A New Year, New Challenges, and Preparing for Uncertainty

Happy New Year! Well, perhaps it is a bit late to express Happy New Year wishes, but it’s a few days early for Lunar New Year! So please accept our best wishes for a fantastic year ahead. 

As we begin 2023, our team at H3 HR Advisors is tremendously excited for what this year has in store for the world of work, workplace technology, and how the major themes, trends, and issues facing organizations and people will play out this year. At H3 HR Advisors, specifically we are focusing on themes of accessibility and inclusion, sustainability, the deskless and frontline workforce, and creating a more equitable workplace in 2023. You will see these themes considered, researched, and addressed, then developed into actionable insights for HR and business leaders throughout all our work in 2023 – podcasts, writing, research, advisory, and more. 

The word of the year for 2023 might be “uncertainty” – a word we have seen repeatedly in reporting about the workplace, in CEOs commenting on their plans and outlooks for the year, and in economic forecasts that often also include fears of a potential recession mixed with the latest developments in AI or VR. While there have been many widely reported incidences of organizational downsizing, particularly in the technology sector, other market segments, and the economy overall, it is still experiencing historically tight labor markets, and low unemployment rates. And there is even evidence that dislocated technology workers are not having significant difficulty finding new jobs in sectors like manufacturing, healthcare, and services. And honestly, when has the future of the economy, the workplace, and the impact of new technology on the workforce ever not been “uncertain?” We’d argue that while the specific challenges and elements facing leaders in the new world of work may be different, the notion that there exists underlying uncertainty is no different now than it was in the early stages of the pandemic, or during the financial crisis, or even after the dot com bust over 20 years ago. 

So, while uncertainty has always been present in work and workplaces, what is novel in 2023 is the availability of a multitude of technologies and solutions that organizations can deploy to help them manage through uncertain times, support both their employees and their business objectives, and better prepare the organization and its people to navigate the twists and turns of what this year will offer. At H3 HR Advisors, we can’t predict the future, but we can help our partners and our community to better understand how the drivers of any uncertainty can be understood, how the challenges uncertainty brings can be addressed and overcome, and where, how, and why workplace technology will contribute to organizational agility, employee experience, and business success in 2023. 

We’re excited for what this year has in store, and we look forward to sharing, learning, growing, and achieving along with you! Happy 2023!