The pandemic years to impact hiring in 2023

With job seekers having recalibrated the “instruments” for evaluating organisations, employers have to revisit their hiring strategies in the new year 

The corporate landscape may now be considered irrevocably remoulded, the pandemic having spun the potter’s wheel. While a discussion on how much of the work can be done in the living room is an obvious addition to policy deliberations, the less obvious and more compelling question has to do with the larger expectations from work. The pandemic underscored not only the brittleness of life, but also that of occupational edifices. At the height of the pandemic, organisations had to let go of employees, which caused workforces to recalibrate their loyalty to their organisations. The work climate and the time they had at their disposal during the pandemic also enabled employees to take a pause and re-evaluate their strengths and aspirations, leading many to change tack, some doing so after reskilling or upskilling themselves.

Besides, work from home — which translated to “working from hometowns” for some — had forever planted in employees a confidence that greater work-life balance can be achieved. Employees began to seek work systems that would be entirely output-based, and wanted all the unnecessary frills, those that ended up consuming time without any productivity to show for it, to be thrown out the corporate window. The expectation that the workplace place a premium on employees’ well-being, including mental health, skyrocketed. From these expectations have sprung new paradigms of an ideal workplace and and a meaningful career, and they have become the benchmark for employees to evaluate their organisations and work.

New findings from Indeed’s quarterly (October-December 2022) hiring tracker shows how well-entrenched these new paradigms have become.

Close to 65% of the job-seekers and employees surveyed by the Indeed study note the climate of layoffs has fuelled demotivation among the workforce, and is preventing them from fully committing themselves to their current job. Another finding is that more than half of the workforce (57%) are unenthusiastic about their current jobs, with over 50% of them preparing for new opportunities by reskilling or upskilling themselves. While happiness and flexibility are the main priorities for more than 25% of employees, 19% have indicated that a good work-life balance is what they are looking for.

The year ahead

More than 40% of employers surveyed said they are optimistic about their hiring activity during 2023 and foresee a 20% increase in hiring. However, 18% of the employers surveyed single out inflation as the one thing to be on the lookout for in 2023. And 15% of employers note that the ongoing layoffs and its impact on the morale of the workforce to be of major concern, in the context of hiring in 2023. In the coming year, employers will also be keen to step up their hiring practices. Close to 35% of the employers surveyed look forward to adopting AI/ digital/ social media for talent acquisition and 26% plan to explore hyperlocal/ niche job boards.

A retrospective look