The five global talent acquisition trends for 2022-2023
Relatable organisations are bringing back the joy of work and creating a brighter future for all.
This is a moment of profound opportunity, to pick up the tools of empathy learned and honed during the pandemic period and carve a new way of partnering that is more Resilient, Sustainable and attuned to the New Shape of Work.
Last year, nearly 11,000 Executives, HR Leaders, and Employees told us what’s top of mind for them. We heard loud and clear that Relatable Organisations are leading the way in reshaping work, working, and the workplace. What are they focused on? Our research shows that Relatable Organisations have five things in common: They are constantly resetting for relevance, figuring out new ways to work in partnership, delivering on total well-being outcomes, building for employability, and harnessing collective energy to drive transformative change.
According to 2,474 HR leaders around the world, these efforts continue into 2023. They recognise that even in the face of sociopolitical and economic uncertainty, these priorities must remain front and center for organisations and individuals to thrive.
How ready is your organisation for what’s next?
Priorities for HR leaders vary by geography and industry
2023 priorities for HR leaders by region
Given the economic climate, where will you be investing in 2023? [Top 10 results]
List by region
Global: 1. Enhance employee experience, 2. Improve strategic workforce planning, 3. Design skills-based talent processes, 4. Rethink our compensation practices, 5. Improve total rewards policies, 6. Invest in re/upskilling, 7. Deliver total well-being, 8. Redesign work, 9. Reimagine our employer brand, 10. Ensure diverse groups are represented
North America: 1. Enhance employee experience, 2. Deliver total well-being, 3. Improve total rewards policies, 4. Design skills-based talent processes, 5. Improve strategic workforce planning, 6. Rethink our compensation practices, 7. Deliver on ESG commitments, 8. Evolve our flexible working culture, 9. Ensure diverse groups are represented, 10. Invest in re/upskilling
Latin America: 1. Enhance employee experience, 2. Implement automation, 3. Deliver total well-being, 4. Design skills-based talent processes, 5. Redesign work, 6. Improve total rewards policies, 7. Invest in re/upskilling, 8. Evolve our flexible working culture, 9. Ensure diverse groups are represented, 10. Improve strategic workforce planning
Pacific: 1. Enhance employee experience, 2. Improve strategic workforce planning, 3. Deliver total well-being, 4. Invest in re/upskilling, 5. Design skills-based talent processes, 6. Improve Total Rewards strategies, 7. Ensure diverse groups are represented, 8. Evolve our flexible working culture, 9. Rethink our compensation practices, 10. Reimagine our employer brand
Middle East and North Africa: 1. Enhance employee experience, 2. Improve Total Rewards strategies, 3. Design skills-based talent processes, 4. Rethink our compensation practices, 5. Invest in re/upskilling, 6. Improve strategic workforce planning, 7. Implement automation, 8. Deliver on total well-being, 9. Reimagine our employer brand, 10. Redesign HR operations
Europe: 1. Enhance employee experience, 2. Improve strategic workforce planning, 3. Rethink our compensation practices, 4. Invest in re/upskilling, 5. Design skills-based talent processes, 6. Improve Total Rewards strategies, 7. Deliver on total well-being, 8. Reimagine our employer brand, 9. Redesign work, 10. Deliver on ESG commitments
Africa: 1. Improve strategic workforce planning, 2. Invest in re/upskilling, 3. Design skills-based talent processes, 4. Deliver on total well-being, 5. Rethink our compensation practices, 6. Develop human-centric decision making, 7. Enhance employee experience, 8. Redesign work, 9. Improve Total Rewards strategies, 10. Reimagine our employer brand
Asia: 1. Enhance employee experience, 2. Rethink our compensation practices, 3. Improve strategic workforce planning, 4. Improve Total Rewards strategies, 5. Design skills-based talent processes, 6. Invest in re/upskilling, 7. Deliver on total well-being, 8. Redesign work, 9. Reimagine our employer brand, 10. Ensure diverse groups are represented
2023 priorities for HR leaders vary by industry
Given the economic climate, where will you be investing in 2023? [Top 10 results]
List by industry
Total: 1. Enhance employee experience, 2. Improve strategic workforce planning, 3. Design skills-based talent processes, 4. Rethink our compensation practices, 5. Improve Total Rewards strategies, 6. Invest in re/upskilling, 7. Deliver on total well-being, 8. Redesign work, 9. Reimagine our employer brand, 10. Ensure diverse groups are represented
Automotive: 1. Improve strategic workforce planning, 2. Enhance employee experience, 3. Design skills-based talent processes, 4. Improve Total Rewards strategies, 5. Rethink our compensation practices, 6. Invest in re/upskilling, 7. Redesign work, 8. Deliver on total well-being, 9. Ensure diverse groups are represented, 10. Develop human-centric decision making
Chemicals: 1. Enhance employee experience, 2. Design skills-based talent processes, 3. Improve strategic workforce planning, 4. Redesign work, 5. Deliver on total well-being, 6. Invest in re/upskilling, 7. Ensure diverse groups are represented, 8. Rethink our compensation practices, 9. Deliver on ESG commitments, 10. Improve Total Rewards strategies
Construction: 1. Enhance employee experience, 2. Rethink our compensation practices, 3. Improve strategic workforce planning, 4. Design skills-based talent processes, 5. Improve Total Rewards strategies, 6. Deliver on total well-being, 7. Invest in re/upskilling, 8. Implement automation, 9. Reimagine our employer brand, 10. Ensure diverse groups are represented
Consumer Goods: 1. Enhance employee experience, 2. Deliver on total well-being, 3. Improve strategic workforce planning, 4. Invest in re/upskilling, 5. Rethink our compensation practices, 6. Improve Total Rewards strategies, 7. Design skills-based talent processes, 8. Redesign work, 9. Reimagine our employer brand, 10. Implement automation
Education: 1. Rethink our compensation practices, 2. Design skills-based talent processes, 3. Redesign work, 4. Enhance employee experience, 5. Invest in re/upskilling, 6. Deliver on total well-being, 7. Ensure diverse groups are represented, 8. Improve Total Rewards strategies, 9. Develop human-centric decision making, 10. Evolve our flexible working culture
Energy: 1. Enhance employee experience, 2. Design skills-based talent processes, 3. Improve Total Rewards strategies, 4. Rethink our compensation practices, 5. Improve strategic workforce planning, 6. Invest in re/upskilling, 7. Deliver on total well-being, 8. Implement automation, 9. Ensure diverse groups are represented, 10. Redesign work
Financial services: 1. Design skills-based talent processes, 2. Enhance employee experience, 3. Improve strategic workforce planning, 4. Rethink our compensation practices, 5. Deliver on total well-being, 6. Invest in re/upskilling, 7. Evolve our flexible working culture, 8. Redesign work, 9. Reimagine our employer brand, 10. Improve Total Rewards strategies
Health: 1. Enhance employee experience, 2. Deliver on total well-being, 3. Improve strategic workforce planning, 4. Rethink our compensation practices, 5. Design skills-based talent processes, 6. Improve Total Rewards strategies, 7. Reimagine our employer brand, 8. Invest in re/upskilling, 9. Redesign work, 10. Ensure diverse groups are represented
Insurance: 1. Enhance employee experience, 2. Improve strategic workforce planning, 3. Implement automation, 4. Design skills-based talent processes, 5. Evolve our flexible working culture, 6. Improve Total Rewards strategies, 7. Rethink our compensation practices, 8. Deliver on total well-being, 9. Invest in re/upskilling, 10. Deliver on ESG commitments
Life Sciences: 1. Enhance employee experience, 2. Design skills-based talent processes, 3. Improve strategic workforce planning, 4. Rethink our compensation practices, 5. Improve Total Rewards strategies, 6. Deliver on total well-being, 7. Redesign work, 8. Invest in re/upskilling, 9. Ensure diverse groups are represented, 10. Evolve our flexible working culture
Logistics: 1. Enhance employee experience, 2. Improve Total Rewards strategies, 3. Invest in re/upskilling, 4. Design skills-based talent processes, 5. Deliver on total well-being, 6. Redesign work, 7. Rethink our compensation practices, 8. Improve strategic workforce planning, 9. Reimagine our employer brand, 10. Implement automation
Manufacturing: 1. Enhance employee experience, 2. Improve strategic workforce planning, 3. Design skills-based talent processes, 4. Invest in re/upskilling, 5. Improve Total Rewards strategies, 6. Rethink our compensation practices, 7. Ensure diverse groups are represented, 8. Implement automation, 9. Deliver on total well-being, 10. Reimagine our employer brand
Professional Services: 1. Enhance employee experience, 2. Improve Total Rewards strategies, 3. Improve strategic workforce planning, 4. Rethink our compensation practices, 5. Invest in re/upskilling, 6. Deliver on total well-being, 7. Design skills-based talent processes, 8. Redesign work, 9. Evolve our flexible working culture, 10. Deliver on ESG commitments
Retail: 1. Enhance employee experience, 2. Rethink our compensation practices, 3. Improve Total Rewards strategies, 4. Improve strategic workforce planning, 5. Redesign work, 6. Design skills-based talent processes, 7. Deliver on total well-being, 8. Invest in re/upskilling, 9. Reimagine our employer brand, 10. Evolve our flexible working culture
Technology: 1. Enhance employee experience, 2. Improve Total Rewards strategies, 3. Improve strategic workforce planning, 4. Rethink our compensation practices, 5. Design skills-based talent processes, 6. Deliver on total well-being, 7. Reimagine our employer brand, 8. Invest in re/upskilling, 9. Evolve our flexible working culture, 10. Ensure diverse groups are represented
The five trends shaping the People agenda in 2022-2023
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Reset for relevance
Build resilience by leading with values and an adaptive design.
The events of the past two years have left an indelible mark on investor, employee and consumer attitudes. The new world of work – more nuanced and personalised – demands a reset of priorities and new skills around listening, learning and adapting to identify and address unmet needs. Companies that fail to adapt will lose the ability to raise capital, attract and retain talent, and stay relevant.
In our latest pulse survey, UK HR leaders identified “upholding diversity, equity and inclusion” as the area most critical for success in 2023. DEI has moved up the agenda since 2022, when the main takeaway was pressure to broaden DEI definitions.
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Work in partnership
Create equitable, transparent and rewarding partnerships.
People no longer want to work for a company; they want to work with a company. The future of work depends on flatter and more networked talent models, fuelled by a more flexible, fungible and globally dispersed workforce. This represents a shift in the social contract of work, one that will succeed only if everyone feels they are getting a fair deal.
Our 2022 GTT survey indicated that UK participants were more likely than global respondents to prefer hybrid or full-time remote working. That trend has continued into 2023, with almost all UK respondents reporting that they offer at least some ability to work remotely.
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Deliver on total well-being
Nurture a healthy workforce by offering benefits that matter.
The pandemic exposed and worsened the health and wealth gaps for different populations, underscoring that accessibility and affordability of care is not enough. The well-being ROI that matters today is less about a return on investment (focused on reducing healthcare costs) and more about what makes a difference to drive current and future health outcomes of the workforce.
Total wellbeing was a key theme in our 2022 study, and although this has continued into 2023, financial concerns reign supreme for employees.
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Build for employability
Meet future workforce needs through a skills-based organisation.
The significant supply and demand gap in both skills and workers has highlighted the role that organisations play not just in ensuring their own sustainability but also in safeguarding the future employability of their people.
A top-level concern in 2022 was that the UK was falling behind in future-proofing skills, with a £3 billion allocation to skills and education from the government demonstrating its focus. While the 2022 GTT found that two in five executives agreed workforce upskilling or reskilling would deliver the biggest return on investment, there was less clarity on how to achieve meaningful results.
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Harness collective energy
Unlock potential with human-centred work environments.
The “future of work” has been a hot topic for many years – but as the name indicates, it was always seen as a long-term play. The pandemic accelerated the timeline and exponentially increased the importance of new business models, new ways of working and new technologies.
UK businesses continue to face a particular challenge around sustaining employee energy. In 2022, the UK reported the lowest energy levels among employees out of all named countries in our survey, and moving into 2023, maximising employee energy remains on the agenda.
Benchmark your organisation
Relatable organisations are focused on five key areas: resetting for stakeholder relevance, building adaptive capability in their people and processes, figuring out how to work in partnership and tackle inequalities, driving outcomes on employee health and total well-being, incentivising employability, and harnessing energy for the collective good.
How is your organisation forging new ways of partnering that are relatable, sustainable and attuned to the ways people want to work?
Benchmark your actions against the findings from this year’s study.
The pandemic has demonstrated the need to be both opportunistic and risk-aware. People are seeking a sense of joy and freedom to reshape their lives. Organisations have bold plans for reinvention, but are they focused on what will really make a difference?
UK Transformation Leader, Mercer
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