HR's priorities for 2022 focus on rethinking work and meeting workers' shifting desires.

During the past two years, the workplace has been through historic changes. From the shift to remote or hybrid work to supply chain disruptions and the Great Resignation, work looks different than it did at the beginning of 2020.

The need to grapple with those changes is reflected in the list of 2022 HR priorities in the Hackett Group's 2022 Key Issues study. The consultancy's research, which it conducted in the fourth quarter of 2021, uncovered 10 HR priorities, five of which are designed to meet human capital–related business objectives. Those five interrelated priorities speak to the current challenges organizations are facing around recruitment and retention, employee disengagement and burnout, and trying to meet performance goals in a difficult environment.

A common theme among them is that what employees want out of work has changed. One priority—recruiting and retaining staff in key business positions—will require "a fundamental rethinking of employee value propositions," according to the report. Another priority, monitoring and increasing employee engagement, is essential because of workers' shifting expectations and significant turnover, meaning that HR and talent development professionals need to act quickly when staff voice concerns. Similarly, maintaining employee well-being and resilience are needed to combat burnout and turnover and make work sustainable for both leaders and employees.

Another theme that emerges from those priorities is the importance of being ready for change. Developing executives to lead effectively in a changing business environment has been an HR priority for several years—and no wonder, when the pace of change keeps accelerating. A final human capital priority focuses on creating or maintaining a high-performing organizational culture, which is particularly necessary when decisions around whether it's safe to work from the office are highly individual and seem to change daily.

It's not an easy time to be in HR or talent development, but these priorities show that talent development leaders recognize that work has changed and are committed to helping organizations and employees thrive in the new world of work.