Despite the challenges of the global pandemic, HR has embarked on a journey to transition from a support role to a strategic function, often serving as a trusted advisor during times of crisis. This evolution has shaped our approach to reporting and prioritizing for key stakeholders, as well as how we develop people strategies.
In this article, we will highlight the top HR trends for 2024, providing valuable insights into the external factors that could influence company plans and initiatives.
HR Reporting – Where to start?
Creating an Annual HR Report goes beyond a mere task. It is a strategic initiative that demonstrates the HR team’s contribution to the company’s business goals over the past year. It showcases the value HR adds to the business and its stakeholders. The report includes both achievements and challenges encountered throughout the year, emphasizing how the HR department contributes to the company’s performance, OKRs, and strategic goals.
The report also serves as a testament to the HR team’s purpose, reinforcing positive behaviour and evidence-based management. It is also an excellent tool for strategy building and future planning.
Before creating an Annual HR Report, it’s crucial to acknowledge the significant evolution of HR’s role in response to the new global and business realities.
These trends, ranging from Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) to the impact of Artificial Intelligence on labor, reflect the comprehensive responsibilities that HR now holds. They underline the need for strategic HR reporting that accurately captures these multifaceted aspects of HR’s role. Reporting is no longer just about tracking traditional metrics; it’s about drawing a clear line of sight between HR initiatives and broader business objectives. These trends provide a context to understand how HR’s contributions are shaping the organization and the future of work.
We created an Annual HR Report template you can use yourself to report on the HR/People initiatives and achievements of your organisation. The format is friendly and makes it easy for you to incorporate your own data and personal touch.
Dive in and make it yours!
Consider highlighting and addressing these essential HR trends in your report:
- Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) are four concepts that enhance team dynamics, productivity, and innovation in your organization. To report on the current state and build a successful DEIB strategy, organizations should start by identifying DEIB gaps and developing clear and measurable goals for 2024 to embed in their recruitment and retention strategies. It all starts with an open conversation and transparency needed for establishing a healthy culture to support DEIB. Address this topic in your annual People Report and People plan for 2024.
- Fair pay refers to a compensation package that is equitable, fair, and aligned with the work’s value. Testing internal rewarding strategies for fair compensation is now a must, as well as understanding employees’ perception of fair pay for their work. Reporting on the current status and ensuring employees receive fair and livable pay, while providing equal pay for equal work, leads to inclusive and equitable workplaces that perform well. Not to mention that it is also a part of mandatory compliance reporting for many organizations.
- Hybrid and return to work impact on turnover and employee engagement. All generations demand more flexibility at work as a result of the post-pandemic work environment. Onboarding and supporting employees re-joining the organization from extended leaves pose new challenges in a remote/hybrid setup. Whether companies adapt their way of work can significantly impact employee retention and success in attracting desired talent. While companies struggle between providing enough workplace flexibility to empower more wellbeing and engagement, there is an equal push for more time face-to-face to drive engagement, socializing and deeper connection. Addressing this topic and including it into your reporting and people strategy is a must.
- Skills management in the light of talent shortages. Keeping tabs on skills internally is crucial for bridging talent gaps that heavily impact bottom lines. Organizations are investing more in understanding where their existing skills (and skills gaps) lie to get a clear picture of the match between staff skills and those needed to execute corporate strategy. This process affects recruitment, talent management, and talent development as more companies focus on the “skills” of applicants, rather than their qualifications. HR professionals face these challenges daily and must reinvent HR processes to ensure business continuity and growth with talent shortage on the market.
- Unbiased performance models for efficiency tracking. Never before has connecting performance management with key business outcomes been more important to understand the correlations. In a challenging global economy, smart companies search for efficient processes to ensure they have individual and team goals set in alignment with their business goals, while implementing methods to ensure unbiased performance reviews. Connecting performance ratings with core people data and business outcomes, unlocks the true connection with the bottom line of the organization.
- Automation agenda and impact of AI on labor. AI is everywhere and can help with more effective and efficient hiring, onboarding, supporting, and managing employee-related matters. The challenge lies in the budgets, adoption, and upskilling needed to use AI effectively. Make sure not to overlook the potential AI has on making HR more lean and efficient. Upskill HR organization and integrate AI to replace tedious processes that can make HR more efficient.
- Leadership models reflected in reduced number of organizational layers affect leadership engagement, capacity, and wellbeing. With a year marked by layoffs worldwide, organizational and leadership models have drastically shifted, making companies more lean and reducing the number of organizational layers. The impact of these changes on employee performance and engagement remains to be seen in the overall output of the organizations. That’s why understanding spans & layers, team dispersions, and leadership effectiveness has never been more crucial.
Each of these trends underscores the complexity and expansiveness of HR’s role in today’s businesses. It’s crucial that HR reporting evolves to not just record these trends, but to also contextualize them within broader business objectives. The intersection of these trends with HR strategies shapes the future of work, making it essential to incorporate them into our Annual HR Report and people strategies.
We’ve created the Annual HR Report template to help you present a comprehensive view of HR achievements.
The template is a plug-and-play model you can easily edit and present the appropriate metrics based on who is looking at the report. The HR team might need the entire report to assess their performance, whereas the CEO might only want to note the most pressing issues. Your hiring managers might be more interested in retention metrics, whereas the internal team responsible for learning and development might be interested in L&D metrics.
Tailor your Annual HR Report according to your organization’s business goals for 2023. For instance, if the key business decision was to grow the business through internal promotions, include metrics relevant to that.
The aim of this report is to review the current year retrospectively, providing metrics and benchmarks to simplify the setting of HR Goals and/or KPIs for 2024.
If you want to auto-generate some visuals for this report with minimal effort, consider trying Orgnostic’s people analytics platform. Learn more →