5 workplace trends for employee retention in 2023

Amidst the global talent shortage, SMEs are wary of losing employees they can’t replace. To help human resource (HR) departments focus on employee retention, we present five important workplace trends discovered through the meta-analysis of multiple surveys commissioned by Capterra and its affiliate companies. The HR Trends report provides key insights and recommendations on how businesses can keep up with employee expectations in 2023. The study methodology is at the end of the article.

Many changes have impacted the labour market in the last few years, such as labour shortages and transitions to remote or hybrid models. As the workplace changes, so do employee expectations, and meeting them could be vital for staff retention.  

What has influenced workplace trends over the last few years?

HR professionals are often tasked with adapting to new workplace trends, which they’ll need to understand fully before changes can be agreed on. With a special focus being put on employee retention due to the labour crisis, trends in human resource management have become especially important.

Before building a business case related to the latest HR trends, consider why these trends are growing. Among the reasons for the changing workplace, the following catalysts are just a few of the major drivers of the ‘new normal’.

COVID-19 distancing requirements pushed remote work models

Due to pandemic-related restrictions, nearly a third of Canadian employees began working from home in 2020, according to Statistics Canada. The majority of teleworkers also reported being as productive at home as they were in the office, so it’s likely that many employees will resist a full return to the physical office.

The rapid growth of digitalization within companies

As remote work models grew in popularity, organizations of all sizes turned to software to carry out business functions virtually. 84% of SME employees felt their workplace had been digitized to some degree in the 2021 Digitalization Survey; however, their comfort levels with the use of new tools is less clear.

The Canadian labour shortage and the candidates’ market

The talent shortage in Canada has influenced not only the availability of potential employees, but also their expectations when applying for jobs. Because there are more unfilled positions than there are jobseekers, candidates have leverage to demand the benefits and resources they find most valuable from their potential employers.

1. Invest in learning and development

By now, it’s widely accepted that the pandemic was a driving factor behind the speed of digitalization in companies. In fact, 63% of employees of SMEs with at least one digital process in place reported in the 2021 Digitalization Survey that they had at least one new software introduced into their workflow since the arrival of COVID-19. 

With the rapid introduction of new technologies, plans for employee education and training must be prioritized. 40% of employee respondents from the same survey felt inconvenienced to some degree by the new digital processes of their workplace. When asked what aspects of digitalization they found most frustrating, the top answer, given by a fifth (19%) of these inconvenienced employees, was unclear or poor training.

Not only should HR departments implement learning management systems to help employees navigate their digital workplace, but training can also influence employee satisfaction. In our 2021 HR in the New Era Survey, SME employees cited learning and development opportunities as the fourth most important factor when considering a new job.

2. Inform employees about monitoring practices

As software solutions began to pervade the workplace, the use of employee monitoring software became a controversial topic. Over one-third (35%) of Canadian employees interviewed in Capterra’s 2022 Digital Monitoring Survey said their company is using at least one employee monitoring tool. 

It’s understandable that businesses would want to monitor some aspects of employee operations, such as by tracking attendance. However, the company culture can be negatively affected when communication around employee monitoring hasn’t been provided or is unclear. According to Gartner research, even when there is communication on these topics, the quality of that communication tends to be poor, resulting in limited employee understanding and awareness of personal data usage.

Despite the need for more transparency, only about a third (37%) of monitored employees in our 2022 Digital Monitoring Survey were trained and/or signed a consent agreement concerning the monitoring software used. To avoid damaging employer-employee trust, create a holistic plan to inform workers about monitoring practices via employee portals or other communication methods they can revisit.

3. Promote social connection between colleagues

Working alone can be a stress factor for employees, whether fully remote or hybrid workers. During the pandemic, employees spent long periods without physically meeting their colleagues, which led many to feel disengaged from the workplace. This continued even as pandemic restrictions relaxed this year; in our 2022 Mental Health in the Workplace Survey, nearly one in five (18%) of remote and on-site employees regularly felt isolated as a result of their jobs.

The remote workplace is still new to many people, and navigating the downsides can be unclear. One of the main threads amongst the workplace trends is to implement initiatives concerning employee happiness; promoting a socially healthy workplace can be one of them. 

Company-organized social activities were agreed to be effective in creating connections between colleagues by three-fourths (75%) of survey respondents whose employers had held these types of events. Of measures that SMEs have taken to facilitate a more socially connected workplace, results differed slightly between Quebec and Canada as a whole.

4. Keep an eye on employee workloads

The workplace has had to rise to various challenges over the last years, many of which have affected staff workloads. Whether caused by newly implemented strategies or the struggle to find staff, over a third of employees (37%) reported an increased workload in our 2022 Mental Health in the Workplace Survey. 

Not only do unbalanced workloads make it harder to achieve predetermined goals, but they also affect employee morale. 30% of surveyed employees felt their motivation had decreased since the start of the pandemic. Without a focus on keeping unforeseen pressure off of employees, employers run the risk of losing overstressed workers. 

Regardless of this risk, workloads are bound to fluctuate sometimes. To prevent employees from incurring undue stress, staying aware of individual task loads is a must. With workflow management tools, managers and HR leaders can monitor project progress, identify workflow bottlenecks, and balance employees’ work responsibilities.

5. Reconsider the benefits offered

To keep a competitive edge for winning over current and future employees, a strong company culture is an attractive draw. Once an employee-first workplace is established, employees are likely to be attracted to join and stay. 

According to HR specialists in Canada, employees are ranking work-life balance and flexibility amongst their top priorities. A mentally healthy workplace is a happy one, and our 2022 Mental Health in the Workplace Survey of employees showed flexible work policies and access to mental health professionals were amongst top contenders for most valuable mental health resources. 

Getting in touch with employees personally can help ensure investments are well-spent and appreciated by staff. Asking for employee feedback can give an overview of the initiatives that would be most beneficial for a particular company. 

5 of the latest HR trends to consider implementing

Changes to the workplace, both seen and unforeseen, are inevitable with time. Whether acting to entice new employees or prevent attrition, certain HR trends will be better solutions for some companies than others. To measure their effectiveness after implementation, look to tools that offer reporting features.

To sum up, here are five recommendations based on the emerging trends revealed by our research: