Line managers will remain key to effectively implementing these changes in order to truly drive productivity while maintaining employee engagement. When discussing productivity, managers must ensure that this is positioned as a conversation around how to drive efficiency and deliver optimum value for the business, while not adding undue stress or undermining wellbeing initiatives that the organisation want to support. A delicate conversation to facilitate.
3. Flexible and hybrid working arrangements
The majority of respondent employers so far have a formal policy in place to determine the arrangements around hybrid and flexible working. For many employers, knowing how to navigate the system of flexible and hybrid working following the pandemic has been a challenge.
For those who prioritise their commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion, getting this balance right has been essential. Just over half are offering informal flexibility, in the form of ad hoc changes of hours or location, helping their employees to balance their workload and diaries. This requires employers to place trust in their employees to deliver the work.
The challenge to ongoing remote based working is the effect this has on younger generations in particular, who often learn by osmosis. With fewer chances to shadow in person, and for teams as a whole, with reduced chance encounters in shared office spaces to chat generally, the effect on culture is an important consideration. With one in 10 employers only expecting the majority of their workforce to be on site one day a week, employees and managers must be more intentional about the atmosphere and working arrangements that help build cohesive teams.
4. Recruitment and retention
Respondent employers are evenly split in their assessment of retention challenges in the year ahead. However, over half of respondents have experienced recruitment challenges and expect these challenges to continue in 2024.
Around half of employers indicate that they have had to offer salaries to new recruits that conflict with those paid to existing employees. This demonstrates how higher salaries are being used as a recruitment tool, with one fifth having to offer up to 20 per cent more.
Around half of employers expect employee turnover to stay the same in the next 12 months. The labour market has stalled since the buoyancy seen during the ‘Great resignation’, often seen as an after-shock of the pandemic where labour turnover was relatively flat as uncertainty reined. With political uncertainty ahead of the general election and costs remaining inflated, moving roles during 2024 will require greater incentives in return for individuals compromising their job security.
