2022 saw increased confidence and greater adaptation to living with the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, it could be touted year of “The Great Resignation” as many companies struggled with employee resignations and hiring for replacement roles.
This led to a demand for skilled professionals in recruitment, organisational development and learning, and total rewards as companies aimed to beef up staff retention strategies in the Philippines, according to Jayson Mendoza, Manager of Human Resources, Robert Walters Philippines.
“While there were more vacancies for these roles, we observed companies becoming more particular with hiring and having more rounds of interviews to secure the right talent,” he says, adding that some companies lost out to others as candidates valued streamlined recruitment processes amid multiple offers at hand.
Read on as Jayson shares his expectations of the labour market and hiring trends for HR professionals in 2023.
Top hiring trends of 2023
Automation and tech are expected to lead hiring demand in 2023 as most companies move from legacy HR to digital HR. “There will be demand for HR professionals with exposure to digital transformation, such as human capital systems, vendor management, and project management,” says Jayson.
While 2022 was a year for recruitment, companies may face the challenge of retention in 2023.
“With the continuous demand for HR professionals comes the challenge of ensuring these 2022 hires remain in the company,” he shares.
Companies will be relooking at compensation and benefits packages, retention strategies, and training and development, in turn seeking to hire HR professionals with specialisation and experience in rewards, compensation and benefits, organisational development and talent management.
In a candidate-driven market, 2023 will see the growing importance of employer branding as a recruitment strategy.
“Candidates have become more discerning of company culture and work-life balance. They will turn to online feedback on Glassdoor or word-of-mouth to assess culture and work environment before going for interviews,” says Jayson.
He expects more companies to use remote work arrangements as a strategy to attract or retain talent, as it remains an attractive proposition here to stay since the COVID-19 pandemic.
Establish trust, maintain engagement key to combating quiet quitting
Jayson believes quiet quitting stems from feeling undervalued and unappreciated. “Managers play an important role in employees’ quiet quitting. Some employees may have, at some point, worked for a manager who pushed them towards quiet quitting.”
“To manage this, managers will need to reassert their efforts in managing their employees or direct reports by first having positive working relationships with them. Secondly, employees need to feel trusted and empowered to make decisions. Thirdly and most importantly, managers will need to ensure direct reports are well-equipped to do their jobs by ensuring they are being mentored, guided, and given training opportunities.”
Attracting and retaining talent in 2023 requires opportunities to be challenged and rewarded and spans across entry-level, supervisory and leadership roles. “This is where learning and development, organisational development, and total rewards play important functions of HR,” says Jayson.
Salaries to remain competitive
With the increase in demand for HR professionals across all functions in 2022, salaries are expected to remain competitive in 2023.
Existing employees may be able to garner rises of 15-25%. Candidates changing jobs may receive salary increases of at least 30-50%, while those with niche skills may potentially secure up to 100% rises.
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