Recruitment trends, layoffs, job design to fight burnout and other news worth sharing this week

The news this week can help us identify mismatches between employee and manager wants and needs – which is the starting point for creating a more successful workplace culture (for everyone).

LinkedIn's latest Future of Recruiting report includes data from 1,611 management-level recruiting professionals and 403 hiring managers. The impact of economic uncertainty is clear:?53% of in-house recruiting pros are expecting not to see an increase in their recruiting budget this year, while 69% of respondents say the macroeconomic environment is negatively impacting hiring. Interestingly, job posts for contract positions are growing much faster than job posts for full-time employees. At the same time, LinkedIn reveals the fastest growing priorities for candidates: flexible working arrangements, competitive compensation and supportive management. All things we should be considering as a minimum for attracting and retaining talent.

Generational differences are also worth exploring. Gen-Z are 47% more likely than Gen-X to prioritise opportunities for advancement within a new company and 45% more likely to prioritise development opportunities. So we need to think more carefully about the path our talented new hires will take once they arrive – it’s already on their minds when they are exploring job ads.

And new research from MIT's Sloan School of Management shows that women are a shocking 41% more likely to experience toxic corporate culture. The struggles of women in the workplace go beyond the gender pay gap that still exists; leaders who strive for diverse and inclusive workplaces need to think more (and more deeply) about these challenges.

In other news – away from data – Google witnesses hundreds of walkers stage a walkout in their Zurich offices last week in response to 200 workers being laid off. The global giant has also announced plans to cut 12,000 more jobs around the world next year, so they may see a repeat of this action on a far grander scale.

Experts have recently been promoting the idea that burnout is not, in fact, an individual issue. It’s a management and organisational issue. As employers, we should think of burnt-out employees as a red flag that alerts us to underlying issues. Fortunately, there are lots of ways to combat burnout – less fortunately, the most effective is by redesigning our jobs and workplace culture to avoid or reduce the triggers, such as chronic stress and heavy workloads. Six core areas of work provide a good starting place from which to explore your options: workload, control, reward, community, fairness and values.

Want to learn more? The Kelly experts have prepared more detailed news just for you. Stay tuned and each week you’ll get great insights that challenge you to take a fresh look the talent that has the potential to bring your company to success – with your active participation, of course. See you next week!