Case in point, the globally known trend – ‘The Great Resignation’ did not just empowered employees, but also forced businesses operating in Malaysia to re-think how they manage their employees.
Undoubtedly, that led to the extensive retrenchments that are now affecting the global workforce. This can be seen in the Malaysia's Employment Act 1955 amendments that are now in place – a move that signals the government's backing for these new workforce demands.
It is notable that these workforce trends, over the last 36 months, have impacted work-life balance expectations across all verticals around the world. In fact, many – if not all personnel – now expect flexible work arrangements, better quality of life at the workplace, and having upskill/re-skill opportunities to accelerate their career growth. These are all major emerging HR trends.
What should HR teams consider to leverage on these growth trends and address such demands? Are there any Asia-centric trends to look out for? What must be in place to ensure Malaysian businesses are ready for current and upcoming HR challenges?
Even if there are many factors and challenges to consider, based on ongoing industry and client engagements, here are three key emerging HR trends that will have some level of impact in 2023:
- Needing to offer and optimise flexible working arrangements
- Capturing data insights that will help drive career growth beyond salary increments
- Nurturing a sustainable workforce culture that boost talent engagement and retention
The Unlikely Switch
HR teams, from trying to retain staff who opted to leave in droves, are now forced to look at the best ways to streamline operational capabilities. In fact, teams are scrambling to fill in gaps that are continuously appearing as these emerging HR trends severely impact business-as-usual mandates.
Among the many HR challenges that Malaysian-based businesses now face, only these specific three are likely to have high prevalence in 2023 and beyond:
Next-Gen Work Flexibility
According to an all-new PwC HR trends report, employees expect to get new flexible work arrangement options that are based on their preference. Here are some key stats from the 51,000 respondents across 44 countries:
- 62% of respondents prefer some mix of in-person and remote work
- 63% said they expect their company to offer that kind of approach in the next 12 months
- For the Asia Pacific (APAC), only 57% of employees across the region are satisfied with their job
Notably, the PwC report also discovered a disconnect between employers and its workforce. As 26% from those surveyed want to remote work on a full-time basis, it is clear that most employees are open to hybrid work arrangements or new processes that emerging HR trends brought about.
Even so, they know their employers are not keen to support this – only 18% noted how their workplace is likely open to remote or hybrid working options. Another 18% feel that they will be required to work at the office full-time in due time.
APAC responses are similar, with 68% believing their employer will rollout hybrid working in the next 12 months and this is the preference for around the same proportion of employees. Across the region, only 10% of workers would prefer to work in person 12 months from now. A new global HR study from Cisco also revealed similar findings within these emerging HR trends – 78.8% from the 28,025 double-blind respondents improved their work-life balance with time away from the office.
Clearly, even with its pros and cons, hybrid work is here to stay. As businesses move to proper hybrid work models, they must consider sustainable options that help nurture this next-gen workplace format. As such, it cannot just be about salary hikes – even before the current downsizing, HR worked with various teams to re-skill personnel that stayed on. With ongoing lay-offs, this good-to-have option is now a critical necessity.
Data-Driven Engagement
What should businesses double down on to ensure they can get ahead of emerging HR trends, while maintaining their business-as-usual capabilities? More importantly, how can they make the workforce become more efficient and provide them with sustainable processes that boost their well-being? These are now major threads of concern for HR.
One strategy to consider – enhancing employee engagement. Gartner, from its new 2023 HR trends report, shared how management teams have begun to put this as a top priority. Also, at least 47% of HR leaders and 44% from this study believe their organisations do not have compelling career paths.
Gartner shared from its report how many HR leaders are now struggling to identify the internal moves that employees must make to grow their careers. On employee career preferences, just 1 in 4 voiced confidence about their career growth at where they are now.
The survey also confirmed that the 3 of 4 looking for a new role are interested in external positions.
Creating a great engagement experience will help provide the insights for emerging HR trends that businesses need to enable and empower personnel and set them up for success. Gathering data is straightforward, especially when employee surveys are carried out.
The analysis will provide HR teams with:
- An understanding of what employees are going through
- Critical details on the support needed to accelerate career growth
- Overview of potential in talents that can be tapped onto for new roles
With the right digital HR platform, HR teams can do more than just track the performance and progress of employees. They can also look into overall well-being and skill gaps to learn how they can provide the right support and training for relevant personnel.
Sustained Workforce Growth
With lay-offs being the primary go-to strategy for businesses who want to weather the economic recession, which is already brewing into a storm, losing talent outside of those being retrenched is not an option. Those staying on are now expected to do more and manage new functions.
This will likely lead to being overworked or put them at risk of being further unaligned with management.
Even if higher employee engagement can help address these emerging HR trends, what will really provide sustained operational efficiency and growth is a strategy that up-skills or re-skills employees. When included as part of the business streamlining process for future resiliency, the workforce can learn new skills that will help Malaysian organisations reap the benefits of human capital enrichment.
PwC revealed in its regional workforce reports how Singaporeans and Malaysians are demanding for specialisation training and high job fulfilment experiences. Here are some key stats:
- In Singapore: 50% from the study indicated how they are concerned about not getting sufficient training in digital and technology skills from their employers
- In Malaysia: 66% of those surveyed share how fulfilment for them is extremely or very important when they consider making a change in their work environment
Both points, along with balanced work-life support and offering flexible with work arrangements – both emerging HR trends, are also listed as top priorities in the LinkedIn Global Talent Trends 2022 study. Undoubtedly, offering sustainable growth in the company and being transparent on broader business considerations, such as protecting employee health and safety, are critically important.
Next Steps to Overcome these 2023 Challenges
Businesses using HR management systems have already developed flexible working arrangements and enhanced their workforce engagement functions. At The Access Group, our primary focus is to boost efficiency for HR teams and ensure that the workforce has the freedom to do more.
Find out how you can optimise your workforce management capabilities with Access People HR. Features included in this comprehensive HR platform can help address emerging HR trends via improving employee engagement and achieving targeted operational aspirations.
While the economic climate will likely continue to push for workforce downsizing, businesses in Asia can address current and emerging HR trends when they deploy the right digital tools. This is moreso for a fast-growing economy like Malaysia.
For easy reference, look at the following takeaways and apply them where necessary:
- Understand the key systemic disruptions that are shaping workforce strategies
- Be clear on what kind of workforce and what types of skills will be needed in the future
- Have balanced internal and external measures in place for addressing skills shortages
- Be ready to address needs of empowered workers, specifically with balanced work-life demands