Welcome to an exclusive series here at the Future of Work Exchange that will feature predictions, insights, and trends for 2023 that will shape the Future of Work in the months ahead. We polled technology and solution provider executives and asked them how they believe the world of work and talent will continue to evolve in 2023 and beyond:
Christy Forest, CEO and Executive Director, LiveHire
“It’s the greatest talent reshuffle in recent history and it isn’t over yet. Companies will respond to the fierce competition for talent alongside their looming concerns of recession with one critical capability: agility. We will see a very welcome shift…from what was a lot of talk and not a lot of action, a lot of dabbling and not enough commitment to finally creating a truly agile approach to optimize the mix of permanent and contingent workers to meet fluid business needs. This requires internal collaboration and a mindset shift but it will happen because…
We will see more and more power in the hands of candidates and employees, a higher bar set by them for transparency, inclusion and experience, and only the best companies will earn their engagement and their time. So the most progressive companies will take more ownership of their brand, start their journeys in earnest to direct sourcing programs and total workforce management solutions that enable them to meet the market where it is and move ahead of the competition.”
Pam Cohen, Chief Research and Analytics Officer, Werklabs/The Mom Project
“The Future of Work is fluid; success will depend on an intricate alliance between employers and talent that embraces life outside of work and allows for the existence of both woven into each day. From this, employers will find enhanced loyalty and retention of all types of workers, and talent will find the opportunity to grow within their jobs without feeling the need to leave in order to experience other aspects of their life.”
“Lines will start to blur in types of work just like lines have blurred in categories of HR tech for temporary/independent talent markets. Workers want to do work that excites them and where they can add value…they want to leave a mark. Technologies should make it easy for those workers to find this work regardless of what labor category it “places” them in, i.e., temporary worker, contractor, independent contractor, full-time employee, flexible talent, etc. Another trend I predict is that talent acquisition platforms are expanding to be more versatile regarding the labor categories they cater to. In example, platforms originally built for direct hire/perm placements will continue to productize and launch modules for contract work. Vice versa – we are seeing many platforms built for contract hiring to now also offer direct hire recruiting solutions. HR tech as a whole will move toward omni-channel solutions to engage people through all channels.”
Morten Bruun, Managing Director, North America, Worksome
“The push for a more agile workforce will drastically expand in 2023. We’re coming on the back off a large number of layoffs in the tech industry. Any technology will say a) innovation is the key for their success, and b) people are what create innovation. This leaves you in a dilemma: How can I continue to innovate in an environment where we’re reducing headcount growth? You essentially want to make sure that you have an agile workforce that you quickly can scale up and down and move to the areas where you need innovation the most.
The Great Resignation, Great Reshuffling, quiet quitting, and some of the other 2022 trends we’ve been seeing—will those stick around? I actually don’t think it matters whether they will continue or not. The interesting aspect of the Great Resignation is not that a bunch of people quit their job; the interesting aspect is why they quit their job. People are sick and tired of a traditional working model with no flexibility, that’s why they quit. It’s not unlikely that we won’t see the same volume of people quitting their job during a recession, but it’s important to realize that the sentiment isn’t gone. The sickness is still there, even though the symptoms are gone.
It’s abundantly clear that legacy tech in the workplace/people space isn’t solving the problem for companies. This is particularly true in the contingent workforce space. Around 90% of large enterprises have a VMS in place, but more than 50% of them are citing the lack of efficiency in their contingent workforce program as their #1 challenge.”
Connor Heaney, Managing Director, CXC Global EMEA
My predictions for the Future of Work are:
- An increased interest in Africa as a remote talent pool to combat talent scarcity in Western economies.
- As organizations seek to solve the talent supply issue, they will start to become more willing to employ and engage workers from diverse backgrounds: non-university educated, disabled, neurodiverse, veterans, and folks with minor criminal records.
- Increased regulation in the Gig and Open Talent Economy as a result of the EU directive on platform workers. This has the potential to be hugely disruptive to the sector.”
Marlon Rosenzweig, CEO and Co-Founder, WorkGenius
“We expect 2023 to be a year of growth for freelance even if the economy shrinks. Demographic change and lack of immigration built up a talent shortage that will persist. “
