The world shifted in 2020 to a more flexible workplace. As communities shut down, businesses were forced to adapt and provide remote work scenarios for employees. Almost two years later, as businesses try to lure employees back to the physical workspace, many employers are seeing an unwillingness from long-term employees to abandon their new remote offices. As we move into 2022, many employers are contemplating flex scenarios and even potentially permanent shifts to remote office life to attract employees.
What Is the Climate of Recruitment and Hiring?
As businesses around the country see more employees tendering resignations in search of better opportunities, otherwise known as the Great Resignation, employers are faced with an unprecedented need to acquire talented workers to fill a wide variety of open positions. With employees in the driver’s seat, the game has changed. In order to lure experienced employees who have the skill sets required for open positions, employers are looking at expanding benefits and providing flexible options that may include a split between time in the office and remote days. Employers are working to define company culture and provide a clear message as to the vision of the business. Enabling potential employees to have a clear view of the company and an understanding of the company expectations will help lure the right like-minded individuals to the business to fill these vacancies. While the Great Resignation is certainly a clear cause of frustration for employers, it does provide a unique opportunity for employers to capture a higher caliber of talent than the original hires for the various vacancies.
What Are the Current Staffing Trends?
As with most other business models, recruitment and staffing firms have been forced to adapt to changing tides. Candidate acquisition has been the top priority for staffing firms during 2021. There is a clear shortage of talent out there and staffing firms have been working relentlessly to ensure they are able to locate top-qualified candidates for their clients to fill the gaps in their workforce. With employees feeling more empowered, the challenges of hiring grow exponentially. Many employers are increasing access to benefits, adding more paid time off, and finding ways to increase employee work/life balance. Maintaining client relationships and building new client relationships is another primary focus of staffing agencies as they try to recover from 2020’s extraordinary circumstances.
What to Look for in Staffing Trends for Next Year
2022 will see a shift from standard recruiting efforts to a more computerized narrowing of the candidate field. From HR departments moving towards using artificial intelligence to assess a candidate’s strengths and weaknesses to predictive analysis, which allows businesses to predict how a particular candidate will thrive in certain scenarios, the trend towards a less personal recruitment standard will become the norm. Businesses may also trend towards utilizing specialized staffing agencies for their recruitment needs. Where one firm excels in the recruitment of accountants, another firm may excel in the recruitment of IT staff. Ironically, as staffing agencies shift from the “one size fits all” standard for recruitment to a more specialized focus, the workplace has seen a different shift.
It was once expected that employees were to be experts in their specific field. Now, many candidates for positions are rated based on their flexibility and strengths in areas outside of their expected expertise. Hiring a candidate that can “wear many hats” may help a business fill more than one vacancy with one fitting candidate.
Imperium Data has its finger on the pulse of 2022 staffing trends. Ensuring we find the right talent for open positions is our goal. Contact us for more information concerning our strategies for talent placement at your business.
