As research has uncovered, work/life balance is crucial both for prospective employees and the employees an organization currently has.

Existing employees, particularly people managers, are increasingly reporting burnout due to conflicting expectations: senior managers apply performance pressure while their employees need flexibility and purpose.

Meanwhile, prospective employees and applicants are asserting more questions about work/life balance, vacation time and culture during interviews. These factors are becoming more important as time goes on, for some employees, even comparable to salary compensation and benefits.

Employee retention, engagement and progression is more important than ever before. But how can leaders retain employees in this ever-changing environment? And what can recruiters do to attract top talent?

One major factor for employees in the workforce currently is flexibility in when and how they work. While many companies implemented RTO (“Return to Office”) policies last year, frontline workers surveyed still report flexibility and work/life balance as top priorities when considering job opportunities.

Flexibility doesn’t necessarily have to mean a remote office policy or hybrid work. Employees cite unlimited time off policies, collaborative work schedules, and boundaries surrounding outside-of-work communication as desired consideration in flexibility.

For company leadership, this means offering your current employees flexible modules in order to keep them engaged in their current roles. For recruiters, HR departments and hiring managers, this means being able to offer opportunities for vacation time and flexible schedules in job descriptions to attract quality candidates.

Widening the scope of hiring and talent pipelines will be imperative for organizations this year. As incoming generations in the workforce are increasingly likely to leave jobs where their needs are not met, quality hiring is essential.

This comes as businesses are already broadening their mindset of how to fulfill roles. As we mentioned earlier, leaders will be more open to hiring independent and contract workers to source projects. But they will also be more open to the qualifications for employees they hire or enter contracts with.

In order to fill critical roles and finish important projects, companies will begin assessing candidates based on a variety of factors. Rather than formal education and long term experience, hiring managers will be seeking candidates (directly or indirectly) from more nontraditional backgrounds, with specific skills.

A foundational knowledge base built on individual experience will prove more attractive to recruiters, particularly when searching for fractional and contractual employees to meet particular needs. Literacy in specific issues, programs and softwares for each project’s need will be more important than formal education, and job postings will reflect this.

This kind of change is one of the reasons HR will be crucial for hiring practices this year. Having dedicated experts to identify top talent, vet resumes and experiences, and craft job postings that attract the right candidates is essential.

According to a recent survey by the Harvard Business Review, 42% of employees feel their organization’s efforts at Diversity, Equity and Inclusion are divisive. The same percentage reported feeling “resentful” of their workplace’s efforts. If organizations do not implement change and address these issues, there will certainly be impact.

This is a huge opportunity for HR departments and fractional HR services to explore solutions. Ideas such as group-specific safe spaces, communication initiatives, allyship education and surveys to explore employee beliefs are great resources to meet these needs.