Future of Workforce Management: Trends for 2024 and Beyond

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Trends in workforce management don’t sit still for a single minute. They change every moment, adapting to the realities of time. To help you and your team kick 2024 off with a bang, we’ve penned down the most powerful trends for managing employees more successfully.

Undoubtedly, 2024 will be the year of sharpening our focus on:

1. Remote/hybrid work
2. Employee well-being
3. Automation and AI
4. Upskilling and reskilling
5. DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion)
6. Evolving image of leadership

Examine each in detail and learn how to use them for your team’s success in the upcoming year and later.

Remote and Hybrid Work’s Impact on Workforce Management

Hybrid and remote work options were a forced necessity during the COVID-19 crisis. As we faced the post-pandemic stage, remote/hybrid workplaces didn’t disappear. Instead, they became a new norm.

Why?

The reason is simple. They have brought the top five valuable benefits for hybrid or remote teams and their employers:

• Efficient use of resources and time
• Financial savings
• Self-reported productivity
• Work-life balance
• More flexibility overall

In fact, 58% of US employees work from home at least one day per week and would like an even more flexible schedule.

A virtual or hybrid work environment isn’t the only tendency to reshape talent management. Keep reading to find out what other directions you should take.

Other Employee Management Trends on the Horizon of 2024

For 2024 and further, we expect to see more dominating trends. Hop on!

1. Emphasis on employee well-being

One of the first and foremost trends in people management is employee well-being. It is at the heart of creating a happy workplace of the future.

The four pillars of employee wellness are:

• Pillar #1. Physical
• Pillar #2. Mental
• Pillar #3. Economic
• Pillar #4. Social

Relying on these backbones, you can implement practical strategies to promote employee well-being:

• Personal and professional development
• Ongoing mentorship and support
• Physical and mental health programs
• Financial benefits and perks
• Self-care plans
• Pet days, etc.

According to Michael Maximoff, Co-Founder & Managing Partner at Belkins, the last method is the best-ever way to create a positive and thriving working environment. Maximoff shares the experience of his company: “At Belkins, we have launched a dogs-at-work initiative to make work days brighter and employees happier. Pets in the workplace are incredible mood boosters and stress relievers.”

Actually, 80% of people have lower anxiety levels at work when their pets are with them, and 91% of those working in a pet-friendly company feel that employers care about their mental wellness.

2. Automation and AI integration

Tech advancements prompted the workforce of the future to develop rapidly in leaps with innovative and automated solutions like artificial intelligence (AI). More than half of employers plan to embrace AI at work, and 21% have already done so. Moreover, McKinsey predicts AI will automate 30% of working hours by 2030.

Indeed, AI can help enhance learning and development (L&D) and improve employee experiences as it smoothly integrates into the work routine. Stephan Baldwin, Founder of Assisted Living, provides an example of such integration in the healthcare industry:

“Aside from transforming patient care, AI-driven tools streamline workflows, reduce workloads on healthcare professionals, and save time on repetitive administrative tasks. From medical workforce planning and doctor scheduling systems to voice and virtual assistants in nursing, AI integration has become a locomotive driving the revolution in healthcare workforce management.”

3. Skill development (upskilling + reskilling)

How can you future-proof your workers to remain competitive in the age of AI and the new digital reality?

The answer is hidden in two words – upskilling and reskilling.

“Companies step on the road to skill development confidently and steadily by upgrading old competencies of their employees and developing new ones,” notes Anthony Martin, Founder and CEO of Choice Mutual. “This helps them make their teams more adaptive to ride the wave of the latest innovations and technologies, fueling business performance and financial growth,” he explains.

As of today, 74% of employees express their readiness to retrain and acquire new skill sets to stay employable in the future of work.

Consider the following methods to reskill and upskill your workers:

• Analyse skill gaps
• Visualise career paths
• Create L&D plans
• Prioritise digital and tech skills
• Implement individual or group mentoring programs

For example:

You can opt for mentoring software like PushFar, where anyone can sign up as a mentee, mentor, or both.

4. Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI)

Although DEI is still considered a “newbie” in the ever-evolving field of workforce management trends, it has already become a vital player for achieving employee success (check these DEI statistics proving it).

That is why 48% of companies mark DEI as the top priority in their business agendas. Not to mention that CEOs’ salaries depend on DEI in 38% of them.

What about your company?

If you want to create a successful DEI strategy, here are the first things you should do:

• Set DEI goals and KPIs
• Diversify and personalise hiring practices
• Provide mentorship for diversity and inclusion
• Organise DEI awareness training for employees
• Remove unconscious bias in the workplace
• Collect employee feedback regularly
• Ensure fair job pricing and equal pay
• Dealing with workplace bullying

Jim Pendergast, Senior Vice President at altLINE Sobanco, emphasises the importance of embracing pay equity and transparency as a part of DEI. He says, “A transparent and equal pay system gives a clear understanding of the work-salary ratio, reduces workplace bias, and builds trust between employees and employers.”

Now, look at these percentages. A whopping 98% of job seekers want companies to disclose salary ranges in ads, while 68% of employees would switch to an employer offering better pay transparency.

5. Leadership and management evolution

What does leadership development have in store for us in 2024? What should a company leader or team manager look like in the future of workforce management?

“The evolution of leadership begins with the vision that a good manager must be a leader rather than a boss,” states Max Wesman, Founder & COO of GoodHire. He emphasises the importance of building a profile of the new, more humane leader, saying, “New leaders should strive for a fair hiring practice and an employee-first workplace culture with humanisation as a beacon.”

Therefore, essential leadership skills may need an enhancement and re-activation, the so-called “leadership reboot,” as Wesman calls it, by developing the following traits of a good leader:

• Employee-centric
• Open and honest
• Authentic
• Emotionally-intelligent
• Inclusive
• Proactive

Wesman adds, “The new leadership theory establishes itself through hearing employee voices, predicting pain points, and steering away from workplace management crises.”

Conclusion

As we venture into the future, we should navigate through the whirlwind of employee management trends in 2024 and forward.

You cannot afford to ignore them if you want to manage teams successfully. When you’re ready to get started, PushFar will be at your disposal. Register here to build a mentoring culture at your workplace and run mentorship and training with ease.

Author Bio

Roman Shvydun is a freelance writer. He writes informative articles about marketing, business, productivity, workplace culture, etc. During 10+ years of content creation experience, his articles have helped numerous entrepreneurs to scale up their businesses.