Employees will advocate for a better workplace experience, value hybrid working and have higher expectations than ever of leaders next year, according to a 2024 trends report from Qualtrics.
Qualtrics polled almost 37,000 employees globally on their levels of engagement, feelings of inclusion and wellbeing, identifying a number of core workplace trends that will dominate 2024.
The software company’s survey identified a concerning lack of engagement and flight risk among new hires. Those who had been with their employer for less than six months had lower levels of engagement, wellbeing and inclusion than their longer-standing colleagues, it found.
Employees who had been in the business less than six months were also much more likely to be thinking about leaving; 38% of new employees said they intended to stay with their employer for the next three years or more, compared with 65% of all other employees.
Furthermore, they were less likely to believe their career goals would be met and to have career conversations with their managers. These findings echoed earlier research from the company finding that only 41% of HR leaders prioritised onboarding for new employees.
“It’s not enough to get great talent in the door,” said Qualtrics’ chief workplace psychologist Dr Benjamin Granger.
“The first several months are when employees form first impressions of working at a company, and first impressions are difficult to change. Hiring and onboarding are inextricably linked experiences that need a common thread tying them together. Otherwise, organisations run the risk of early and costly turnover.”
When asked about time in the office versus remote working, Qualtrics found that employees with hybrid working arrangements had the highest levels of engagement and were most likely to want to stay with the business.
Of those who worked five days in the office, 60% said they were engaged, 63% expressed an intent to stay and two-thirds had feelings of wellbeing and inclusion.
Among those who worked in the office three days a week, these levels were markedly higher: 77% were engaged, 68% wanted to stay, 80% felt included and 79% said their wellbeing was good.
Granger added that flexibility was the best policy when planning hybrid working arrangements for the coming year, stressing that a one-size-fits-all approach might not meet everyone’s needs.
Qualtrics also looked at how organisations responded to feedback to improve the workplace experience. Seven in 10 employees were happy with their employer mining email data for this, but this did not extend to employers using social media posts – 41% were happy for their employer to use these.
There was a gulf between whether employees felt feedback was addressed and the leaders asking for it, however. Just under half of employees (48%) felt their organisation responded to feedback, compared to 86% of leaders feeling they did so effectively.
Those who worked from home were more comfortable with “passive listening” from their employer – less than half of those who worked in the office full-time were happy for managers to look at email or other data, while at least 57% of those who worked from home at least once a week accepted it.
The survey also found a marked difference in experience between front-line workers and desk-based employees. Non-frontline workers had much higher levels of trust in leaders than those on the front line and were also more likely to be happy with their pay, benefits and career development.
Looking at one of 2024’s likely major workplace trends – the rise of generative AI – Qualtrics found that workers were more comfortable using AI at work if they felt they had some control over it.
Sixty-one per cent of employees said they would use tools such as ChatGPT for writing tasks, while 51% said AI would be useful as a “personal assistant”.
A significant proportion planned to use AI for higher-stakes tasks such as hiring decisions (29%) and performance evaluations (37%). Senior leaders were more likely to view AI positively: around two-thirds of C-suite leaders are open to using it, compared to 32% of other employees.
Granger added: “When employees are engaged and trust their leaders, they are more open to AI at work – especially when they feel a sense of control over how these technologies are used and are convinced that they will benefit them personally.
“This highlights a tangible benefit of employee engagement and the importance of communicating the individual benefits of AI as leaders look for ways to use intelligent technologies to increase efficiency and business results.”
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