HR Innovation in 2016 – The Highlights Reel

I think we can all agree that 2016 has been quite a year! In case you blinked and missed it, we’ve compiled an HR Highlights reel to keep you up-to-date with the year’s biggest people practice trends, innovations, and emerging issues. Looking back, what were the top HR trends for 2016? Read on for a recap on the defining talent management hot topics from the past year:

“Gone are the days of employees looking for “just a pay cheque”. A new emphasis is emerging on the employee experience.”

The Employee Experience
Gone are the days of employees looking for “just a pay cheque”. A new emphasis is emerging on the employee experience, and it has big implications for leaders in every organization. There’s a power shift and the battle is on for talent – employees don’t expect to be with one organization their entire lives, so employers have to work to keep their rock star employees from moving on.

Money is no longer the primary motivator—this means creating places where people actually want to work through strategic initiatives designed to improve quality of life. How do you make them want to show up (and stick around)? There’s no one-size-fits-all approach: comfortable work environments, flexible work schedules, opportunities for learning, free meals… the possibilities are endless, and it’s all about picking the perks that your workforce values.

Redefining Performance Management
Gone are the days of numbered ranking systems and backwards-looking annual performance reviews. The new performance management is forwards-focused, development-oriented, and integrates technology to provide in-the-moment feedback. The results? More engaged employees, better development and succession planning, and improved business results.

For more on painless performance management, click here.

The Competition for Talent
There’s a push to hire the best, but unemployment rates remain relatively low and the labour market is tight. To attract top talent, employers are having to step up their game. This means articulating, building, and communicating a strong employer brand based on your culture.

Recruitment and marketing are best buddies these days—to compete for talent, you need to sell prospective employees on working for you, and that starts with making the recruitment experience a positive one for every candidate.

Holistic Wellness and Resilience
More and more, smart employers are recognizing the connection between wellness, resilience, and employee engagement and performance. In 2016, this manifested in an emphasis on nurturing resilience, supporting employees holistically, and identifying ways to enhance the physical, psychological, and emotional well-being of our teams.

For more workplace wellness ideas, click here and join us for our January Lunch and Learn.

Work-Life Flexibility
With continued technology advancements, we’re connected whenever we want to be. Employees today care less about separating work and life, and more about having the flexibility to blend their work and personal lives. The results? The emphasis on work-life balance is fading, and there’s a new focus on work-life integration. Employees are less interested in putting in their hours and going home at the end of the day, and more interested in jobs that can be flexed to accommodate their lives.

For more tips on flexible work arrangements, click here.

Your Engaged Assignment: Are you ahead of the curve or a bit behind when it comes to your HR practices? What are you doing to compete for talent, provide flexibility, and improve the employee experience in your organization? If you feel like you’ve got some catching up to do, check out the links included in the blog post above—we’ve got some ideas to get you back on track!  Or better yet, call us and let’s talk about how we can help.