The Talent Market's "Invisible Revolution": What Hiring Managers Should Know

When the market is unpredictable, it is very difficult to make accurate business decisions around hiring and team building.  Managers may find themselves considering many strategies and be left wondering how to optimize headcount. And even if you know exactly what your most effective team looks like, how do you guarantee that you can hire and retain well enough to keep that team intact?

There are many factors at play, of course, and every business is different. Even so, we at PageGroup are here to help you demystify this process.

Our newest Talent Trends report, The Invisible Revolution, includes the results of our global survey of nearly 70,000 professionals — the largest study of its kind. It provides insights into workers’ changing attitudes, giving you a better understanding of both existing and prospective employees. This will help you to retain top performers as well as bring on great new starters.

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In this breakdown, we’ll be covering the key insights from our research that hiring managers and leaders need to know about.

The Key First Step: Understanding Your Workforce

Any successful manager knows the importance of understanding employee motiations. From the retention angle, keeping employees engaged is essential, as a worker who has grown apathetic towards their current employer is a prime candidate for an alternative job opportunity. And when it comes to hiring, a thorough and attractive offer is key to acquiring the best talent on the market.

It is nearly impossible to do either of these things effectively if you don’t have an understanding of employee and candidate attitudes and desires. But keeping track of those attitudes has become increasingly challenging over the last few years, as the workforce’s priorities have shifted substantially since the start of the pandemic in 2020.

People are noticeably less emotionally invested in their work, finding fulfillment in other aspects of their lives, and are therefore less loyal to their employers.

Three years on, PageGroup now has data from the research we’ve conducted  to show that this change is irreversible . In fact, it’s only evolving further. So, if managers are to build a reliable strategy in regard to growing or maintaining headcount, it is crucial to adapt to this new school of thought.

4 Things Managers Should Know About the New, Empowered Workforce

Through our research, we found several notable shifts of interest to managers across all industries:

1. Job loyalty is now the exception, not the rule. In the U.S., 82% of employees are open to new job opportunities and nearly half are actively searching for a new role. Also, nine in 10 people who started a new job in the last year are still open to a move.
    
2. Work-life balance is the key to job satisfaction. It is now ranked by the workforce as more important to job satisfaction than salary and seven in 10 people would choose work-life balance and mental health over career success. Nealy half of our respondents also said they would reject a promotion if they believed it would negatively impact their well-being. 
    
3. The “Great Resignation” never ended. Last year, the rate of resignations was nearly triple that of 2021, when this term was in the headlines. 
    
4. Openness to new opportunities isn’t dampened by the worsening global economic outlook. In fact, 53% of the American workforce are more likely to look for a new job when the economic environment worsens.

Watch our Event: 3 Keys to Engaging America's Transformed Workforce

Effective Actions We Recommend When Responding to the “Invisible Revolution”

So, what can you do with all of the information we’ve gathered from the workforce? We do have several recommendations.

• Fortify your EVP: First, ensure that your Employee Value Proposition (EVP) takes into account the new demands of the workforce. We know that people are seeking a balance of salary, career growth, and flexibility. If all three of these things are not offered, it will give your employees a reason to look for them elsewhere.
   
• Prepare for some level of attrition: Second, it is clear that in this new environment, aiming for zero turnover is unrealistic. You can slow that rate of attrition, but eliminating it is not on the cards when employee loyalty is basically off the table. So, one way of controlling headcount is to embrace temporary and contract employees. This helps you to be certain of some timelines and know when hiring resources and strategies will be necessary. This also offers you levels of flexibility in volatile market conditions, which could be vital when a need to adjust budgets arises.
   
• Consider a recruitment partner: All of these extra efforts could add some strain to your HR departments, which is why we also recommend working with an external recruitment partner like us. As you can see, we make it a priority to stay on top of shifting trends in the market and can help you navigate changing tides effectively. 

Please reach out to us today to discuss your specific hiring needs, or the other findings of the report.

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