It’s that time of year, when Business Link Magazine invites the region’s business leaders to offer up their predictions for the year ahead.
It has become something of a tradition, given that we’ve been doing this now for over 30 years.
Here we speak to HR Solutions CEO Greg Guilford.
As we enter 2023, planning for the year ahead has never been more important. The UK’s employment climate remains volatile due to several significant domestic and global influences. These include the rebuilding after the pandemic, a change in Government, the war in Ukraine, a cost-of-living crisis, and a recession as well as potential new employment legislation. Together, all these major influences have had a direct impact on employment in some way.
The next few months are crucial for business, especially leading up to setting their budgets for the 2023/2024 financial year.
It is perhaps obvious that due to recession, cost cutting is likely to become a priority for many firms. However, there can be a fine line as to which area of spend you freeze.
For example, you may initially think that training costs should be frozen; but have you considered that investment in training and development may help the business to grow and become more productive?
With the cost-of-living crisis, a recession and job certainty waning, employers are wise to focus on employee wellbeing during 2023 not only to support employee engagement, but to limit employee mental health issues. Mental health issues can not only lead to high absenteeism, but for those who try to deal with them whilst working, they can lead to performance issues.
And at a time when businesses continue to re-build post COVID-19 and respond to a challenging recruitment market, it is more important than ever to demonstrate flexibility. Flexible working will be a key factor for many companies in order to increase morale and employee engagement, aid employee retention, and improve productivity, as well as provide greater diversity and inclusion.
