As we move through the new year, HR managers are looking for ways to stay ahead of the curve and tackle emerging trends in the industry. 

Since 2017, we've been publishing an annual blog about which HR trends matter and what to keep your eye on in the coming year. In 2020, trend predictions went out the window and everyone was just focused on putting one foot in front of the other. It was a year in which necessities became trends whether we wanted them to or not. Because the annual trends blog is always one of our most popular, it is back for 2021 (and there are lots of interesting developments on the horizon for HR). This year was a year of significant disruption and the challenge for 2021 and beyond is to integrate all the changes into a cohesive, efficient, integrated, automated whole. Let's take a look at which HR trends matter to your business in 2021 and beyond.

Our recent HR Blog about the rise of the social enterprise defined this as the overarching theme of Deloitte's 2018 Human Capital Trends Report. The rise of the social enterprise reflects the fact that social capital is achieving a newfound status alongside financial and physical capital as a measure of the value of a business. This change is being driven by many factors, with trust being one of the leading metrics. Ernst & Young's global study on trust in the workplace poses the question 'could trust cost you a generation of talent?' The subtext being that businesses that don't take the trust issue seriously could suffer long-term consequences. Edelman's annual trust barometer for 2019 presents a more positive view for employers. Despite a high lack of faith in 'the system' and institutions overall, there is one relationship that remains strong, and that is the one individuals have with their employer. So how can HR Professionals ensure that these big picture signals aren't ignored in the rush to tick items off ever lengthening to do lists? Let's unpack the headlines so that you have a clear picture of how the world of work is evolving and which HR trends matter to your business in 2019.

At this time of year, we publish our annual round up of the HR trends for the year ahead. The reality is that it is becoming more and more difficult to accurately predict future HR trends because of the transformation taking place in the HR industry (and indeed, across all industries). However, there are a few annual reports that provide well researched, robust forecasts about the possible future direction of HR. One of those reports is Deloitte's annual Human Capital Trends report. Their 2017 report outlines the opinions and perspectives of over 10,000 HR and business leaders across 140 countries, so it offers an HR best practice perspective. Let's look at the most prevalent trends that emerged from Deloitte's 2017 report.

According to Mercer's 2017 Talent Trends 2017 Global Survey, 93% of business executives plan to make some type of design change or transform their organisational structure within the next two years. According to the survey results, organisational restructure and re-design is no longer simply about evolution, 'to stay ahead, organisations are transforming structures and jobs in a desire for increased efficiency, agility, and customer intimacy. Ensuring that the People agenda is not lost amid the drive for change will be critical to sustainable growth.'

According to Bersin, providing Employees the opportunity for learning and development in the workplace has become a paramount attractor in the job market, particularly given the number of Millennials in the workforce and their focus on just that. It has been posited that today's youth will potentially have 70+ year careers, and they understand that their ability to grow, learn and progress is perhaps the most important driver of their future earnings potential and job satisfaction. Companies that focus their culture on career growth and learning, outperform their peers in innovation, long term growth, and employee retention.

At this time of year, there are a lot of articles floating around which profess to know the top trends for HR during the coming year. Sometimes these articles are valid (and backed up by a significant amount of data), and sometimes there is a lot of crystal ball gazing going on. Ultimately, it is becoming more and more difficult to accurately predict future HR trends, however, there are a few annual reports that warrant investigation. One of those reports is Deloitte's annual Human Capital Trends report. The 2016 offering outlines the opinions and perspectives of 7,000 HR and business leaders. That's a significant amount of data gathered from a global cohort, so it is worthwhile taking a look at the picture those 7,000 respondents painted about the likely short and long-term future of business from the HR perspective.

It's that time of year, when we peer into the crystal ball of the future of work, and assess what the experts believe will be the key HR trends and disruptions in the coming year. As technology continues to transform the way we do business at warp speed, HR Professionals are being called upon to keep up with an increasingly challenging rate of change. The saving grace of this seemingly exponential rate of change is that HR software providers are becoming more adept at creating intuitive, easy to implement solutions and upgrades, that make it simpler than ever for end users to reap the rewards.