As HR leaders design new strategies for 2023, they will be considering the events of the past year and evaluating how to change direction in the upcoming year. Among recent events that could impact 2023 planning is the cost-of-living crisis, induced by a recession that could last throughout 2023. Alongside this, vacancies in key sectors like healthcare have hit record highs, as organisations struggle to retain top talent.

In response to these events, HR leaders are likely to renew their focus on employee experience. Creating a competitive employee experience involves a range of elements, including a strong learning and development programme, reducing administrative burden for employees, and prioritising employee wellbeing. These are the elements that HR leaders will be introducing into their key strategies in 2023.

Developing a simple, agile, and scalable approach to HR
As businesses face the effects of an economic downturn, savings must be made in every department, whilst operations continue smoothly. When it comes to HR, it’s all about continuing to offer sufficient support to employees, whilst also balancing the budget.

In the first instance, 2023 will be a year of streamlining existing processes. HR teams must consider every potential cost-saving measure carefully, weighing up the knock-on impact for employees. One approach which both reduces HR spend and improves the employee experience is implementing a Human Capital Management (HCM) software. This software leverage automation to eliminate time-consuming administrative tasks associated with recruitment, talent management, and payroll. By reducing the number of resources invested into such tasks, businesses can reinvest in improving the employee experience. Equally, when all HR functions are hosted in one place, administrative pressure is alleviated for employees.

Boost employee experience through an improved financial wellbeing offering
Employee experience will become even more of a priority in 2023, as workers demand more from their employers. Working conditions are incredibly challenging right now. A recent Chartered Institute of Management survey found that more than two-thirds (71%) of managers are seeing evidence of the cost-of-living crisis increasing stress and anxiety for their teams. Given that the economic downturn is set to continue well into 2023, HR leaders have a duty to their employees to provide support through this difficult time.

To meet employee demand, businesses should start the new year by reviewing their existing financial wellbeing proposition. Are internal communication channels being utilised to communicate about financial wellbeing? Has the organisation considered offering flexible benefits? What tools could employees benefit from? All these questions and more should be answered to determine what is already being offered, and, crucially, what employees are looking for.

Going beyond the surface impact of learning
Beyond financial wellbeing, there are a range of different elements which make up a competitive employee experience. Flexible, digital-first working will continue to be the norm in 2023 – learning must follow suit.

According to Jane Daly’s Learning Maturity Model, there are four stages of learning maturity, ranging from learning that has a surface impact to learning that has a deep impact. Stage one of learning maturity involves highly transactional learning, whereby employees can access knowledge, but the impact of this knowledge transfer is small. Stage four of learning maturity is the end goal: a real culture of learning which has sustained impacts on business growth and profitability. An organisation can only achieve a learning culture by ensuring that learning is flexible – which is entirely in line with employees’ present priorities.

In 2023, learning will become increasingly learner led. In the last few years, we have seen a shift towards employees taking control of their own career paths by moving jobs more frequently and increasing engagement with workplace learning and development. As this trend continues, it will inform learning and development programmes, and induce a move towards greater informal learning in the year to come. Training opportunities will become increasingly unstructured and in the flow of work, allowing employees to truly personalise their career development paths. In this way, organisations can access high learning maturity, with data highlighting that this will in turn improve employee retention and enhance individual wellbeing.

Sharpening the focus on employee engagement
Employee engagement will be the top priority for HR teams in 2023, with a variety of different elements all working together to improve the employee experience. HR leaders can take the economic downturn as an opportunity to refresh existing processes and ensure that resources are being utilised as effectively as possible. This could mean streamlining people management through an HCM software, ensuring that financial wellbeing tools are available to employees, and encouraging learner-led people development. Ultimately, each individual organisation will be at a different stage in refining their employee experience – HR leaders must look carefully at their unique circumstances and realign accordingly.