To say that 2020 was a challenging year in the job market is an understatement, and the employment landscape in 2021 has been difficult for employers to navigate. As the labor market recovers, some significant new trends have emerged, and every business and hiring manager should be aware.

The team at Hire With Ease has compiled the top five hiring trends you need to consider as you seek out the right talent and grow your business.

An emerging remote workforce is grappling with a new definition of work life balance.

While virtual interviewing started out of necessity, it’s here to stay – even with most businesses fully resuming their on-site operations. Not only were many positions converted to remote jobs, but virtual hiring expedited the hiring timeline while offering a layer of safety with social distancing still in place. When we never physically go into work, the lines between our social lives and our work lives have blurred like never before.This phenomenon has left many questioning how work should fit into our daily lives, and if the current job we have is conducive to a healthy work life balance.

For businesses, even offering a partially remote opportunity versus a fully remote or fully in-office position will set you apart from the competition. During the pandemic, people have come to realize that being fully remote or permanently in the office is not always conducive to productivity or optimal work-life balance. In fact, a study done by Robert Half concluded that 45% of managers in the U.S started offering their employees mental health resources last year, and 49% said they have “general wellness programs” as a direct response to the pandemic. Your optimal candidate may be looking for a position that offers more flexibility than in the past.

Upskilling is on the rise

The labor market is experiencing a talent shortage and employers are having a difficult time filling open positions. Instead of looking outside the company to find new employees to fill higher-level positions that require specific training or education, many hiring managers are exploring the talent already within the company structure. This practice of teaching current employees valuable training is called Upskilling. With companies willing to spend more on learning and development, hiring managers now have a more significant opportunity to examine the potential of existing employees. The ability to advance within a company is also a fantastic endorsement that will attract quality job seekers because you are letting future employees know that your business values them and their work. When candidates know that they can come into a company in an entry-level position and gain experience that will qualify them for advancement, the number of quality candidates you’ll see can significantly increase.

Companies are working to reduce hiring biases with a genuine focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion

Diversity, equity, and inclusion – or DEI for short – can provide a richer and more well-rounded business perspective and is always encouraged in the workplace. Diversity of thought and experience will promote innovation and creativity. DEI often results in building a more effective team that will approach problems differently and develop unique solutions.

How to acknowledge your own hiring bias

When starting your search, be sure to and try to identify where bias may be making its way into the process. Questions you might ask include:

• Are your published job requirements unnecessarily restrictive?
• Are you advertising the positions on reputable diversity websites and job boards?
• Who is screening candidates and what are their hiring bias reduction strategies?

After doing self analysis, try reading up on the subject by finding statements by BIPOC leaders in your specific field. These kinds of issues do not have a “one-size-fits-all” kind of solutions that can be applied to every field, and should be handled with specificity and care. Doing the difficult work of answering these questions and unlearning the bias can lead to a range of net gains for your company and its culture.

Finding Adaptability After the Pandemic

Because COVID-19 changed the hiring and employment landscape so quickly, adaptability became an essential tool for hiring managers. 2020 was the year of personal development for hiring, and both potential employees and businesses are benefiting from newly found knowledge and ideas. During the pandemic, hiring managers were forced to streamline the virtual hiring process and found time-saving techniques to elevate how candidates see potential employers for the first time.

From being productive in your home office to the emergence of new professional development tools, keeping up with the latest pivots became crucial. For example, Colorado has been offering a $1,600 return-to-work incentive for people who are still unemployed to support people during the hiring process, and they are not the only state to address a perceived labor shortage with a monetary incentive.

While the COVID-19 pandemic felt a bit like trial by fire, it has given hiring managers the opportunity to re-evaluate their assumptions in employment and expand their knowledge of the 2021 employment landscape. If you have any questions or thoughts about hiring in 2021, feel free to get in touch on our Contact Page!