embrace change as a part of their culture have prospered as a result of this approach.

“It is essential for businesses to see change not as a burden or threat, but as an opportunity for growth and innovation,” says CEO of RGP Kate Duchene. “This requires a recipe for agility that is characterized by radical empathy, democratization of power, broadly distributed knowledge, nimble financial mindsets, a culture of flexibility and a foundation of continuous listening.”

It’s not just the unexpected macro events like the pandemic that create extraordinary organizational challenges – even expected change can create uncertainty.

Similar to the other HR challenges 2023, this one bears its own fruits -  innovation and continual improvement - the two by-products of change that can only be achieved via positive change management.