Boy, are we glad this year is over! No matter how you spin it, 2022 was a lot to handle. War, inflationary woes, tech-sector meltdowns — the hits just kept coming. As soon as we recovered from one challenge, a new one seemed to materialize in its place.
Yet through it all we managed to stay on our toes. When not arguing over what it means to not really quit your job or scrambling to find fresh ways to engage Gen Z, we kept tabs on the trends that shaped and shook the workplace. Some we liked (hello mandatory paternity leave); others not so much (go away, redundancy-riddled job applications).
So, as we turn our attention to a new and hopefully gentler year, let’s take a moment to reflect on what’s worth keeping — and what should be kicked to the curb. These are the trends we’d like to see disappear in 2023, plus a couple we hope will stick around.
LOSE IT: Long, large, and unnecessary meetings
“I really wish that meeting ran longer!” said no sane person ever. Truth is, meeting inflation is a serious problem that can affect productivity, morale, and even your mental and physical health. Since the pandemic, the number of mandatory employee meetings has risen by nearly 13 percent.
“There’s so many different ways you can share information,” says Donna McGeorge, author of The 25 Minute Meeting: Half the Time, Double the Impact. Defaulting to an all-hands marathon meeting isn’t just a waste of time — it’s costly.
According to Australian software company Atlassian, unnecessary meetings gobble up $37 billion in salary hours each year in the United States alone.
One way to fix that: Trim your meeting times. Studies show that the sweet spot for maximizing focus is 25 minutes. Another way: Shrink the guest list. The Ringelmann Effect, named after French engineer Maximilien Ringelmann, states that when the size of a group increases, individual productivity decreases. A good rule of thumb? Refrain from inviting more people than you have fingers.
LOSE IT: Open office floor plans
“For decades, research has found that open plan offices are bad for companies, bad for workers, bad for health and bad for morale,” writes David Brooks in The New York Times. “And yet they just won’t die.”
Probably because we’re still being force-fed the fallacy that physical barriers somehow breed isolation. No walls, more togetherness, the theory goes.
But the research proves otherwise. One study shows that when companies move to an open floor plan, workers experience 70 percent fewer in-person interactions, while digital communication spikes.
Moreover, evidence suggests that a lack of privacy in the workplace damages workers’ “attention spans, productivity, creative thinking, and satisfaction,” writes Maria Konnikova in The New Yorker.
Maybe it’s time we call this trend what it really is: cost-cutting. Simply put, you can squeeze more bodies into a space when it’s not cluttered with partitions, thereby maximizing your real estate dollar.
So even though we’re sure to see you again, for now we say bye-bye, open office plan. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.
LOSE IT: Debate over remote work
Few fires raged hotter than the debate over remote work in 2022. What just a year earlier seemed like a passing phase quickly became reality: Job seekers overwhelmingly wanted the option to work remotely.
And while the effects of this shift are worth examining, the debate itself has grown tiresome. Hijacked by soundbite-spewing CEOs, the issue has been framed as a zero-sum game. You’re either a proponent of a remote or hybrid model, or you’re dead against it.
And research is no help. Some studies show that teleworkers are more productive, while others conclude that full-time at-homers underperform in their jobs. Instead of letting the issue continue to divide us in 2023, let’s try to agree on two important points:
- There are no one-size-fits-all solutions. What works best for one organization, one team, one person, doesn’t necessarily fly for another. We need to embrace a personalized approach to work.
- Wanting better work-life balance is not a moral failing. Newsflash: Since the pandemic, people are reshuffling their priorities, both on and off the clock.
Once we share some common ground, only then can we silence the noise and have a rational debate about remote work.
LOSE IT: Quiet quitting
Speaking of noise, we spent an obscene amount of time this year talking about quiet quitting, a trend that was neither quiet nor had anything to do with quitting.
Coined by a TikToker who was disillusioned with hustle culture, the phrase describes doing exactly what your job requires of you, nothing more. Yet it symbolized the purported chasm between employer expectations and what The New York Times Magazine termed “the age of anti-ambition.”
In the end, the weight was too heavy to bear. Quiet quitting was positioned as a life hack for boundary-setting employees, when in truth it simply meant doing 100 percent of your job.
Andrew Gadomski, the founder of Aspen Analytics, perhaps said it best: “We have bigger problems to handle in HR beyond current employees that meet performance, claim decent personal boundaries, and stay.”
Amen!
LOSE IT: Proximity bias
Some trends stink from the get-go. Take proximity bias, where employers show preference to onsite workers while their remote and hybrid colleagues miss out on raises, promotions, and opportunities to lead top projects.
This is a big-time problem. According to a recent study by workplace platform Envoy, 96% of executives in the United States admit that they’re more likely to notice contributions from their in-office employees.
What’s worse, proximity bias sabotages HR departments fighting to recruit top talent, making it harder for companies to compete in what’s still a very tight labor market.
Bottom line: Creating a more inclusive hybrid culture should be a top priority for managers. The ones who anchor their leadership on objective criteria and clear-sighted goals will flourish. The ones who don’t will fall behind. And it won’t even be close.
LOVE IT: Pay transparency
Great news: Salary transparency laws that require companies to include salary ranges in job postings are spreading across the United States, from Connecticut to California to major metropolises like New York City. Globally, in countries such as Norway, Finland, Germany, and Spain, employees have a right to ask for their coworkers’ pay and for the criteria used to arrive at those wages.
According to a recent survey from WTW, 17% of U.S. companies are already disclosing pay range information, even when not required by law; another 62% stated that they were planning to do so in the future.
Why is this a good thing? First off, it helps combat racial and gender pay disparities. In places like Washington D.C., Black women make 63 cents for every dollar paid to white non-Hispanic men. Pay transparency can be an important first step in reducing that gap.
Another reason: It’s a big win for recruiters. In the year since Colorado passed its salary transparency law, the state has already seen a boost in its labor force participation. Data shows that workers are more likely to apply for jobs that list a salary.
And guess which cohort is most comfortable in this new no-secrets ecosystem? Gen Z. Some 42% of workers aged 18 to 25 have shared their salary information with a colleague or other professional contact, a recent study found.
The BeReal generation has spoken. We’d be foolish not to listen.
LOVE IT: Training talent rather than poaching it
One of the most encouraging trends to emerge in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic is companies investing more in training their existing talent instead of luring candidates from competitors with big perks and paydays.
The “build not buy” model has become a key factor in many talent strategies, and it’s no surprise: The benefits are manifold, from increased engagement to reduced cost and time of hiring — and it makes sense in a period of widespread hiring slowdowns.
But where it really moves the needle is on employee retention. LinkedIn data shows that companies that go all-in on internal mobility retain employees almost twice as long as companies that don’t.
Another sign that internal mobility is in: Workers love it. According to the latest LinkedIn Employee Well-Being Report, employees say that opportunities to learn and grow are the No. 1 driver of a great work culture.
LOVE IT: Mandated PTO
Here’s a number to wrap your head around: 768 million.
That's how many PTO days Americans failed to use in 2018. In fact, more than half of American workers (55%) don't use all of their PTO in a given year. For a country that likes to eat, the U.S. sure leaves a lot on the table.
Which is why we’re thrilled to see more and more companies adopt mandatory PTO. Unlike the smoke-and-mirrors model of unlimited paid time off, this policy removes the guilt and uncertainty often associated with spending time away from your job. With a mandatory model, taking time off is part of the job.
The benefits are significant, both for employees trying to avoid the rising tide of burnout, and for organizations that thrive when their workforce is relaxed and recharged.
Another trend we’d love to see on this list next year: More scheduled company-wide breaks. Because a team that rests together, enjoys success together.
And on that note, excuse me while I go activate my out-of-office message.
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