Each year, new resourcing trends come and go; it’s important for HR to stay on top of emerging trends to remain competitive and provide the best possible experience for employees.
Earlier today, LinkedIn published its 2019 Global Talent Trends reporting which revealed the top trends, challenges and solutions shaping today’s current relationships between employers and employees. The study shed light on three main areas:
An increased demand for ‘soft skills’
The survey of 5,100 global talent professionals found that nine in ten consider ‘soft skills’ equally as important as ‘hard skills’ when hiring.
According to Investopedia, soft skills are the more tangible skills that are complex to quantify. These include: communication, etiquette and getting along with others.
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Hard skills are categorised as skills which can be measured and defined such as typing, writing, mathematic ability and competency using software programmes.
The report found that although hard skills with a ‘shrinking shelf-life’ are still important, there has been a considerable shift putting greater emphasis on soft skills as a way to weed out the strongest candidates from recruitment shortlists.
A whopping 82% of respondents claimed that soft skills are now more important to their company’s success than ever before.
The survey found that creativity, persuasion, adaptability, collaboration and time management were listed as the most in-demand soft skills to UK businesses.
The study suggested that professionals should be demonstrating their soft skillsets at the interview stage of the hiring process. Over 80% of UK recruiters ask behaviour-related questions during interviews, while more than half of recruiters and hiring managers look out for body language and non-verbal cues. These areas should be a top priority for HR when hiring new recruits.
Flexible working should be viewed as a workplace necessity rather than a perk
While the need for soft skills are a key workplace trend for employers to embrace this year, the research also shed light on the demand for flexible working as a key determiner to hiring the right candidates going forwards.
According to the research, 75% of UK hiring professionals say that flexible working will be ‘very or extremely important’ in the future, with 84% acknowledging that it helps employees maintain a better work-life balance and 72% agreeing it makes their workforce happier.
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Last year, research by Quinyx, found that the UK could be risking £12billion per year in economic output if employers don’t fully embrace flexibility within five years.
Erik Fjellborg, CEO and Founder of Quinyx said that employers should change their attitudes towards flexible working.
“Flexible working is an untapped solution to the UK’s biggest business challenges: the more employees are able to choose the right schedule for them, the happier – and therefore more productive – they’ll be.”
While there are clear business and workforce-related benefits from flexible working, LinkedIn’s study indicated that implementing this state of change is easier said than done.
Pay transparency
Aside from soft skills and flexible working, LinkedIn’s research also found that 50% of UK hiring professionals say that sharing salary ranges and diversity statistics with both employees and candidate is ‘very important’ for the future of the workplace.
The majority of UK talent professionals view optimum pay transparency as a good thing, with 77% opting to make hiring processes more streamlined and 72% believing that it will make salaries fairer.
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Jon Addison, Head of Talent Solutions at LinkedIn UK, explained that the changing pace in the talent market is unprecedented: “The old school employer-employee power dynamic is evolving to a more transparent, trusting and reciprocal relationship. Talent professionals and hiring managers are already responding to these influences and rethinking their approach to hiring.”
Addison added: “In a near-full employment environment in which competition for talent is fierce, being transparent, flexible and open makes businesses more attractive to candidates, and the most progressive firms I’m working with are already doing this.”
