Culture rewind 2022: Learnings and what’s ahead
From the Great Resignation to ongoing layoffs, work remains unpredictable. While it’s not always possible to control what happens next, equipping yourself with the right mindset (and the right tools) will strengthen your ability to respond to change.
As uncertainty continues to challenge the way many of us navigate the world around us, we’re looking back at some top workplace trends from 2022. Below we’ll unpack the top trends and experiences from 2022, offer key resources to help you head into the new year with confidence, and explore why a culture-first approach is key to success:
1. Employee engagement and retention
What we learned:
Burnout, quiet quitting, the Great Resignation – employee engagement and retention have taken a hit in the last few years. Lack of career growth and poor culture are some of the reasons that employees have grown increasingly disengaged, which is why attracting, nurturing, and retaining your best talent is imperative.
Looking ahead to 2023:
To retain your workforce and make sure you’re prepared for any new challenges that may arise, focus on putting culture first. In 2022, employees took the reins of the job market – looking for a company that could meet, or exceed, their needs. What needs do they want met? At the top of this list is development. Employees want to feel valued and know that the work they’re doing is contributing to a larger goal, and without access to opportunities for development, employees are 2X more likely to leave a job in the next year.
Resources:
To keep employees engaged, consider the following tools as you strategize for 2023:
The only way to enact meaningful change for employees is to actually listen – and hear – what’s on their minds. Whether it’s the day-to-day experience, questions about inclusivity, an interest in productivity levels, or any other area of the employee experience, spark meaningful conversation with customizable engagement surveys.
Use the data you collect to pinpoint immediate needs, and keep employees focused, committed, and on track. The data will also reveal where you’re most likely to see turnover, so you can maximize your resources.
Learning and development (L&D) must be a strategic priority for any organization interested in retaining top talent. Develop by Culture Amp takes a personalized approach to L&D, creating space for managers and individual employees to have honest conversations around growth – which is more important than ever.
With Develop, you can create actionable plans, set trackable goals, and understand what initiatives matter most to your employees as you enter the new year.
Everyone has goals they want to accomplish, and when you add structure to these goals, you’ll see better outcomes and quicker results.
Setting goals isn’t enough; an actionable plan forward is crucial. Culture Amp’s goal setting tool aligns individual employee goals with wider OKRs, strengthens decision-making by keeping teams on the same page, and improves transparency across your organization. Instability is still top of mind for many companies, especially as 2023 approaches. Ensure you’re putting your best foot forward with a goal setting tool that’s personal, flexible, and gives employees a clear path to success.
Companies that prioritize employee development see 24% more growth.
2. Change management
What we learned:
When change strikes, adapting behaviors to make room for new processes, environments, and circumstances is often a challenge. The key lies in understanding what drives the behaviors we exhibit. We’ve all had to become more agile and flexible over the last few years, but many employees lacked the support needed to fully adjust. Organizational change, while necessary, can take a toll on our emotional wellbeing at work.
Looking ahead to 2023:
Right now, the world of work remains volatile as companies announce mass layoffs. More than 100,000 tech employees have been laid off in 2022, and that number continues to climb. When daily headlines show industry-leading employers culling staff, your employees may be feeling uneasy. If your company has experienced a layoff this year, remaining employees will be looking to you for guidance as your team adapts in 2023.
Resources:
Tapping into the science behind behavior change can help leaders across your business create an optimal environment for employees. Our guide to successful behavior change is a step-by-step walkthrough on understanding behavior and implementing the right tactics for your unique position.
Even if your company is well-positioned for 2023, the coming year could present unforeseen events that shift things in a different direction. Learning about change adoption now will help make sure you’re equipped to respond to unexpected difficulties and support your employees along the way.
Managers play a vital role in guiding employees, and they can only do this effectively if they have the right skills themselves. Managers face a balancing act daily, acting as the middleman between executive leaders and individual contributors. During especially tough times, managers are pulled in even more directions.
Skills Coach helps managers build new skills and stay resilient by ensuring that ongoing learning stays top of mind. Daily prompts and microlearning exercises are built directly into existing workflows.
When managers are able to work self-sufficiently and support employees 100%, HR teams and leaders can focus on moving the business forward.
We’ve explored what’s needed to upskill managers, and with these new skills in place, managers can better support the development of their direct reports. To successfully start and maintain conversations around development, managers can leverage Culture Amp’s conversation guide.
Roundabout development conversations often drain employees (and managers). Keep it direct – and actionable – and start 2023 with an engaged workforce.
3. Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI)
What we learned:
Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) has been a high-level priority for many organizations, though impactful change is lacking. Culture Amp’s latest DEI research shows that yes, companies are committing to DEI, but they’re not relying on the data to guide change, implementing the right initiatives, or holding leaders accountable for following through.
Looking ahead to 2023:
Observing trends through a DEI-focused lens can shed light on the areas most important for strategic investment in order to keep DEI front and center. Our future is undoubtedly a diverse one, so it’s essential that you understand the experiences of the underrepresented groups across your organization to implement real change.
Resources:
Data-driven insights are key to rolling out successful initiatives. With Culture Amp’s DEI surveys, you can measure just how inclusive your organization actually is. Unpack data by demographic to see which employees feel they are treated fairly at your company and what groups need the most attention or development.
Every employee’s experience differs, and as diverse groups continue to proportionately make up more of the workforce, make sure they’re accounted for – and heard – as you plan for next year.
The voices of your diverse employees offer the most valuable insights for initiating change, but it’s just as important to understand the landscape in which you operate. In Culture Amp’s 2022 workplace DEI report, we’ve looked at data from 2,100+ companies, 1.1M+ individual employees, and 297 DEI practitioners to understand where DEI is at now, and where the greatest impact can be made.
Organizations with inclusive cultures are 8X more likely to see better business outcomes. Make sure you’re on that path by leveraging data, and putting culture first.
Moving into 2023
Whatever your organization has planned, change is inevitable. It’s also unpredictable. But with the tools we’ve shared above, you can keep pace with rapid change, future-proof your organization, and start the new year off right.
