3 top priorities for the people department in 2023

What is your top priority for 2023?

People (HR) departments get more and more challenges on their plate. While making sure that the HR basics are in place, like admin, contracts and paying the salaries on time, People departments nowadays have many more responsibilities. 3 top priorities that I believe should be part of any strategic people agenda in 2023 are:

1. Attracting & retaining talent

By now, People leaders from all industries have experienced how tight the labor market has become and do acknowledge that recruitment is no longer done on the side. Recruitment has become a profession, and quite a challenging one. This does not only require a strategic approach on employer branding and recruitment, a thorough plan on how to retain and further engage and develop your existing talent should also be in place.

2. Leadership effectiveness

While the People department is in the lead when it comes to the People strategy, it’s the teamleaders, middle-managers and your leadership team that do have the biggest impact on your employees’ experience. Managers are the ones that make the actual difference, and also their job becomes increasingly challenging. Being stretched between the increased demands from both top management and their team members, managers feel less and less capable to effectively support, engage and develop their teams. The People department should therefore focus on empowering their leaders, so these leaders can empower their teams.

”By now, People leaders from all industries have experienced how tight the labor market has become and do acknowledge that recruitment is no longer done on the side.”

3. Prepare for the future of work

With the pandemic behind us (hopefully), and in the meantime getting used to our new hybrid way of working, we should not expect the challenges in our world of work to decrease. Technological developments for example, will have a significant impact on our future workforce. While more and more processes are automated, jobs change and so do the skills required for these future jobs. While we can not always predict what exactly awaits us, one thing we do know is that ‘adaptability’ is the number one skill we need in our future world of work.

”While we can not always predict what exactly awaits us, one thing we do know is that ‘adaptability’ is the number one skill we need in our future world of work.”

Written by Siri
Siri Wouters is the founder of Proud - the people company. Proud is on a mission to create healthy, inspiring and empowering workplaces.

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