The end of a chaotic 2020 marked a year of resilience in the face of a rapidly changing business environment as remote work, personalized learning, and employee wellness took center stage like never before.

While many hoped that 2021 would be the year of return to normalcy, it is taking longer than we all had hoped. However, advances in hiring are happening at a record pace. With greater innovation, creativity, and productivity across the board, the tools and strategies we learned throughout the pandemic will play a key role in moving forward and redefining work in 2021.

These 4 trends will shape the future of recruiting and retaining top talent in 2021:

1. The Talent Experience is Important

The employee experience is made up of all the encounters and observations people have throughout their hiring process and tenure at an organization. It starts with the first recruitment touchpoint and continues through onboarding and ends with offboarding and exit interviews.

In a survey conducted by Future Workplace, more than 50% of HR leaders  ranked Employee Experience as a top priority and initiative moving into 2021. Leaders are strategizing how to better incorporate mental health, D&I initiatives, and empathetic people management with the goal to improve employer branding and to successfully engage and retain top talent throughout the organization. Talent Management is front and center in 2021.

2. Remote Flexibility & Increased Productivity

As an option, a necessity, a perk, and an official policy, remote work is here to stay. In fact, 94% of employers report that productivity was the same or higher after switching to remote work and 83% said they plan to continue to offer flexible work policies.

As companies scale back their real estate spends, remote working is a way to maintain a large workforce on a tighter budget and attract top talent. Organizations that offer employees flexibility over when, where and how much they work, see 55% of their workforce as high performers. Over the course of 2021, we expect organizations to start measuring employee outputs rather than when, where and how much they work.

3. Reskilling

Across all sectors, 84% of companies are increasing investments in reskilling programs. Organizations that were forced to tighten their hiring budgets are shifting their resources into training and development in hopes to close the growing skills gap. A billion jobs – approximately one-third of the world’s workforce – will be transformed by 2030 thanks to things like automation and AI.

Generation Xers in particular are eager to learn on the job, 91% say that employer-provided professional training potential is now a major deciding factor when choosing an employer or considering staying with an employer. In addition, a LinkedIn survey found companies with better training have a 54% lower attrition rate, significantly reducing hiring costs and improving productivity. The bottom line for everyone is that retaining top talent and utilizing institutional knowledge to upskill existing employees is the smart way to meet new challenges in a dynamic environment.

4. The {Temporary} Workforce Solution

A survey conducted by the Harvard Business Review found that companies listed about 33% more skills on job ads in 2020 over 2017. The number of skills employers are looking for has risen drastically and organizations are struggling to reskill and upskill fast enough to meet their changing needs.

Organizations are turning to the temporary contingent workforce and talent solution providers to bridge the gaping skills gap. 70% of executives plan on hiring more contingent workers after the pandemic than they did before and it’s expected that over ½ of skilled workers will be contingent in 2021. These highly-skilled freelancers, independent contractors, consultants, or other outsourced and non-permanent workers who are hired on a per-project basis can work on site or remotely and offer a quick solution for organizations trying to meet today’s dynamic business demands.

About AccruePartners

As the largest independently & women-owned Talent Solutions Provider in the greater Charlotte area, our team at AccruePartners is experienced in searching and hiring qualified top talent for any organization looking to hire. Our team is built of certified subject matter experts across 6 lines of business – Accounting & Finance, Information Technology, Marketing, Human Resources, Financial Services, and Corporate Support. Talent is delivered through Direct Hire/Executive Search, Temporary/Contingent Staffing and Project based solutions/SOW.