Long story short: Want to hire in 2022? Here’s how to do it

December 10, 2021 10:39 AM

Do you have a plan in place for 2022?

Whether it's making a decision on back-to-work plans, or expanding your staff to meet your organization's goals, now is the time to think critically about what you can offer potential employees, while supporting the staff you already have. In this week's top stories, experts from Glassdoor, LinkedIn and Lever share the recruiting trends they anticipate in the coming year.

Looking at former employees as a new source of talent is an emerging trend, according to Elaine Yang from software platform Lever. She says these employees come with background knowledge that can ease onboarding and training, if they feel comfortable returning. To make your organization appealing, it's important to understand that employees value an organization that values them. This means ensuring your hiring practices are inclusive, and that employers respect work-life balance.

Want more advice for navigating an unprecedented hiring spree in the new year? Read more below:

Look back at former employees to get ahead of the hiring competition

As hiring managers stare down the barrel at an unprecedented number of job openings, many are reaching out to former employees who may have been laid off during COVID or left voluntarily as a way to fill employment gaps now. These boomerang employees can be an asset — if the company is willing to do the work to lure them back.

“There is a big emphasis on the employee experience, of being a values-driven, motivated company who is making hard decisions for the right reasons, and employees remember that,” says Elaine Yang, who leads the human resource business partner team at Lever, a recruiting software platform. “If there’s an employer that they've worked with in the past, who does embody that and has raised the bar in that regard, we have seen employees come back.”

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Look back at former employees to get ahead of the hiring competition

How to hire a diverse staff in 2022: Don’t unknowingly limit your talent pool

While millions of people have quit their jobs in just the last month, this does not spell bad news for all employers — after all, talent is not just resigning, but reshuffling.

To win and be competitive, it will take having talent from varying backgrounds and experiences. Harvard Business Review found that diverse companies were 70% more likely to capture new markets, while McKinsey reported that ethnically and racially diverse companies were 35% more likely to perform better financially. According to tech company Cloverpop, diverse teams outperform non-diverse teams 87% of the time.

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How to hire a diverse staff in 2022: Don’t unknowingly limit your talent pool

LinkedIn predicts that flexibility will be employers' biggest asset in 2022

For employees, a focus on well-being in and out of the office will be top priority for their job search, according to new research by job search platform LinkedIn. The top three things Americans value most in their career now are work-life balance (34%), compensation (32%) and benefits (26%), LinkedIn found. And with a hiring spree around the corner, employers are going to have to leverage those things in order to attract and retain a successful workforce in 2022.

“We have to really understand the great reshuffle — it is here and about over 40% of people are going to change jobs,” says Jennie Dede, head of global success at LinkedIn. “Those days of people living for work — they're gone. People want work to be incorporated into their life.”

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LinkedIn predicts that flexibility will be employers' biggest asset in 2022

Glassdoor predicts the top 4 workplace trends for 2022

Employers want to enter 2022 as prepared as possible to take on the challenges plaguing the workforce, including stress, burnout and financial uncertainty, as well as companies’ own struggles with employee attraction and retention.

"Change is constant, and it's really important for employers to be flexible and transparent in order to actually navigate this constantly changing environment,” says Daniel Zhao, a senior economist at Glassdoor. Drawing from its database of employee reviews, salaries and conversations that can help employers get to the heart of how employees are feeling and what they need, Glassdoor has predicted four trends they expect to emerge next year.

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Glassdoor predicts the top 4 workplace trends for 2022