The future of work has never been more ambiguous. As remote work trends have become increasingly prevalent since the start of the pandemic, HR leaders are curious as to what the long-term outlook of hiring trends will look like. Will new hires expect to work from home versus in an office? Are more companies going to utilize contingent workers versus full-time employees? How long will the current recruiting environment last?

To research these current talent trends, Broadleaf partnered with HRO Today to publish the following flash report—You Can’t Go Home Again: The Workforce Trends HR Needs to Address in the Coming Year. After polling over 100 HR executives and managers from across the United States, our collective findings uncover key takeaways as America’s economy continues to recover from the pandemic. Here are some of the most compelling takeaways from the flash report.

Continued reliance on remote work

The prevalence of work-from-home arrangements will not only exist during the pandemic. According to 71 percent of HR experts that took part in the survey, a greater number of workers will be working remotely in the post-pandemic environment. As employees have adjusted to at-home work, both their production and performance have improved—giving organizations little reason to bring workers back to the office.

Addressing childcare issues

Millions of Americans experienced difficulties when acclimating to their professional responsibilities at the start of the pandemic. Yet arguably no one had a more tumultuous at-home experience than working parents. As schools and daycare were closed for several months, parents were forced to take on child care duties during the day. Nearly one-half of survey respondents (46 percent) felt that childcare issues were a significant factor in decreasing the immediate need to work.

In it for the long haul

In the minds of HR experts, the current recruiting environment has shown little end in sight. According to survey respondents, 57 percent believe that the world of talent acquisition will remain unchanged for at least one more year. Historically fast job growth—coupled with severe labor shortages and a high unemployment rate—has flipped the employment market on its head, forcing recruiters to mitigate these difficult labor conditions.

Areas of long-term focus

Survey respondents were asked to name the HR tasks that they would be prioritizing most in the foreseeable future. The four greatest areas of long-term focus are:

• Employee engagement
• Talent development
• Compensation review and changes
• Permanent employee recruiting

Because the workplace has shifted to a hybrid—or entirely virtual—setting, HR professionals have their work cut out for them to enhance company culture and improve hiring results.