7 HR Midyear Trends to Follow
By staying current on trends, HR professionals can plan for changing compliance requirements, navigate new technologies and adapt to employee needs. The middle of the year is a great time to evaluate HR progress, recalibrate any efforts to close the year strong and inform forward-thinking strategies to maintain a competitive edge moving into 2025. This infographic highlights seven HR trends to follow during the second half of 2024.
Employee Attraction
During the time of record-high labor figures in 2021 and 2022, workers used their leverage to demand higher wages, better benefits and more career development opportunities and were willing to change employers to do so. Today, labor metrics show that the worker-friendly employment landscape has recovered to give more leverage back to employers. However, attracting employees can still be difficult, particularly for industries with high turnover rates and roles that require niche skill sets.
Pay Transparency
Although there is no comprehensive federal pay transparency law in the United States, around a quarter of all workers are covered under pay transparency laws. The number of employees covered by such laws continues to grow each year, with more laws taking effect in 2025. Not all organizations are covered by these rules, but more employers are pursuing transparent job postings to stay ahead of requirements and win over workers.
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
The use of AI has gained even more traction this year. Research from Microsoft published in May 2024 found that the use of generative AI had doubled in just the most recent six months. Today, around 75% of global knowledge workers use AI. Lingering concerns remain as more organizations implement AI into their day-to-day operations and equip workers to use tools to enhance their job performance.
Well-being and Productivity
One of the most notable proactive wellness trends is how employers tie this concept to employee productivity. Data consistently shows that employees with a poor sense of well-being are less productive. Research from Gallup found that $322 billion in turnover and lost productivity costs globally are due to employee burnout. Other factors, such as poor physical health, can drive workers to miss more work.
Learning and Development (L&D)
More employers are concerned that they cannot train their employees fast enough to keep up with technology development, so they are shifting their core L&D focus to future-proofing. The current workplace requires frequent learning and relearning of new skills. To ensure workers’ skills keep up with workplace demands, employers are upskilling technology abilities and developing transferrable soft skills.
Voluntary Benefits
According to Zywave’s 2023- 24 Attraction and Retention Benchmarking Overview, 69% of survey respondents identified offering competitive health care benefits amid rising costs as one of their organization’s top three most significant attraction and retention challenges. Almost 16% of respondents plan to expand voluntary benefits options in the next year, and most respondents (64.75%) offer voluntary benefits as part of a strategy to improve employee attraction and retention.
Election Season
Federal, state and local elections are scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 5. During recent election cycles, politically charged environments have created contention in the workplace (e.g., inappropriate workplace behavior, social media activism, free speech disputes and dress code controversies). Employers in states without formal voting requirements often offer lenient voter leave options. A well-planned approach can help deter inappropriate behavior and use the election cycle to engage employees.
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