Top-20 Hiring Trends of 2021

In 2020, pandemic-outbreak with salary cuts and reducing headcounts, there is finally some relief for the employees in 2021. The hiring trend is back with the onset of the vaccination process.

According to Mercer's Global Talent Trends Study for 2021, American corporate leaders have transitioned requirements to take a more accurate understanding of commitments to societies as a whole, extending performance indicators beyond shareholder return and highlighting individual and societal well-being.

Meeting the demands of a broader spectrum of stakeholders emerged as a prominent trend in 2020. Many firms in the United States increased their efforts in 2020 to protect employment and compensation during business closures, help caregivers, and provide sick leave. As a result, two out of every five American businesses now feel that operating inclusively with empathy is more important than ever for future resilience.

Mercer's US Executive Solutions Leader, Gregg Passin, added, Sustainable enterprises have long-term objectives that take a multi-stakeholder approach into account. We predict US corporations taking two tactics in 2021 to motivate action: tying ESG targets to the industrial core value proposition and incorporating ESG measures within executive scorecards. Companies that include ESG metrics in the CEO meeting agenda are more likely to experience rapid revenue growth.

Sixty percent of HR leaders in the United States think their organization has maintained or increased its commitment to an ESG and multi-stakeholder business approach. With COVID-19 confirming that the future is not the same, 55 percent of organizations in the United States are rethinking what is most important to diverse personal groups, indicating a movement toward more personalised inclusive benefits.

What is the most significant opportunity in terms of sustainability strategies? To reconsider how retirement portfolios, for example, can be focused on sustainability – something that only 8% of US corporations do today.

Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI)

The rise of concerns sparked by racial violence and the Black Lives Matter movement has heightened the demand for better analytics and understanding of employee demands in workforce transformation. In 2021, enterprises in the United States will invest more in DEI analytics and insights, and accountability and action on closing gender, race, and wealth inequalities will be front and centre.

With an emphasis on diversity, workplace solutions are more personalised and flexible. Necessitates a rethinking of flexibility in general: flexibility in policies, procedures, and perks that will allow firms to better assist people in their lives and careers while also improving the overall employee experience (EX).

The United States transformation plans for 2021 are on reinventing flexibility in all of its forms (48 percent), followed by expanding their talent and learning ecosystem (43 percent) and upskilling/reskilling toward critical talent pools (40 percent).

Health and well-being benefits

In the United States, health and wellness benefits have become a crucial differentiator for businesses. COVID-19 has expedited virtual access to healthcare, with more than half (56%) of US employers aiming to offer additional remote health and benefit alternatives, compared to 47% of their global peers.

Reskilling for essential talent pools is a top goal in US transformation plans (40 percent), 28% of organizations collect data on employee's current abilities, and even fewer (9% ) have adopted skills-based talent strategies.

Nearly half of US businesses (45%) said they want to improve pay equity analytics in the coming year. To encourage inclusion, 58 percent of US corporations have established a DEI council or task force. There is still a lot of opportunity for development. Only 16 percent of US HR leaders are examining the impact of 2020's transformation or rightsizing plans on various minority groups and 15% are evaluating the pandemic's impact on these populations as they plan future workforce initiatives.

Top 20 Hiring trends in 2021

Both recruiting professionals and work-seekers will be affected by the patterns that arise in the coming years. Many companies had to temporarily suspend activities or implement new tactics to stay operational during these lockdowns. The global health issue has impacted the HR and hiring industry in a variety of ways. Let us look at the top 20 trends here:

Both recruiting professionals and work-seekers will be affected by the patterns that arise in the coming years. Many companies had to temporarily suspend activities or implement new tactics to stay operational during these lockdowns. The global health issue has impacted the HR and hiring industry in a variety of ways. Let us look at the top 20 trends here:

1. Remote work has become the "new normal" for many companies and teams as 2020 ushered in a pandemic.

2. Pauses and delays in hiring because of the shrinking economy and other existing recruitment issues.

3. Increase in the usage of online communication tools like video conferencing.

4. Recruiters will not follow the traditional method of educational attainment-related criteria by widening their applicant pool.

5.The Recruitment process with rigid criteria eliminated, and greater emphasis on specialisations included.

6. Update conventional hiring process with the assistance of Artificial Intelligence by implementing technology in recruitment practices.

7. Natural language processing (NLP) can be used to enhance sourcing, screening, and evaluating candidates.

8. With today's recruiting issues, recruiters must look beyond the traditional factors that attract candidates. The staff would reject a job offer if the company culture did not meet their standards, even if the position is a perfect fit.

9. Mobile and social media platforms are crucial in recruiting. Recruiters can find the potential of social recruitment by creating a profile and being available on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, in addition to LinkedIn.

10. Many industries may choose to fill vacant or new positions through internal recruiting. Internal recruitment is one of the most effective methods for identifying the current talent pool.

11. Industries cannot achieve diversity without being inclusive, so diversity and inclusion must go hand in hand. As the advantages of having a diverse workforce become more evident, recruiters must strive to eradicate prejudice as much as possible to avoid being bound by conventional criteria and constraints.

12. Recruiters in today's world have to create retention strategies. Establishing a good employer identity is also beneficial in this situation. Having a positive company image improves the chances of attracting applicants looking for long-term jobs.

13. The digital expertise of Generation Z is unmatched, and these young workers' skills are in line with the demands of today's workplace. Recruiters can entice this new generation of workers by providing benefits that promote work-life balance and progression.

14. Due to the rising competition for high-quality applicants resulting in a skills gap, recruiters must do everything possible to find the right applicant, thoroughly evaluate them, and persuade them to accept a job offer. Aside from providing attractive benefits, creating a memorable candidate experience also will help seal the deal.

15. With the recruiting industry afflicted by a skills shortage, skills may prove to be the currency in the future. Soft skills such as communication and empathy is a must in at least two-thirds of jobs. As a result, to close the gap, recruiters are more likely to hire for soft skills. Soft skills will be valued as much as technological or hard skills now more than ever.

16. With the rise of acqui-hires, recruiters must plan cleverly to prevent cultural clashes and misunderstandings. Industries should consider forming a multidisciplinary team to manage transformation and integration.

17. Industry experts will create the ability and personality tests. Evaluation assessments are to be performed by a third party to avoid bias in the recruitment process.

18. Employers will invest in current workers' upskilling to meet the requirements of specific positions. This technique will become connected with internal hiring.

19. Holistic health benefits include all facets of health, including mental and physical well-being. Companies that take responsibility for their employees' well being would see increased employee recruiting, efficiency, and retention as a result of their investment.

20. Millennials are more than capable of taking leadership positions. When many Baby Boomers retire, Millennial leaders now take the stage with new management tricks up their sleeves.

With hybrid/remote work becoming the standard, HR leaders have to schedule the whole employee journey for the new challenges that a distributed remote-work model can bring. In the new normal, HR is responsible for ensuring enough team enablement and commitment while also planning for some difficult decisions.

Organizations will need to examine several critical priorities to accelerate progress on these trends. Developing a sustainability plan, establishing clear organizational ownership of skills, committing to diversity, equity, and inclusion goals and outcomes, making flexible working a promise and a practice, and emphasizing health and well-being are some of the items on the list.