Once, people teams had the luxury of time to plan, test and tweak approaches. Now, many of us are taking it day by day: ten-year plans have been scrapped, and ‘business as usual’ is a distant memory. Many TA teams and HR leaders are looking for guidance.

In times like these, we look to the experts for advice and predictions in an unpredictable landscape. Industry commentators like Hung Lee have their finger on the pulse of what it means to recruit in 2021, and can help make sense of a landscape that’s shifting every day.

Speaking in a recent PageUp webinar, Hung Lee outlined his 8 key talent acquisition trends for the new year. This is by no means an exhaustive list – but it is a good way to check that your organisation is on the right track.

Here’s what we know so far about what matters in recruiting in 2021:

• Everyone is an international recruiter
• Digital transformation and automation take centre stage
• There are new challenges and considerations for diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I)
• Alumni (former employees) become an organisation‘s greatest asset
• Employer branding becomes a non-negotiable
• Internal mobility evolves into a key source of quality talent.

2020 was the year that HR truly stepped up and took a seat at the table. In 2021, it’s time to continue that momentum and take the lead in transforming workplaces for the new world of work.

Talent acquisition trend 1: The global talent pool

COVID-19 has accelerated once-distant trends and forced the world’s biggest work-from-home experiment. Even laggards have been forced to adopt remote tech – and organisations are realising it can work. In spite of organisational complexities and the challenges of remote work, up to 37% of jobs can now be done fully remotely. In the US, there was a 150% increase in remote jobs from 2019 to 2020. In the UK, there was a 342% increase in the same period (Iain Moss, Adzuna, 2020). In Australia, there was more than a 200% increase in remote work in some states (NSW, ACT and Victoria).

Organisations are getting into the groove of remote work, and this has opened up possibilities for a global network of talent. No longer constrained by brick and mortar offices, organisations can hire the best people in the world – not just their city. In 2021, everyone is an international recruiter.

“Moving the job to where the people are is increasing,” says Hung Lee, curator of recruitment industry newsletter Recruiting Brainfood. Lee observes that “remote means anywhere” – and with technology improving and C-suite leaders enjoying the cost reduction of work-from-home arrangements, TA will shift from on-premise to remote hiring.

This brings about major changes:

• Moving away from the traditional full-time hiring cycle, remote workers can be freelancers and contractors. This trend lends itself to a “try before you buy” approach, according to Lee.
• There is zero friction for talent to move from company to company – which means the employee experience is more important than ever
• Compensation is set by elite organisations. No longer confined to local salary benchmarks, smaller players may struggle to compete with salaries offered by large organisations. For many jobseekers, the ability to live in their hometown but get paid a New York-level salary is appealing – and makes it hard for local organisations to compete
• Competition for top talent is global.

Talent acquisition trend 2: Digital transformation and automation becomes a priority

In a year of constant disruption, even the most progressive companies have had to think on their feet. They’ve achieved this agility through workforce automation. Research shows that 92% of senior executives agree that the lockdown period has made digital transformation a priority.

COVID-19 has forced the automation of in-person human roles, where possible. At the same time, remote working has flourished and given way to a raft of digitisation and automation. RPA (recruitment process automation) has delivered unparalleled efficiencies in the recruiting process, spurred on by reduced TA headcount and recruiters simply having to do more with less. What was once paper-based, manual and resource-intensive (multiple recruiters and interviewing rooms, onerous rounds of shortlisting and assessments) has become streamlined and fully digital.

Talent acquisition trend 3: Alumni form part of the talent community

“Retain the relationship, not the employee” recruiting guru Bill Boorman advises. This year, cash-strapped and time-poor recruiting teams are turning to the ‘talent community’ – alumni, silver-medalists and internal talent – as a source of pre-vetted, quality hires.

The return of the talent community creates a new job for recruiters – engaging talent even after they’ve left the organisation. In the past, once someone walked out the door they were often gone for good. Now, HR teams are acquainting themselves with the concept of ‘Boomerang employees’ – those that leave the business then eventually return. These people are an invaluable source of qualified talent, external referrals and, when treated well, should become lasting employer brand champions.

As people flow through the company from candidate to employee and eventually alumni, someone has to own and track this experience to ensure it’s a great one. Some organisations are approaching this by having a community manager that manages and engages people outside of the company. Others are developing alumni networks and using their career site as a leveraging point to attract alumni back.

Hung Lee shares key ways to engage alumni:

• Make relationships the entire point
• Bridge community & company. Careers sites are a great way to do this
• Treat talent mobility the same as career development
• That development might exist outside the company
• Not a single career path but career optionality

Talent acquisition trend 4: DE&I

In a year that’s brought us a global pandemic, political unrest and a worldwide shift to remote work, it would take a lot to capture our attention. And yet in 2020, DE&I did just that. As Black Lives Matter protests spread awareness and action around the world, the importance of racial equality, diversity and inclusivity in our own organisations captured the spotlight.

Lee says “DE&I has gone from being de-prioritised to re-prioritised” as organisations do the work in “rebuilding institutions that have been historically unfair.” Technology is helping to attract diverse candidates and reduce systemic bias in the hiring process, helping organisations to meet their DE&I goals at-scale.

Remote working increases accessibility for roles, but it also presents new hurdles to overcome. Technology opens the door for people from different backgrounds, geographies and ability to land roles, but access to good technology is not universal. Digital inequality – poor internet connection or older tech – can introduce a new set of unconscious biases for candidates.

Lee points to a recent study by researchers from USC, who found that audio quality has a direct impact on perceived reliability and expertise. When they presented identical conference presentations in high and low quality and asked participants to evaluate the researcher and the research, people evaluated the researcher and research less favourably when the audio quality was low. As we enter a new remote world, new biases appear which require attention and awareness. According to Lee, addressing these issues of inequality requires “mitigating with more tech, not less”.

Talent acquisition trend 5: Employer branding becomes a non-negotiable

Where once a great employer brand was seen as a “nice to have”, it is now a necessity for organisations to compete for talent on a global stage. Lee says that “This is a once-in-a-lifetime period for organisations looking to fortify their employer brand.” The way organisations respond to this crisis will affect and define their brand for decades to come. This means providing a great experience: caring for employees with trust and transparency, and caring for your candidates with open and regular communication. Maintaining this level of care will become a core TA responsibility and expectation — and technology will help time-poor hiring teams to facilitate this at scale.

Talent acquisition trend 6: Internal mobility

With lockdown restrictions forcing widespread layoffs, and with reduced recruiter headcount forcing hiring teams to do more with less, organisations are redeploying staff to cut costs and keep valued skills within the business. According to LinkedIn insights, internal hires increased by 19% in April-August 2020 compared with the same time period in 2019. Internal hires now make up almost 20% of an organisation’s workforce on average.

But according to Lee, “COVID revealed we don’t do internal mobility well.” In a recent survey by HR.com, over a third of respondents say that no one owns the internal mobility process. And over a quarter of employees are unaware of available job opportunities.

In 2021, it will be up to TA teams to gain full visibility of their workforce and identify hidden skill sets or opportunities for development. Technology can help to provide this visibility, and a powerful ATS can even provide smart recommendations for redeployment opportunities.

Lee posits that “TA will be known as ‘Talent Access’ – they will ensure the availability of the entire talent universe to the employer.” Managers will transform into ‘career coaches’ and rely on performance management technology to facilitate everyday feedback and on the go learning opportunities. According to Lee, TA will take ownership of internal mobility and talent delivery, signalling a move away from hiring-manager led placements.

Final thoughts

These six talent acquisition trends point to a future of work that’s tech-enabled and automated, but that also uplifts the human aspects of Human Resources. With technology automating manual and repetitive tasks, TA teams are freed to do the real work: building meaningful DE&I programs, engaging valued alumni, raising up internal employees to greater heights. As we embark on this uncertain journey together, go safe in the knowledge that the HR world and your talent communities will always be there to share wisdom, support and guidance.

Marion Robinson is responsible for spearheading global growth for PageUp in all its forms. She provides strategic direction across PageUp’s client advocacy, partner alliance, marketing and brand-building programs, ensuring total alignment between them so as to deliver on the PageUp growth strategy. Leveraging a wealth of experience in client management roles across a range of industries including Banking, Human Resources and IT, Marion understands the daily people challenges of our clients first-hand. Her experience ranges from sales and marketing, change management, consulting and people development.

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Although there are powerful women in leadership, only a few who aspire to such positions reach the C-suite level. According to a Mckinsey report, women constitute 42 per cent of all employees, yet comprise only a quarter of executives and only 10 per cent of CEOs for large for-profit companies. The transition point from crucial management positions to CEO has the highest drop off (59 per cent) in women’s representation.

While gender equality awareness has been on the rise, and companies have been increasingly active in driving the diversity agenda, women remain underrepresented across industries.

What’s keeping smart women from climbing up the ladder?

• Culture: A 24/7 ’round the clock’ culture that struggles to accommodate parenthood
• Work/life balance: Work structure and low tolerance to flexibility exclude working women from critical roles and projects
• Perceptions: The unspoken ‘mateship’ or the ‘boys club’, excludes women from informal networking like drinks at the club or a game of golf
• Afraid of making mistakes: Research shows that women who make mistakes in traditionally male occupations (and leadership roles) are judged much more harshly than their male counterparts who make mistakes.

Why should organisations have women in leadership roles? 

Research from Mckinsey found companies with higher numbers of women at senior levels have better organisational and financial performance. The report also revealed that having women at the decision-making table was not only good for the business, but it made the organisation one where more people wanted to work.

Men and women enter the workforce in relatively equal numbers, yet when it comes to managerial positions and leadership roles, women fall short. People and culture can nurture women into leadership positions.

Here’s how companies that care for their women workforce can move the needle.

1. Pursuing conscious inclusion: Conscious inclusion means leading and acting with the intent of providing equal opportunity. Recognising and preventing bias begins at the top and should run across the company culture
2. Leveraging the COVID impact to reset norms around flexibility: The crisis has prompted companies to rethink their beliefs on remote working. Ninety-three per cent of companies now say more jobs can be performed remotely. Remote work opens the opportunities for mothers and caregivers
3. Develop rising women: A good mentor can make a huge difference, especially in a male-dominated workspace. Coaching, mentoring, and networking programs have proved quite successful in helping female executives succeed. If women feel judged harshly for making mistakes, then create a culture and safe environment where it is okay to make and learn from mistakes
4. Active listening: Creating an open dialogue and listening to how employees feel can provide valuable information in creating a pathway for career progression
5. Set numeric goals: Some may call them quotas, but this is the simplest way to know how far your D&I program has reached.

The way forward

Women bring different perspectives to drive effective solutions which is why companies need a healthy representation of both genders.  Companies that aspire to be great places to work and succeed in business should make a genuine effort towards gender equality. It helps to have a plan that is backed by accountability. True equality needs to go beyond the ‘check-the-box’ mentality and must be supported by senior leaders – both male and female.

Karina Guerra heads the marketing team at Xref, a leader in online reference checking present globally. She holds an MBA from UTS and has experience managing teams across multiple regions. Karina currently directs a multicultural team that promotes compliant HR technology and automation. She is a true believer of digital transformation and loves utilising the power of the internet to reach people.

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Diversity and inclusion can mean different things to different people, but if you want to create a truly diverse and inclusive working environment for your employees, it’s important to understand what these words mean to them.

In Indeed’s recent survey, Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace: Fostering an environment

for all employees to thrive, more than 1,500 workers in Australia were asked what diversity and inclusion mean to them. The most common definitions provided centred around treating everyone equally, hiring a diverse workforce, valuing all employees, and creating an environment where everyone can embody their true selves at work.

But when respondents were asked whether they personally feel comfortable to be their true selves at work, nearly half (46%) revealed they feel unable to be themselves at work either some or all of the time. So, why do so many people not feel comfortable to be themselves at work, and what can you do to ensure all employees feel welcome, safe and valued at your organisation?

People from certain groups feel less comfortable being themselves at work

We know that a large number of workers in Australia don’t feel comfortable being their true selves at work, however, there are certain groups that are overrepresented in this category. For example, 65% of workers with a disability say they feel the need to hide a part of their identity at work some or all of the time, and 51% feel the need to hide something about their disability.

Similarly, 67% of LGBTIQ+ workers regularly feel the need to hide their true selves at work, and for the majority of these workers (61%), this means hiding their sexual orientation.

While not as many older workers feel the need to hide a part of their identity at work (34%), the most common thing this group covers up is their age (33%).

Employees fear they will be criticised or discriminated against at work

One of the main reasons employees feel the need to hide their true selves at work is because of fear of criticism or discrimination. In fact, 20% of workers with a disability don’t believe their organisation would take the appropriate action in response to an incident of discrimination in the workplace. And when it comes to feeling able to speak openly at work, 29% of workers with a disability, and 30% of LGBTIQ+ workers, don’t feel comfortable doing so without fear of criticism.

So, how can you create a truly inclusive workplace?

With such a large number of workers in Australia not feeling comfortable or confident enough to be themselves at work, it’s clear that businesses still have a long way to go in combatting discrimination in order to create truly diverse and inclusive work environments.

Organisations that fail to do this will not only have lower employee morale and output, they will limit their opportunities to attract top talent as these individuals will prioritise other more inclusive places to work.

So, here are four steps to help ensure your business encourages diversity and inclusivity in everything it does.

1. Commit to hiring a diverse workforce

It’s a well-known fact that companies with more diverse leadership report greater revenue, but you need to go further than just meeting a quota or checking a diversity box. To encourage real diversity, you first need to identify and eliminate any barriers and biases that exist in your organisation and recruitment processes that might disadvantage certain individuals. This will not only help employees feel more comfortable being themselves during the recruitment and onboarding process, but it will bring unique and valuable experiences and perspectives to your organisation which will help the whole team to grow, and the business to thrive.

2. Ask your employees

It’s a common saying that ‘you can’t manage what you don’t measure’, and the same goes for diversity and inclusion. If you don’t regularly check in with your employees to find out whether they feel comfortable being themselves at work, whether they feel valued, or if they feel the organisation is diverse, it will be near impossible to know how you’re performing in this regard and whether you’re improving or going backwards over time. (Despite what some organisations may think, asking a small section of management will not give you an accurate indication.)

Conduct regular surveys of your employees (making these anonymous is a good way to get honest feedback) and ask what they believe you should be doing to create a more welcoming and equal workplace. This will provide you with a benchmark to work from as well as ideas for initiatives that will resonate with your employees.

3. Implement a zero-tolerance harassment and bullying policy

If you don’t already have one, create and enforce a zero-tolerance harassment and bullying policy. Ensure that individuals at all levels and across all departments are familiar with the policy and are aware of clear paths for reporting inappropriate behaviour. To create companywide cultural change, it’s particularly important that managers and the C-suite lead by example by demonstrating the values and behaviours that underpin the policy.

Should you receive a report of harassment or bullying and find it to be true, where possible, let your employees know the actions taken. This will help to demonstrate that there is zero tolerance for discriminatory behaviour or harassment and will help to build your team’s trust in the organisation.

4. Establish inclusive resource groups

Creating a space where your employees can connect with like-minded colleagues can help contribute to individuals’ sense of belonging at work. So, if your organisation doesn’t already have inclusive resource groups (IRGs), take the time to establish some and encourage your employees to join. Some common IRGs include groups for people with disabilities, the LGBTIQ+ community, women, parents, caregivers and more. While it can be a good idea to implement a few to get the ball rolling at your organisation, make sure to open up the floor for any other appropriate IRGs your employees may want to create.

With more than 15 years of experience in the recruitment industry, Jay Munro has worked in a variety of roles in agencies and job boards, from consulting and recruiting, through to leading the product development of new sourcing technologies. As an Employer Insights Strategist with the Indeed Employer Insights Team, Jay pairs platform data with industry trend analysis to share Indeed’s story and bring the value of the company’s programs and solutions to life.

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