With a month of 2024 already under our belt, we wanted to release the Peoplecorp Team’s 2024 HR recruitment market predictions.
As always, we will review these in 12 months’ time to see how we did!
A significant advancement in the use of AI in HR
You’d have to be living under a rock to not agree with this one. The advancement of recruitment tech in particular has already started to impact our ways of working and a range of other HR platforms are making waves. Given the ultimate inevitability of this progression, it is certainly best to embrace the changes and work hard to see how they can help make your work-life easier, or else be left behind.
An increase in the number of HR Executive Interim placements
Peoplecorp have put a lot of emphasis on developing this market, so we are optimistic of course that we see it come to fruition! With the corporate world becoming so impatient to get stuff done, it makes sense to hire very seasoned practitioners to do very short, sharp pieces of work. We see this market really taking off in the HR profession over the coming months, when clients decide to bring someone in for a problem that needs solving, rather than backfilling a gap in their team.
HR Operations / Shared services and Employee Relations’ roles to increase
Whilst the above may be counter-intuitive when automation is also becoming more prolific, we believe that there will be an increase in HR operations’ type roles. We predict you will find organisations are having to think creatively about how these roles are constructed and also need savvy process-inclined (and also strategic) professionals to implement new ways of working to incorporate the new tech. As for the ER space, with workplace legislative changes being made by the government all the time, we expect organisations to have to continue to beef up their capability in this space.
Retention of key talent, organisational culture and employee wellbeing to be the main themes for all HR Leaders
The post-pandemic world created huge opportunity for the People & Culture profession to grow. The things that will continue to be a priority for HR Leaders will be around having the right people in the business, how to find them and how to keep them. The culture that the Executive Team and Leaders create will play a key role in creating and maintaining this. And with the heavy emphasis around psych-safety, it is only natural that HR Execs will also be heavily focused on wellbeing.
A significant increase in the amount of time spent in the office
It is inevitable that the trajectory we are on will continue. Yes, hybrid working is here to stay, but we have seen already the power dynamic shift back to the Employer, versus the Employee. We anticipate a larger number of companies mandating a minimum of 3 days in the office, rather than ‘suggesting’ it. This, coupled with a shift in mindset back to purpose and belonging, will see employees also wanting to be back in the office more often than not.
An increase in lateral career moves
With a tighter job market than we have seen in the last couple of years, and with a lot of people making different work/life choices these days, we expect to see a larger number of mid-senior folk take on new roles that might not offer any particular career progression. We expect to see that money/package increases will become less important than the flex that might be on offer, or the variety they might get from a lateral move.
