What does 2022 hold in store for you?
19 Jan 2022
Happy New Year.
But it’s a bit like Groundhog Day isn’t it?
Nobody knows how much we are all going to be impacted by Omicron, or if the year will see still more restrictions as the months pass.
Rewind back 12 months and it’s hard not to get the feeling we have been here before.
But despite all that – and the continued uncertainty over what happens next – we reckon there are a few things employees can be certain of in the coming 12 months.
So here are some of the themes we think might dominate your working life.
Hybrid Working.
Love it or loathe it, there’s no doubt that some element of remote working is here to stay, whatever happens with the pandemic.
For many of us a combination of days in the office mixed with days working from home provides the best of both worlds and is the ideal solution moving forward.
The Government’s long-awaited Employment Bill – which will hopefully see the light of day this year – should throw some light on what employers should be offering, but now is a good time to start discussing the future of work in your own workplaces if you have not already done so.
It’s also time to stop treating working from home as a novelty – we’ve been at it for almost two years now after all – and start discussing how to make the absolute most of it with your managers and bosses.
That might mean set office days, changes to shift patterns, new equipment for homeworking or even downsizing the workplace and introducing hot desks – but whatever the solution which best fits your company you need to have a say.
Review your benefits.
Five years ago, when it came to perks of the job, we might have been satisfied with an office canteen or kitchen, staff table tennis table and parking space out at the front of the office.
In the new era of home and flexible working, those perks seem hopelessly out of date. It’s time for you to sit down with your managers and review your overall package and tweak those benefits to something more relevant.
What about swapping the company parking space for a cycle-to-work scheme, or negotiating an extra day off for your birthday instead of the ping pong set? Make sure your benefits work for you in the new world of work and that they reflect your importance to your employer.
The great recruitment crisis.
You would have had to have been living under a stone for the last 18 months not to know that there’s too few people chasing too many jobs. That means those already in work – particularly in sectors such as retail and hospitality – are in a very powerful situation.
New recruits are getting harder and harder to find, meaning that those already on the payroll are more than worth their weight in gold to their employers.
This doesn’t mean that you should walk straight into the boss’s office and demand a 25 per cent pay rise, but it does mean that companies will be doing their level best to keep their best staff.
Work hard, show your commitment, and do your best and when it comes time to negotiate your position or salary you could be reap the rewards.
Work is more than just a job
The pandemic has taught all of us the value of community. Taking away our ability to mix and be sociable has shown us just what we are missing.
Working life is no exception.
Employees now want more than a job – they want a career and a workplace community too. They want to feel they belong to something and that their company shares their values.
As these trends become more dominant, employers will be forced to respond if they want to keep their best and most motivated staff. If your company is not yet having a conversation about how to build team spirit and how to build-in professional development to every working day, it might be a good time for you to help start one.
Wellbeing.
The great conversation of the first lockdowns was around their impact on our mental health – and whether working from home increased feelings of isolation and anxiety.
There can hardly be a company in the land which hasn’t recognised the need to prioritise mental health and wellbeing for its staff as a result.
There is some good news here – surveys show that the majority of employees think their companies have done a decent job of introducing new measures to combat some of the downsides of remote working.
But there is clearly more still to do, and 2022 will be a crucial year to seeing just how committed most workplaces are to looking after their staff.
Whatever your working life brings you in 2022, we hope it is a year to remember for all the right reasons. And remember, if you need any help or support, you can just click the button to arrange a free consultation.
