19 Workplace Predictions For 2019

1/9/2019
 

Every year, I create workplace predictions based on my work with clients and my uncanny ability to see what others miss. Here are my 19 workplace predictions for the coming year.

1. Employers will continue to invest a ton of money in recruiting and onboarding employees, while paying little attention to the talent that’s seeping out the back door.

2. Record numbers of employees will jump ship within two months of receiving their year-end bonuses.

3. Experienced bounty-hunters will have a much easier time pulling talent out of organizations than in years past, leaving behind the exact people employers wish they had taken.

4. We’ll see a slew of men (and some women) being “put on leave” as more stories of harassment in the workplace become public knowledge.

5. Companies will still be surprised when employees are disappointed with the meager raises they will be receiving.

6. Exiting CEOs will continue to receive obscene pay packages, while the everyday worker struggles to make ends meet.

7. Mature job seekers who use their network, will find much more success in their job search than those who rely on online job sites to find work.

8. Employers will continue to waste millions of dollars a year trying to hire people who don’t want to be hired.

9. Employees will install fake doors in their cubicles as a last-ditch attempt to create private personal space at work.

10. Organizations will continue to pretend that there is no correlation between pay and employee engagement.

11. Smart companies will give their hiring systems a complete overhaul as they attempt to create an irresistible hiring experience that will actually help them fill jobs.

12. Women will continue to wait until they are 100% sure they’ve got what it takes before applying for a promotion, while less qualified male counterparts boldly step forward and snag the promotions.

13. Companies will continue to spend months developing strategies that are no longer relevant by the time they’re ready to implement.

14. Disengagement among employees in organizations will reach an all-time high.

15. Employers will continue to waste money on employee engagement programs that don’t work, when instead they should be investing in transforming managers into magnetic leaders.

16. Magnetic leaders will take entire teams with them when they depart for greener pastures.

17. Employers will continue to pretend there is no such thing as age discrimination, as they keep hiring young people who are less qualified than their older counterparts.

18. Unemployment rates will decline even further.

19. Poaching talent will become a widely acceptable business practice, just like stealing clients is no longer seen as verboten.

What predictions would you add to this list?

I am the leadership expert on talent, who has worked with a number of companies, including GM, Best Buy, Inc., New Balance and Boston Beer. I am the author of The Magnetic Leader, Suddenly in Charge: Managing Up, Managing Down, Succeeding All Around and Talent Magnetism, and... MORE

Roberta Matuson is the author of the newly released second edition of Suddenly in Charge, The Magnetic Leader and Talent Magnetism. Follow her on LinkedIn and Twitter @matuson.

 
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