The Upcoming Workplace Challenges: How You Can Handle Them

The workplace is constantly evolving which brings workplace challenges, and with new technologies and changing social attitudes, employers are facing various challenges – from managing a diverse workforce, to maintaining a healthy work-life balance, employers need to be more proactive in finding solutions to these challenges. In this blog, we explore some of the most pressing challenges that workplaces are currently facing.

2022 experienced a whirlwind of challenges for employers, with companies trying to win over employees offering endless perks and flexibility. However, there’s more to come in the year ahead. In 2023, it’s been predicted that we will be seeing various conflicts over issues relating to work flexibility and compensation becoming much more heated as the recession and inflation take over – but what can you do to help this?

As businesses across industries prepare to take on the economic downturn, it’s going to put a growing focus on efficiency, highlighting the upcoming year’s challenges regarding where, how, and why we work.

Here at Talented Recruitment Group, we thought it would be helpful to present you with an overview of some of the difficulties that are expected in 2023 and how you can prepare for them.

Workplace Challenges

Wellbeing

Wellbeing is one of the most important issues that people are facing, and it needs to be tackled. It became a top priority during lockdown as employers acknowledged their responsibilities to their employees who were trying to balance working from home, along with the stress from the pandemic.

Now is a crucial time to not lose focus. With new pressures like the financial impact of the cost of living crisis, higher workloads due to redundancies or struggles with recruiting – this is bound to take a toll on the mental health of your team.

It’s extremely important that you have an integrated approach that will help to nurture high levels of employee engagement, whilst adopting a workforce where people are also committed to achieving organisational success. Remember that your company is different to others, and a ‘one size fits all’ approach won’t always be the case – instead, tailor different policies and practices to the specific needs and characteristics of your own organisation and team.

Cost of living

The cost of living crisis has certainly been putting a financial strain on everyone, and nobody is exempt. On one hand, there have been mass lay-offs as a result, witnessing giants like Google, Microsoft and even Amazon feeling the effects. But on the other hand, it has been affecting most employees at home. How will they pay their bills? Will they need to find a higher paying jobs? This financial stress has taken a huge toll on productivity levels in the workplace.

Research from Yulife states that during 2022, 80% of employees say that financial stress can directly impact their performance at work. Since financial stress has such an effect on the decline in mental and physical wellbeing, this is also one of the biggest challenges that HR teams will face in the next year.

People & Skills

Since recruitment is currently a challenge in itself, with businesses restructuring and cutting costs in general, this has since led to a skills shortage.

It’s expected that training will become a high priority for 2023. If those candidates are already hard to find, apprenticeships, training schemes and re-training will now be a more important role in an organisation. Find our more on Soft Skills in our “Culture Fit and Soft Skills” article.

Maintaining a work-life balance

Maintaining a good work-life balance goes hand in hand with someone’s wellbeing in the workplace. With the rise of remote work and the blurring of boundaries between work and home life, maintaining a work-life balance has become increasingly challenging.

Employers need to find ways to support employees in achieving this health balance, whether that’s offering flexible working arrangements or encouraging employees to take breaks and disconnect from work outside of the normal working hours.

There is no easy quick fix or solution that will help you to avoid burnout, financial struggles or instantly boost your workforce – and employers are under just as much pressure to try and match goals and their employees. What else can you do to attempt to tackle these challenges? Try review your benefits package in a simple yet effective way, this will give your employees that extra boost in a cost effective way.

The most important thing you can do is to talk to your team. Understand how they’re feeling and what they need to help them during challenging times, whether that’s flexible working, mental, physical, or financial benefits – this is the first, yet most essential step to improving culture and productivity overnight.

Let us know what you think!