Today, isolved, the most-trusted human capital management (HCM) partner, published its new report, “Champions of Change: How HR Decision-Makers Are Delivering Employee Experiences That Matter,” detailing the current human resources (HR) landscape. The report found that despite employees’ expectations at work being at an all-time high, 76% of HR decision makers believe their expectations are not out of control. The main reason why is because they think employees deserve a good experience at work according to 53% of HR leaders. That doesn’t mean, however, that HR leaders aren’t concerned with rising employee experience (EX) expectations. It’s the top threat facing talent retention according to the survey.

Despite these findings, there’s a clear disconnect between what employers believe they’re offering and what employees are experiencing. While 95% of HR leaders are confident in their employee experiences, 58% of employees are considering new job opportunities this year—11% higher than last year. And while both groups agree learning opportunities are a top way to keep employees engaged, 43% of HR leaders believe there is a skills gap within their organization and lack of qualified candidates is the biggest threat to recruitment.

HR must reconcile these differences, but many factors are at play. In fact, 73% of HR leaders report significant involvement from top management in decision-making, which could help or hinder organizational priorities particularly for those HR teams seen as tactical rather than a strategic advisor. For instance, 51% of respondents are spending four or more hours a day answering repetitive questions. Given the time back from these tactical tasks, 60% say they’d focus on strategic initiatives which could create the much-needed middle ground. It’s likely why analytics is the top area of investment this year – to help build out business cases.

“Effective HR teams want to create great employee experiences,” said Amy Mosher, Chief People Officer at isolved. “It’s not about convincing HR benefits or payroll professionals to create talent-focused experiences but rather providing them with tools to enact organizational changes effectively. It’s no wonder that this year’s research highlights HR leaders’ desire for data to help them drive decision-making in their organization. When they can find middle ground – and analytics can help them prove out their case – they can create employee experiences that matter for both the employer and the employee.”

Through data around the state of HR leaders’ views on topics like shifting employee expectations, leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) in HR, growing retention challenges and investments in diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging (DEI&B), the report also shines a light on the current status of these critical initiatives and more:

• 65% of HR leaders surveyed think recruitment will be just as difficult, if not more difficult than last year.
• More than a quarter of HR leaders say retaining talent was more difficult over the last year.
• 47% of HR leaders indicate that employee onboarding is the area that AI has its greatest potential to support HR. AI is keeping HR leaders up at night, however, as it was cited as their top personal concern for this year because they fear its impact on their job. Their second biggest personal concern is the ability to invest in their own education.
• 90% of HR leaders say their organization does enough to support DEI&B, and 66% say their organization has increased focus on DEI&B over the last 12 months.
• 59% of organizations have given cost-of-living raises to their employees and 32% have plans to do so according to our survey.

When HR leaders are able harness current employee expectations to create a better employee experience that retains and attracts top talent, stronger business outcomes follow – creating experiences that matter for both the employer and the employee.

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