Looking back to plan ahead

WHAT WE KNOW: What's in store for 2023? The best way to answer that question might be to look back.?

With 2022 just about in the rearview mirror, it's a perfect time to reflect on the lessons we've learned over the course of the last year — our third dominated by the ebbs and flows of the pandemic, mixed up with continued staffing challenges and fresh worry about an unpredictable economy .?

Employee populations, for example, will continue to demand benefits that serve a diverse community of workers. (Any organizations that think DEI efforts are just a fad are sorely mistaken.) From financial wellness to robust healthcare offerings, workers want holistic support — and they're still not afraid to leave your organization to find it.?

Across the benefits and HR spaces, industry regulations and shifting norms will continue to keep leaders and advisers on their toes. Retirement enrollment may get a boost if the SECURE Act 2.0 passes through congress, but the healthcare industry may take on extra weight if and when COVID is no longer considered a public health emergency, stripping the industry of certain flexibilities that helped battle the pandemic.?

We rounded up EBN's top stories of 2022, outlining the biggest lessons learned — and what should be top of mind as we head into a new year.

Read: 22 HR and benefit lessons we learned in 2022

WHAT EMPLOYEES WANT: Can you buy happiness? Maybe not, but you can invest in it. Less money wasted, increased productivity, better work-life balance and environmentally-friendly benefits —? hybrid and remote work continue to be the workplace trends that check off all the boxes for employers and their employees.

According to multiple surveys conducted throughout 2022 by flexible-work job site FlexJobs, a resounding 97% of workers wanted a fully remote or hybrid position, and 84% of respondents said that these types of work arrangements would make them a happier person. At a time when people are looking for more flexibility in the workplace, organizations are seeing the benefits as well. FlexJobs found that 48% of employers are planning to maintain some form of remote work moving forward, and gives good incentives for more companies to follow suit.

"It's important to talk to your employees," says Toni Frana, career services manager at FlexJobs. "Do a pulse check of where they are and what it is they really want, and evaluate the data to see what can be done to make this a more formalized process. Employers and employees can come together to be very powerful in finding the best way forward."??

Read: As 2022 comes to a close, employees are still craving remote and hybrid work

WHAT EMPLOYERS STAND TO GAIN: At financial services firm Synchrony, 2022’s workplace buzzword was “flexibility.”?And for the organization, that had a huge ROI.

"We did not feel the Great Resignation at all because of everything we did with choice, flexibility and our unique benefits," says Claudine Hoverson, Synchrony’s chief talent officer. "I talk to other companies and they're asking, 'How do we get talent in the door?' You listen to what your employers are saying. Our employees told us, and we built programs that would support them in finding that work-life balance."?

Read: How Synchrony avoided the Great Resignation in 2022