Top 10 Work Trends

Top 10 Work Trends

2023 Top Work Trends logoThe Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP) is pleased to announce its 10th annual Top 10 Work Trends list. According to member surveys, these are the issues expected to have the most impact on work in 2023. 

Some of the trends have been on prior years’ lists. Organizations are still trying to transition from the pandemic and find new ways to manage their employees. Re-thinking the employee experience of remote workers, best practices for managing a hybrid workforce, and managing the transition into a post-pandemic world are three trends that remain at the forefront of our list. 

Others are new and touch on higher-level macro conditions such as the economy. How can organizations best support their employees as they navigate inflation, unexpected layoffs, and fears of a recession?

This year’s trends also reflect the growing focus on psychological safety, an integral feature of well-functioning work environments. Psychological safety, a construct reflecting an employee’s perception that they can speak up, ask questions, and voice concerns without negative consequences, contributes to employee performance and wellbeing. Because it impacts worker wellbeing, creating psychological safety can also be understood in conjunction with the sixth trend: reshaping work to address employees’ mental health. While it’s important for organizations to treat the symptoms of work-related stress, it’s better to structure work in ways that prevent stress in the first place.

Scan the list below for a summary introduction to each trend.


2023 Trend #1: Re-thinking the employee experience of remote workers    
Headshot of Lewis Garrad

Trend Champion: Lewis Garrad

Some people prefer remote work and find that they do their best work outside of traditional office spaces. This preference may be due to specific traits, needs, or expectations. How can organizations not only better understand these workers but also offer them the experience that they desire?

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2023 Trend #2: Best practices for managing a hybrid workforce    
Headshot of Lucia Nkem

Trend Champion: Lucia Nkem

Employers have started to shift away from 100% remote policies, while avoiding 100% onsite requirements. They seem to be settling with a hybrid approach which has expectations of being in the office while still offering employees flexibility for work-from-home days. Now organizations ask themselves: what work activities should be prioritized in the office versus at home? Collaboration is often cited as a reason to return to the office, but what does good collaboration in a hybrid environment look like? How can leaders equally support those who want to be in office and those who value their remote time? These are just a few of the questions being tossed around when establishing a successful hybrid workforce.

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2023 Trend #3: Managing the transition into the post-pandemic world    
Headshot of William Luse

Trend Champion: William Luse

Remote, in-office, or hybrid, many organizations are still figuring out what will serve their workforce and customers/clients best. As companies contemplate their options, what data should they look for to determine their best option? What talent-related practices and structures would need to be updated if a company switched to a new way of working? What have we learned from past experiences?

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2023 Trend #4: Ensuring inclusive environments and cultures    
Headshot of Ludmila Praslova

Trend Champion: Ludmila Praslova

Organizations need to move beyond simply focusing on creating a diverse workforce. What work practices can they adopt to make environments more inclusive and demonstrate commitment to greater accessibility, belonging, and justice?

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2023 Trend #5: Talent attraction and retention in a candidate-driven market    
Headshot of Li Lin

Trend Champion: Li Lin

What factors drive candidates to leave their current employers in search of new opportunities? As the fight for talent becomes more strategic, how can organizations rethink their selection processes and long-term employee development to ensure a good fit between their employees and the organization?

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2023 Trend #6: Reshaping work to address employee’s mental health    
Headshot of Keaton Fletcher

Trend Champion: Keaton Fletcher

Solely focusing on treating the symptoms of employees' mental health is not effective. Organizations need to also reconstruct work in ways that decrease the demands placed on employees and promote long-lasting mental health. How can organizations best address mental health from a work design perspective?

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2023 Trend #7: Revisiting people strategies in times of economic uncertainty    
Headshot of David Le Mentec

Trend Champion: David Le Mentec

Undoubtedly, the last couple of years has challenged workers economically. Given the stress of economic uncertainty, how can organizations best support their employees as they face inflation, unexpected layoffs, and fears of a recession?

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2023 Trend #8: Psychological safety in the workplace    
Headshot of Juliette Nerlson

Trend Champion: Juliette Nelson

Psychological safety, a component of employee wellbeing, can be seen as a key ingredient to successful team outcomes like collaboration and innovation. However, some organizations struggle to understand what this term means and how to incorporate it into their culture. What factors are required to create a psychologically safe environment? How can an organization evaluate where they currently are and further enhance this across their employee population?

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2023 Trend #9: Leadership development and coaching    
Headshot of Karanveer Syal

Trend Champion: Karanveer Syal

In order to successfully lead a modern, diverse workforce, leaders need more developmental opportunities and to receive continuous coaching. From research, we now know that effective leadership requires different skills, traits, and competencies than previously believed. Are organizations properly developing their leaders?

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2023 Trend #10: Integrating work, life, and family     
Headshot of Nicole Genest

Trend Champion: Nicole Genest

While work-life balance has been a point of contention between employees and employers for many years, it seems to have skyrocketed in priority for talent since the beginning of the pandemic. While a perfect balance may not exist, how can organizations examine their work practices to determine if they are enabling their employees to find balance? What strategies have been successfully deployed that other organizations can consider adopting to support their employees?

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About

Each year since 2014, SIOP has surveyed its members about the top issues they are seeing impact the workplace. These lists provide insights into trends shaping the workplaces of today and tomorrow.

The Top 10 Work Trends represent broad, complex issues of modern society posing difficult challenges to the business world. Industrial-organizational psychologists can help organizations grappling with these issues find solutions that are right for their organizations and their staff.

Watch for additional information and updates to this page provided by the volunteer Work Trend Champions over the course of the year.

Are you using your I-O psychology expertise to conduct research related to these Top 10 Work Trends? Or are you applying your scientific knowledge to help organizations address these Top 10 Work Trends? If so, email us to share.
 


2023 Top 10 Work Trend Champion Bios



Previous Trend Reports


Background

This year’s Top Ten Work Trends list was based on an analysis of results from two online surveys sent to approximately 7,000 SIOP members in October and November of 2022. To create this year’s Top 10 Work Trends list, SIOP asked its members to predict trends based on their recent experiences as well as their recent interactions with clients and colleagues. Themes were compiled, and then members prioritized the top 10 issues facing organizations in 2023.