Building the Future Organisation: 12 Predictions for HR in 2022

As the playlist turns festive (cue Stop the Cavalry, Fairytale of New York and U2’s storming rendition of Christmas (Baby, Please Come Home)), it’s time to perform my annual ritual of reflecting on 2021, dusting off the crystal ball and looking forward to what’s in store for HR in 2022.

In many respects 2021 continued the path wrought by the onset of the pandemic in the preceding year. A mixture of the good (in the shape of vaccines), the bad (new variants and lockdowns) and the ugly (staggering levels of ineptitude from some of our political leaders).

2021 also exposed the growing chasm between executives and their employees on return to office and the shape of the future hybrid workplace. This only magnifies the importance of the human resources field. Most experts believe that the future of work has been accelerated by 5-10 years, but the pandemic has elevated the role of human resources too – especially where these functions are data driven, experience led, and business focused. 

What does this all mean for 2022? Well, just as I highlighted in last year’s predictions, I subscribe to Douglas Adams’s (who penned The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy) view that: “Trying to predict the future is a mug’s game.” Adams also conceded that it is a game we all have to play given that: “the world is changing so fast and we need to have some sort of idea of what the future’s actually going to be like because we are going to have to live there, probably next week.” Given the times in which we live, it’s difficult to disagree.

I have varying levels of confidence whether the predictions that follow will prove to be accurate, but I can at least advise that they are informed by data, research, the experience of working with close to 100 global organisations as part of the work we do at Insight222, and conversations with colleagues, peers and guests on the Digital HR Leaders Podcast. Whether any of this helps, we’ll have to wait 12 months to find out!

GET INVOLVED: WHAT SHOULD TRENDS #11 and #12 BE?

Studious readers will note that the title and accompanying image indicate 12 trends, whereas only ten are outlined below. That is because – as was the case 12 months ago - I’m keen to crowdsource the final two trends from readers of this article. What else should I have included? Please let me know in the comments section below, and I’ll add my favourite two to an updated version in the New Year.

**UPDATE 5 JANUARY 2022**

Wow! What an amazing response to my offer for readers to help me crowdsource predictions #11 and #12. At the time of writing, over 75 people have submitted a total in excess of 100 ideas. I’m blown away and immensely grateful. Thanks to all of you who took the time to provide a suggestion.

As such it’s been very difficult to whittle down to two, but I’ve decided to go with the weight of opinion. The four main themes that emerged were: i) creating transparency and value with people data, ii) embracing employee activism, iii) elevating employee wellbeing, and iv) retention, retention, retention. After much consideration, I feel that wellbeing and retention are covered more within my initial ten selections than the first two themes, so I have added creating transparency and value with people data as #11 and embracing employee activism as #12.

More detail in the new sections for #11 and #12 below – and the image has now been updated.

LISTEN TO THE 2022 HR PREDICTIONS PODCAST

We’ve recorded a special episode of the Digital HR Leaders Podcast where Ian Bailie and I discuss the 2021 trends and what HR leaders and professionals should do to prepare for the future. You can listen by clicking here or on the image below.

2022 PREDICTIONS

#1 HR ORCHESTRATES THE PATH TO HYBRID

There is a growing disconnect between employers, who are ready to return to significant in-person attendance, and employees, who aren’t (see one study by McKinsey in FIG 1). The debate between an antiquated presence-based work philosophy versus ‘work where, when and how you like’ is set to dominate conversations in 2022. Indeed, it can reasonably be hypothesised that much of the hullabaloo about the ‘The Great Resignation’ can be attributed to the widening chasm between leaders and their workforce. Who better to broker a deal between these embittered factions than HR? Through amplifying the employee voice (see prediction #5) and embracing the opportunity to experiment with agile innovation, HR can orchestrate the path forward. Armed with data, HR can guide leaders to take an empathetic approach in meeting their employees where they are today – and to help them to think bold: maybe even eschewing the traditional 9-5 work model? In parallel, HR can help employees navigate what Microsoft has defined as the ‘hybrid paradox’ (where people want the flexibility to work from anywhere, but simultaneously crave more in-person connection) and foster company culture in ‘the new normal’. We are already seeing this play out in companies including Spotify, Standard Chartered, IBM and Salesforce. Getting hybrid right could transform the threat of ‘The Great Resignation,’ into the opportunity of ‘The Great Attraction.’ This is just one of numerous opportunities that HR has to significantly elevate its role…

FIG 1: Source: McKinsey & Company

#2 AN (EVEN MORE) ELEVATED ROLE FOR HR

The pandemic, vaccines, return-to-office and the debate on hybrid work have all thrust the human resources function into the spotlight over the last two years. McKinsey’s vision of a talent-driven organisation composed of a central brain trust consisting the CEO, CFO and CHRO, is coming to fruition. With more exposure comes increased expectations. Consequently greater responsibility is being heaped onto the shoulders of the CHRO. It’s not just the pandemic either. When you think about some of the most important topics for organisations today: skills (see prediction #4), employee experience and wellbeing (see #5), mental health in the workplace (also see #5), diversity and inclusion (see #6), and sustainability (see #8), HR has a pivotal role to play. A BCG Study encapsulates the future role of the function as thus: “HR must become the motor of a continuously changing organization that serves employees.” This is HR’s chance to build the organisation of the future and, in the words of Dave Ulrich: “we cannot miss this opportunity.” As HR professionals, we have a once in a lifetime opportunity to design workplaces that put the employee at the centre and craft organisational cultures that are more inclusive, empathetic, fairer, healthier, humane – and ultimately more successful. Are we ready? Let’s get to work.

#3 PEOPLE ANALYTICS IS ABOUT THE BUSINESS

In Excellence in People Analytics, Jonathan Ferrar and I advocate that the pandemic has advanced people analytics into a new era: The Age of Value, where the focus is on delivering value to the business rather than HR. In the last two years, CEOs and CHROs have required a much deeper understanding of their workforces to inform their response to the pandemic, return-to-office and hybrid work as well as other complex topics such as skills, diversity, and wellbeing. At its most impactful, people analytics is contributing millions of dollars of value to the top and bottom lines as well as having a positive impact on workforce experience, culture and even society. Recent research from Insight222 (as well as other studies by the likes of RedThread Research) highlight the growth of the field, and the increasing dependence of leaders on the insights developed through the work of people analytics teams. The key findings of the Insight222 People Analytics Trends 2021 study are instructive: i) leading companies invest more in people analytics, have bigger teams, productise analytics at scale and have a data driven culture for HR, ii) CHROs unanimously conclude that data and analytics is important (90% of CHROs have made it clear that people analytics is an essential part of HR strategy), and iii) a data driven culture for HR (see FIG 2) delivers business value. With 75% of the 114 global companies that participated in the research telling us that their teams will grow in the coming 18 months, expect to see more investment in people analytics in 2022. I think we will also see more productisation, more companies combining workplace and workforce data together, and an enhanced role for people analytics in areas such as DEI, skills-based workforce planning, employee listening and culture change. If HR is going to successfully grasp the golden opportunity in front of it, then people analytics has a massive role to play.

FIG 2: Three Components of a Data-Driven Culture in HR (Source: Insight222 People Analytics Trends, 2021)

#4 ADVANCING TO THE SKILLS-BASED ORGANISATION

In an upcoming episode of the Digital HR Leaders Podcast, IBM’s Anshul Sheopuri describes skills as “the silver thread across the employee journey.” Similarly, Deloitte recently classified skills as the new workforce operating system that will radically transform all aspects of talent management. Our own research at Insight222 into the future of workforce planning found that companies that do workforce planning well focus on skills (as well as cost), and use new sources of external data to explore not just what skills and people they have got, but also what they need to find in the marketplace to succeed. Interestingly, the research also found that nearly all companies (90%) expressed a desire to build a skills-based approach to workforce planning (see FIG 3) but that only a quarter are currently doing so. The scale of the transformation to a skills-based organisation should not be underestimated, but it has the potential to create huge value for the business (helping it to ‘see around corners’ as outlined by both Ernest Ng and Jimmy Zhang), HR (by breaking down traditional silos in talent, learning and recruiting) and the workforce (including by creating personalised learning and career recommendations). In 2022, I expect to see a continued surge in growth in talent marketplaces (listen to three episodes of the Digital HR Leaders Podcast to learn how Unilever, Schneider Electric and IBM have already had substantial success with this).

FIG 3: Cost-based and Skills-based Workforce Planning (Source: Insight222)

#5 AMPLIFYING THE EMPLOYEE VOICE

Perhaps a positive consequence of the pandemic has been that the majority of leaders are much more interested in employee experience. This has seen companies step up their employee voice and listening programs as part of prioritising employee wellbeing and better understanding collaboration and productivity. At Microsoft, as Chief People Officer Kathleen Hogan explained to me in a recent episode of the Digital HR Leaders Podcast, the insights from a daily pulse of 2,500 employees coupled with analysis of collaboration data (e.g. from Teams) has helped shape Microsoft’s approach to hybrid work. Another example is Uber, where analysis of survey responses and data from collaboration tools like Slack and Zoom highlighted pressures on focus time due to remote working. Through a two-pronged approach of information and enablement, Uber was then able to help its employees address collaborative overload. Pairing active (survey) and passive (meta data from collaboration tools like email, calendar, Zoom, Teams and Slack etc) data sources is a powerful combination. Setting up these analyses to directly benefit the workforce makes it more likely that you’ll get the support of chief privacy officers, works councils and employees themselves. The potential is enormous and could inform decisions that drive outcomes in areas such as: advancing diversity and inclusion, reducing bias, developing leadership behaviours, improving team effectiveness and elevating mental health (a primary responsibility for HR leaders). This should lead to the activation of happier, healthier, psychologically safe cultures that drive better business performance, enhance the employee experience and provide the perfect antidote to the ‘Great Resignation’.       

#6 DIVERSITY, EQUITY, INCLUSION AND BELONGING MOVES FROM TALK TO ACTION

In our recent research with over 100 global organisations diversity and inclusion emerged as the top area where people analytics is adding the most business value. This felt like a significant moment. Diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging (DEIB) has long been cited as an area of untapped potential, but perhaps a unique set of circumstances is helping to tip the scales. First, evidence of the business value of DEI is more readily available (two examples including the annual Women in the Workplace, and a recent study by RedThread Research on creating a DEIB culture). Second, the racial inequality crisis (elevated by the Black Lives Matter movement) has catalysed organisations into action. Third, perhaps critically, the amplification of the employee voice (see #5) has made it crystal clear to leaders that action on DEIB topics is now expected by the workforce. Finally, the growth of people analytics is helping organisations to gain more insight and drive action on DEIB topics (e.g. pay equity, bias, inclusivity and homophily). As Joan C. Williams, one of the world’s leading DEIB experts told me in a recent episode of the Digital HR Leaders Podcast, in relation to companies implementing processes such as annual bias training: “You can't change your company culture by doing anything once.” There is much work to do, but thankfully the DEIB genie finally seems to have escaped from the bottle.

You can't change your company culture by doing anything once

#7 UNLOCKING THE TRUST DIVIDEND WITH ETHICS

Delivering the benefits of analytics to the people who provide the data – namely employees – positively impacts business performance. As such, it’s important to build trust in the use of people data and tackle ethics and privacy head on. One step is the development of an ethics charter that provides transparency and governs the wise and ethical use of people data. At Insight222, we’ve worked with several organisations to help them develop an ethics charter. One of the case studies in Excellence in People Analytics describes how Lloyds Banking Group developed an ethics charter (see guiding principles in FIG 4) that protects employees and drives value for the company. By being transparent about the approach to ethics, an organisation is likely to gain more trust from employees. By creating trust, and through that trust being able to access more people data from employees, then more value can be delivered. Indeed, one study by Accenture finds that where responsible strategies with regards to the use of people data are adopted by an organisation, the trust dividend could be worth more than a 6 per cent increase in future revenue growth. With regulators (including the EU, EEOC and even New York City) increasingly looking at legislation to govern the use of AI by organisations (for employees as well as customers), I expect to see more companies implementing ethics charters governing the use of people data in 2022.    

FIG 4: Figure from LBG in (Source: Excellence in People Analytics, Jonathan Ferrar and David Green – Kogan Page, 2021)

#8 HR’S ROLE EXPANDS TO SUSTAINABILITY AND SOCIETY

Earlier in 2021, the respected Edelman Trust Barometer reported that employees are now considered to be the most important stakeholder to companies’ long-term success. This dovetails with research from McKinsey, which finds that when employees feel that their purpose is aligned with that of their organisation they are more productive, healthier and resilient than employees who don’t. This is where HR comes in – to help turn purpose from rhetoric to action. Let’s take climate as an example. On the one hand, HR has a strategic role to play in helping the organisation achieve its climate strategy and sustainability goals. Furthermore, HR has to focus on meeting employees’ expectations for how their employer addresses climate change, as this is fast becoming a key part of the employee value proposition. Recent research by Willis Towers Watson finds that HR is currently involved in climate strategy in just over 50% of companies, and while 92% believe it is important to have a clear climate strategy in their employee value proposition, only a paltry 13% currently do. Purpose extends beyond sustainability and is intrinsically linked with other societal topics such as diversity, equity and inclusion. This is probably the most nascent of this year’s predictions – and the one that is more likely to play out over the longer term rather than the next 12 months.

#9 INVESTMENT IN WORK TECH CONTINUES TO EXPLODE

Growth in the HR/Work Tech market has surged since the start of the pandemic, with venture capital investment in work tech set to top $15 billion in 2021 (up 300% from last year). There are now estimated to be at least 24 work tech unicorns. In the last 12 months we have seen Peakon acquired by Workday, Qualtrics partially spun off from SAP, the merger of Emsi and Burning Glass, the launch of Microsoft Viva and huge additional rounds of investments in a plethora of work tech including Visier, Gloat, SmartRecruiters and Culture Amp. It’s safe to predict there will be even more consolidation and investment in the market in 2022. Look out in particular for moves in four sub-categories of work tech: i) external labour market data and analytics (firms in this space include Emsi Burning Glass, Claro, HR Forecast, Gartner Talent Neuron), ii) talent marketplaces (Degreed, Eightfold, Fuel50, Gloat, Paddle HR), iii) skills and workforce planning (Orgvue, eQ8, TechWolf, Simply), and iv) organisational network analysis (TrustSphere, Worklytics, Yva, Cognitive Talent Solutions, Maven 7).

#10 TO DELIVER, HR UPSKILLS TO BE MORE DATA DRIVEN, EXPERIENCE LED AND BUSINESS FOCUSED

To capitalise on the opportunity in front of the function – and meet the increasingly lofty expectations of leaders and the workforce, the skills of HR professionals need to evolve. In Insight222’s HR in the Digital Age research, we identified three categories and nine skills for the future HR professional to be more data driven, experience led, and business focused (see FIG 5). Together these skills will enable HR to solve business challenges, have a greater influence on strategy, support the creation of inclusive cultures and deliver an enhanced employee experience. With our recent study of over 100 global organisations finding that 90% of chief human resources officers have made it clear that data and analytics are an essential part of HR strategy, progress is already being made. Nevertheless, there is still significant room for improvement, with the same study finding that only 42% of these organisations currently have a data driven culture for people data and analytics. 2022 is the year to close that gap.

FIG 5: Nine skills of the Future HR Professional (Source: Insight222)

#11 CREATING TRANSPARENCY AND VALUE WITH PEOPLE DATA

Thanks to Amy Armitage, John Boudreau, Dave Ulrich and Lexy Martin, who together helped shaped this first crowdsourced prediction for 2022. As Amy’s comment and John’s endorsement (see below) highlights, regulators and investors are increasingly demanding disclosure of data about how a firm’s human capital creates value, reduces risk and enhances business opportunity. This is an opportunity for HR to take the lead and (as highlighted by Dave Ulrich in his comment below) focus more on the value it creates than the activities it does. Lexy Martin’s nuance that this also involves enabling people managers with analytics and implementing the necessary change management is a neat complement. Thanks also to Paul Krige, Vivek Ojha, Dan George, David Hodges, Linpei Zhang, Renee McLeod, Garry Turner, Dan Lapporte and Ashish Parulekar who all also helped inform this prediction.

#12 EMBRACING EMPLOYEE ACTIVISM

Of all the suggestions, this one by Diane Gherson drew the most comment and agreement, so it seems entirely apt that HR’s role in enabling employee activism concludes the predictions for 2022 – not least because it provides a neat link to the first prediction about HR acting as a broker between executives and employees to orchestrate the path to hybrid. As Diane wrote in her comment (see below), employees increasingly have the upper hand. Is HR prepared for this likely rise in employee activism? Time will tell, but the increased investment in amplifying employee voice will hopefully help firms (and HR) to turn this challenge into an opportunity. After all, research finds that when employees speak up, companies win. Thanks to Diane for this provocative prediction, and also to Catherine de la Poer, John Boudreau, Dave Ulrich, Gabriel Arroyo Cesari, Andrew Spence and Ramses Abdul Ghani for their contributions to the lively discussion that emanated from Diane’s suggestion.

THANK YOU

From a personal perspective, 2021 was a momentous year as it saw the publication of Excellence in People Analytics, co-authored with Jonathan Ferrar. We have both been blown away by the positive reaction to the book – whether it’s personal notes of congratulations, posts on social media and even companies buying hundreds of copies for their entire HR teams. A heartfelt thank you to everyone for the support – and particularly to those who contributed to and endorsed the book. It means a lot.

Finally, a brief mention to the following whose suggestions for the crowdsourced predictions #11 and #12 I particularly liked. You can read all the suggestion in the comment section below: Sola Osinoiki (I like your reframe of ‘The Great Rehire), Jonathan Ferrar (completely agree on the levels of retention analytics reaching levels not seen since the Global Financial Crisis), Bob Pulver, Susan Cantrell (let’s ditch the siloes!), David Sperl, Serena Huang (good shoutout on the likely increased churn of people analytics leaders), Dawn Klinghoffer (completely agree on the need to personalise insights at scale), Shuchika Sahay, Hanadi El Sayyed, Temre Green (aligning personal and company missions), Carol Braddick, Hallie Bregman, Paola Alfaro Alpizar and Catriona Lindsay. Thank you for taking the time to contribute your suggestions. 

RESOURCES

The long list of resources below all informed the 2022 set of predictions and are recommended for further reading on the topics covered herein:

#1 HR orchestrates the path to hybrid

De Smet, A; Dowling, B; Mysore, M and Reich, A - It’s time for leaders to get real about hybrid (McKinsey, July 2021) | Davenport, T and Redman, T - Experiments and Data for Post-COVID-19 Work Arrangements (MIT Sloan Management Review, March 2021) | Boudreau, J and Ramstad, P - COVID’s Hidden Promise: Future Work Design Is Agile Innovation (LinkedIn, February 2021) | Gratton, L – How to Do Hybrid Right (Harvard Business Review, May 2021) | Hogan, K; Klinghoffer, D; Whittinghill, J and Rock, D | Microsoft - To Thrive in Hybrid Work, Build a Culture of Trust and Flexibility | Lundström, A and Westerdahl, A - Introducing Working From Anywhere at Spotify (Spotify HR Blog, February 2021) | Kapilashrami, T and Nawrat, A - Inside Standard Chartered’s HR tech stack and hybrid working model (Unleash, June 2021) | Lamoreaux, N and Elliott, B - This is how IBM and Slack are approaching hybrid work (Fast Company, April 2021) | Ng, E and Green, D - The Role of People Analytics in Enabling Employee Success at Salesforce (Digital HR Leaders Podcast, myHRfuture, November 2021) | De Smet, A; Dowling, B; Mugayer-Baldocchi, M and Schaninger, B - ‘Great Attrition’ or ‘Great Attraction’? The choice is yours (McKinsey, September 2021)

#2 An (even more) enhanced role for HR

Barton, D; Carey, D and Charan, R – An Agenda for the talent-first CEO (McKinsey, March 2018) | Baier, J; Caye, J; Strack, R et al - Creating People Advantage 2021 - The Future of People Management Priorities (BCG, June 2021) | Ulrich, D - How HR Must Rise to Today’s Opportunity | Styr, C - How can Human Centred Design be used in HR? (myHRfuture, November 2021) | Komm, A, Pollner, F, Schaninger, B and Sikka, S - The new possible: How HR can help build the organization of the future (McKinsey, March 2021) | Ulrich, M, Wright, P, Burns, E and Ulrich, D – What is required to be more effective in HR? (LinkedIn, November 2021) | Ulrich, D - How to Turn Your Aspirations for Impact into Ideas for Action (LinkedIn, August 2021) | Wright, A; Mertens, J; Gherson, D and Bersin, J - Accelerating the journey to HR 3.0 (IBM, October 2020) | Jesuthasan, R; Nair, L and Dabal, N - HR4.0: Shaping People Strategies in the Fourth Industrial Revolution

#3 People analytics is about the business

Ferrar, J and Green, D – Excellence in People Analytics: How to Use Workforce Data to Create Business Value (Kogan Page, 2021) | Green, D - A History of People Analytics in Five Ages (LinkedIn, June 2021) | Ulrich, D; Ferrar, J and Green, D - How to Build Excellence in People Analytics (Digital HR Leaders Podcast, myHRfuture, September 2021) | Ferrar, J; Styr, C; and Verghese, N - Accelerating People Analytics: A Data Driven Culture for HR (myHRfuture, October 2021) | Garr, S and Mehrotra, P – Unlocking the Hidden C-Suite Superpower: People Analytics (RedThread Research, November 2021) | Ferrar, J, Styr, C and Verghese, N - People Analytics Trends 2021 (Insight222, October 2021) | Buechsenschuss, R and Green, D - Taking a Skills-Based Approach to Workforce Planning (Digital HR Leaders Podcast, myHRfuture, September 2021) | Gray, P; Cross, R and Arena, M - Use Networks to Drive Culture Change (MIT Sloan Management Review, December 2021) | Coolen, P and Veldkamp, J – 8 Big Tickets for People Analytics

#4 Advancing to the skills-based organisation

Cantrell, S; Pearce, J and Griffiths, M – Skills: The new workforce operating system (Deloitte, October 2021) | Bailie, I and Styr, C – A New Playbook for Workforce Planning - Extract (myHRfuture, March 2021) | Ferrar, J - How to Build a Workforce Planning Strategy that Delivers Business Value (myHRfuture, March 2021) | Bailie, I - Building an Effective Skill-Based Workforce Planning Capability (myHRfuture, June 2011) | Roach, A and Green, D - How Can Workforce Planning Help Organisations Access the Skills they need to Thrive in the Digital Age? (myHRfuture, August 2021) | Ng, E and Green, D - The Role of People Analytics in Enabling Employee Success at Salesforce (Digital HR Leaders Podcast, myHRfuture, November 2021) | Zhang, J and Green, D - How Vertex has Built a World Class People Analytics Function (Digital HR Leaders Podcast, myHRfuture, May 2021) | Wels, J and Green, D - How Unilever has Created a Culture of Internal Talent Mobility (Digital HR Leaders Podcast, myHRfuture, March 2021) | | Kao Mylon, T and Green, D - How to Strike a Balance Between Being Technology Enabled and Human Centric (Digital HR Leaders Podcast, myHRfuture, November 2021) | Gherson, D and Green D - How IBM is Reinventing HR with AI and People Analytics (Digital HR Leaders Podcast, myHRfuture, September 2020) | Bersin, J - The Mad Scramble To Lead The Talent Marketplace Market (josh.bersin.com, December 2021)

#5 Amplifying the employee voice

Styr, C, Ghize, K and Martel, C - How to Demonstrate the Business Value of Employee Experience (September 2021) | Bersin, J - Voice Of The Employee: The Most Important Topic In Business (joshbersin.com, May 2021) Hogan, K and Green, D - Microsoft's Chief People Officer on Creating a Data Driven Culture in HR (Digital HR Leaders Podcast, myHRfuture, August 2020) | Klinghoffer, D - In Hybrid Work, Managers Keep Teams Connected (Microsoft, March 2021) | Cross, R; Benson, M; Kostal, J and Milnor, RJ - Collaboration Overload Is Sinking Productivity (Harvard Business Review, September 2021) | Edmondson, A and Mortensen, M - What Psychological Safety Looks Like in a Hybrid Workplace (April 2021) | Ulrich, D - The Journey to Mental Health: A Business and HR Leader Imperative (November 2021)

#6 Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging moves from talk to action

Styr, C - Where is People Analytics Adding the Most Business Value in 2021? (myHRfuture, October 2021) | Huang, S - Inclusion and Belonging – An Untapped Potential for People Analytics (LinkedIn, November 2021) | McKinsey and Lean In – Women in the Workplace 2021 (2021) | Garr, S and Mehrotra, P - Creating a DEIB Culture: The Skills Every Employee Needs (RedThread Research, October 2021)| Ferrar, J and Green, D - How Can Passive ONA Highlight the Impact of Relationships on Diversity and Inclusion? (myHRfuture, August 2021) | Williams, J.C and Green, D - Why Companies Need to Interrupt Bias to Truly Create Inclusion (Digital HR Leaders Podcast, myHRfuture, October 2021) | Klinghoffer, D - Hybrid Tanked Work-Life Balance. Here’s How Microsoft Is Trying to Fix It (Harvard Business Review, December 2021)

#7 Unlocking the ‘trust dividend’ with ethics

Chamorro-Premuzic, T and Bailie, I – Tech is Transforming People Analytics. Is That a Good Thing? | Green, D - The Importance of Data Ethics and Privacy in People Analytics (myHRfuture, March 2021) | Petersen, D - 6 Steps to Ethically Sound People Analytics (myHRfuture, October 2020) | Ferrar, J and Green, D – Excellence in People Analytics: How to Use Workforce Data to Create Business Value (Kogan Page, 2021) Shook, E; Knickrehm, M and Sage-Gavin, E – Decoding Organizational DNA: Trust, Data and Unlocking Value in the Digital Workplace (Accenture, January 2019) | Sumser, J - How the EU’s AI rules will alter HR’s relationship with tech (HR Executive Magazine, May 2021) | Maurer, R - EEOC Announces Focus on Use of AI in Hiring (SHRM, November 2021) | O’Brien, M - A new bill would limit employers’ use of A.I. hiring tools to recruit New York City applicants (November 2021)

#8 HR’s role expands to sustainability and society

Roach, C – Employees now considered the most important group to companies’ long-term success. What are the boardroom implications? (Edelman, May 2021) | Bello-Perez, Y - Why HR is responsible for sustainability in the future of work (Unleash, November 2021) | Dhingra, N, Samo, A, Schaninger, B and Schrimper, M - Help your employees find purpose—or watch them leave (McKinsey, April 2021) | Norton, J and Summers, H - Where to start? Mobilising and empowering your people to drive the climate strategy (Willis Towers Watson, July 2021)

#9 Investment in work tech continues to explode

Bersin, J - HR Tech Is White Hot: Is Every Vendor Now A Unicorn? (joshbersin.com, July 2021) | Corsello, J - The State of Work 2021 (Acadian Ventures, October 2021) | Spence, Andrew - 24 Fast Growing WorkTech Unicorns To Follow (Workforce Futurist, August 2021) | Garr, S – Workday’s Acquisition of Peakon – No Big Surprise (RedThread Research, January 2021) | Bersin, J - SAP to Spin-Off Qualtrics. Yes, The Experience Market Is That Hot (joshbersin.com, July 2021) | Garr, S – Microsoft Crashes the Employee Experience Party: Brings Together Glint, Workplace Analytics, And Others to Disrupt Market (RedThread Research, February 2021)

#10 To deliver, HR upskills to be more data driven, experience led and business focused

Bailie, I and Styr, C - Is HR Ready for the Digital Age? (myHRfuture, June 2021) | Styr, C - 9 Skills HR Professionals Need to Succeed in the Digital Age (myHRfuture, July 2021) | Ferrar, J; Styr, C; and Verghese, N - Accelerating People Analytics: A Data Driven Culture for HR (myHRfuture, October 2021) | Rosenow, R - Buy-Side People Analytics (October, 2021) | Ulrich, M, Wright, P, Burns, E and Ulrich, D – What is required to be more effective in HR? (LinkedIn, November 2021) | Ulrich, D - How HR Must Rise to Today’s Opportunity (LinkedIn, July 2021)

OTHER RECOMMENDED 2022 TRENDS AND PREDICTIONS

There is also a plethora of other 2022 trends and predictions out there. Some that I recommend reading – especially Tom Haak’s thoughtful set of trends - are presented below (I’ll add to this list as more pieces are published):

• Tom Haak - 10 HR Trends for 2022: From Adaptation to Transformation
• Priya Sunil - HR in 2022: 7 key trends that will affect employee experience (and how to address them)
• Bernard Marr - The Future Of Work: 5 Biggest Workplace Trends In 2022
• Gartner - Top 5 Priorities for HR Leaders in 2022
• Korn Ferry – Future of work trends 2022: A new era for humanity
• Visier – Workplace trends 2022: The Age of the Employees is here
• Hung Lee - What's Happened In Recruitment In 2021? (Hung's view on recruiting trends, which will play out over the next four issues of his This Week In Recruiting newsletter).
• Cindi Howson - 7 data and analytics trends and predictions for 2022
• Josh Bersin, Kathi Enderes, Janet Mertens and Nehal Nangia - Predictions for 2022: Everything Is About To Change
• Katarina Berg - 2022 Predictions: Same Base Colours, New Patterns
• Laszlo Bock - 2022: Time to Simplify
• Kevin Wheeler - 6 Probable and 4 Doubtful Predictions for Recruiting 2022
• Lars Schmidt - 7 Ways HR Will Look Different in 2022

ARE YOU BUILDING THE HR SKILLS YOU NEED FOR 2022?

If the answer to that question is ‘no’ – then you’re not alone.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

David is a globally respected author, speaker, conference chair, and executive consultant on people analytics, data-driven HR and the future of work. As Managing Partner and Executive Director at Insight222, he has overall responsibility for the delivery of the Insight222 People Analytics Program, which supports the advancement of people analytics in over 80 global organisations. Prior to co-founding Insight222 and taking up a board advisor role at TrustSphere, David accumulated over 20 years experience in the human resources and people analytics fields, including as Global Director of People Analytics Solutions at IBM. As such, David has extensive experience in helping organisations increase value, impact and focus from the wise and ethical use of people analytics. David also hosts the Digital HR Leaders Podcast and is an instructor for Insight222's myHRfuture Academy. His book, co-authored with Jonathan Ferrar, Excellence in People Analytics: How to use Workforce Data to Create Business Value was published in the summer of 2021.