Caroline Harwood
Partner, National Head of Employment Tax
Workforces are in an exciting period of change, and at BDO we anticipate several key trends that will influence workforce strategies in 2024. Understanding some of these opportunities and new and emerging employee behaviours will not only help you build your workforce resilience but increase organisational effectiveness and reduce talent risk too.
The insights in this article are shared from a series of interviews with our experts about upcoming trends they believe will impact workforce strategy in the coming year.
Extracted from an interview with David Ellis, Partner, Strategic Reward Advisory
With new technologies emerging and demographics changing, the skills landscape is evolving. However, a need for new skills in the workforce does not necessarily call for hiring new people. Many businesses are taking time to identify the critical skills they will need from future employees while looking at ways to upskill their current workforce.
This new approach is to focus on the skills people have, rather than the roles they are in. By gaining a better understanding of the capabilities, talent and experience of individuals, and making effective use of them, businesses will need fewer people, as employees’ skills and experiences will be used where they are most needed.
If employees have broader skills and experience, businesses can create more compelling career pathways, which can be more productive for the employer. However, this approach can come with challenges – documenting the skills people have is not always straightforward and some people can be resistant to the idea of changing roles, even if they are a skills match.
If you can adopt a flexible enough working approach that supports you in transferring and using these skills across your business, you could have a huge talent advantage.
Extracted from an interview with Caroline Harwood, Partner, National Head of Employment Tax
AI is impacting businesses across the globe. From automating processes and analysing data to supporting content creation, it is changing the way employees work – and this is only set to continue, with the global AI market predicted to be worth 1.8 trillion dollars by 2030.
When it comes to employee behaviour and workforce strategy, businesses are looking at how employees will interact with AI in their day-to-day roles. For example, where previously someone might have written a report, they would instead be asked to review a report created by AI, needing to check whether AI has gathered, delivered and interpreted the information accurately.
The AI landscape has brought with it a period of change – but as the next generation starts to enter the workforce, employees expect to use AI and are excited about the opportunities it brings.
If your business wants to attract a tech-savvy generation born into a digital-first world, then it is important that you continue to explore AI adoption across your organisation.
Extracted from an interview with Caroline Harwood, Partner, National Head of Employment Tax
With several different generations within the workforce currently – from Baby Boomers to Gen Z – multigenerational workforces present a new challenge for businesses as they bring with them different working preferences and core values. For example, Gen Z employees typically have an increased desire for flexibility and care about ESG initiatives, whereas Baby Boomers are typically more focused on progression, personal development and prefer a more structured work environment.
Gen Z entering the workforce is having a profound impact on long-term workforce strategies. For the first time, people are going to be working for 50 or 60 years. This new generation has a long career ahead of them, so it is important for businesses to create an attractive employee value proposition that will not only inspire Gen Z to join them – but more importantly, stay with them for several years to manage costs of replacement, recruitment and training.
With this in mind, businesses should be looking at how they can give employees variety in their careers. So rather than expecting an employee to do the same job role throughout their working life, offering them the opportunity to change roles or progress can give them the job satisfaction they are looking for.
Ultimately, evaluating, appreciating and changing to accommodate each generation's different preferences and values will help you attract and retain the best talent and give your business a competitive edge.
Extracted from an interview with Caroline Harwood, Partner, National Head of Employment Tax
Changing preferences and an ageing workforce are driving businesses to evaluate, evolve and enhance their benefits packages. However, this is not necessarily from a monetary perspective, as more businesses are including flexibility as part of their packages.
With 14.7% of people experiencing mental health problems in the workplace, businesses are also understanding the importance of offering more benefits tailored to employee mental health. As the workforce ages, companies are working harder in the healthcare benefits space to support employees throughout their lives.
From an ESG perspective, there is now more desire for sustainable practices and social causes to be linked with company benefits. This could mean providing an ethical and sustainable pension fund, electric vehicle schemes or workplace volunteering initiatives.
It is important that businesses understand their employees’ wants and needs. These insights can help you optimise and align your benefits package with your workforce’s changing preferences.
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Extracted from an interview with Caroline Harwood, Partner, National Head of Employment Tax
To work in certain roles or particular industries, people would traditionally need to have attained a certain degree level to even get their CVs on the table. But with people now taking more varied career paths, there are certain professions and industries where traditional hiring processes do not always help a company find the best person for the job.
Consequently, more businesses are looking at a far wider talent pool when they are hiring. This opens up roles to candidates who are qualified by experience or skills, not necessarily by their academic achievements.
If you can offer job opportunities to a wider pool of prospective talent and adopt fairer HR processes, such as blind CVs and skills tests, this can help reduce unconscious bias when recruiting new talent and help ensure you are hiring the best people for your business.
