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Top 5 Priorities for HR Leaders in 2023

5th Apr 2023

Not only is your HR team responsible for establishing foundations for success in relation to the people within your company, but it is also the team that deals with everything from assigning resources and establishing the need for talent management and up-skilling, to understanding what employees need from an employer. With this in mind, we’ve highlighted the top 5 priorities for HR leaders in 2023, combining our insight into executive-level recruitment drives with key information derived from a report presented by Gartner earlier this year.

1. The effectiveness of management

At HW People we work with many clients to produce talent mapping strategies. A big part of this looks at management and those in management positions across all levels, with Gartner finding that 60% of HR leaders are prioritising the effectiveness of existing management staff in 2023.
More than ever before, leaders at both a senior and more junior level need to be able to bridge the gap between inspiring their team and managing them properly and fairly – with businesses more attuned to the need for good communicators who are empathetic, flexible, and authentic. All of this has become crucial for fair management which puts as much focus on employee wellbeing as productivity and efficiency.

2. How your business manages change

By focussing on the way change is managed, as a result of things like diversity and inclusion, the economic upheaval of recent years, and changes to the political landscape, HR leaders can establish an open-door policy which invites employees from all levels to contribute. Gartner found in their report that organisations who use open-source change management techniques are up to 14 times more likely to see a positive response from employees – a stat certainly worth shouting about.

3. The employee experience

If there’s one thing that all HR leaders should reignite their focus on in 2023, it’s the employee experience in terms of growth and opportunity. We don’t need to tell you that employees today expect a level of flexibility which was not afforded to them in a pre-Covid working world. But one other key area which is of increasing importance to candidates is the need for professional development, internal mobility and career progression potential within their existing roles.
HR teams need to be integrating this into the employee experience from day one, with training and development opportunities offered and career trajectories clearly outlined.

4. Renewed focus on recruitment

In 2023, HR leaders and teams should be working harder than ever to attract high quality talent – by partnering with recruiters like HW People who specialise in matching client needs with fit for purpose talent. A top-level recruitment team like ours is able to tap into different talent pools to match gaps in your business with those best suited to fill them.

5. Planning for the future

No business can be 100% future proof; however, we believe that with the right attention to talent mapping and future development, you can aim to match your existing activity with future goals. This involves adopting both a long and a short-term approach to meeting your goals, considering ways of empowering your existing workforce and using past insight to predict where your business is likely to grow and require resources in the coming years. Not only does effective future planning help with recruitment, but it also contributes towards budgeting and mapping sales and marketing activity.

The HR team within any business is responsible for spearheading people management via integration, for assessing the need for new talent, and for aligning long term future goals with current business activities and objectives. Here at HW People, our team works with clients to create a roadmap for future success in order to stay ahead of the competition and support the needs of your business as you grow – from recruitment to employee experience, change management, and more.

To find out how our services can support your business, please contact us here.

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