Five Forecasted HR Trends All PEOs Should Know

In the ever-evolving landscape of human resources, staying ahead of the curve isn’t just an advantage, it’s a necessity. PEOs play a pivotal role in managing HR functions for a diverse range of businesses. As we move into a new era marked by technological advancements, shifting demographics, and an ever-evolving global economy, PEOs must remain agile and well-informed to provide their clients with the best HR solutions.

In anticipation of NAPEO’s upcoming Annual Conference and Marketplace—let’s delve into five forecasted HR trends we’re confident will reshape how PEOs operate and deliver value to their clients. All of the trends we chose to highlight in this piece are actionable insights PEOs can use to guide upcoming competitive strategies and set themselves up for success in 2024.

Five Actionable Ways PEOs Can Capitalize on 2024 HR Trends 

• Advise on AI-Assisted HR
• Strengthen Meaningful Diversity Initiatives
• Attract and Retain Quality Talent
• Save Time 
• Start Meaningful Onboarding

Advise on AI-Assisted HR

Though the buzz around AI might be dying down a bit, HR professionals and businesses are embracing this new tool—50% of employees already utilize AI in some capacity (whether they know it or not), and 88% of worldwide businesses use AI for HR purposes. 

Still, some people—and some businesses—remain wary. Despite that, AI literacy will keep your clients competitive and make them better at their jobs. Model to your customers that AI isn’t a concern and that embracing it will benefit them.  

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Strengthen Meaningful Diversity Initiatives 

62% of employees believed that employers should dedicate more effort to DEI in 2023, which will only continue in 2024 (especially since 90% of respondents to the Benevity State of DEI report say they’ve personally benefited from DEI initiatives at work. Savvy organizations will take note). 

McKinsey has found that the necessary components for meaningful DEI include: 

• Nuanced understanding for root causes of inequity. 
• A meaningful definition of successful DEI. 
• Invested, accountable leadership. 
• Customized solutions. 
• Rigorous tracking and course correcting if necessary. 

Using these components, you can help the organizations you serve create meaningful DEI initiatives. Need help on the DEI recruiting front? We’ve got you covered with our Guide to DEI Recruiting. 

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Attract and Retain Quality Talent 

In 2023, hiring and retention continued to be the top HR concern, with 47% of HR leaders saying these issues are one of the top reasons keeping them up at night. SMHR similarly reported that attracting and retaining high-quality talent was a top priority. 

Attracting and retaining hires is one top reasons companies invested in HR tech in 2023, with 70% specifically saying they wanted to improve the quality of their hires.

At HiringThing, we just happen to have a solution that can help with this. Applicant tracking systems—hiring software built to automate, streamline, and strengthen the recruiting process—have been shown to increase the quality of hires by 78%. Want to see what all the fuss is about? Set up a chat with one of our business development representatives below. 

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Help Save Time 

Sage's The Changing Face of HR in 2024 report surveyed 1000s of HR leaders and C-Suite executives and found that almost all of them said that "HR is simply too much work." 84% of the professionals said they feels stressed on a regular basis, and 81% reported feeling burned out. 

Automating and digitizing as much as possible—and helping your clients do the same—is of paramount importance for anyone operating in the HR space—including PEOs—as we transition from 2023 to 2024. 

Small business owners spend up to 40% of their working hours on tasks that don’t generate income. Not only can automation help lessen the stress, but it’s money-saving to boot! Additionally, automating specific tasks could have even more benefits. For example, automating onboarding—which costs 42% of hiring managers who don’t automate three or more hours—can result in a 16% retention increase and 18% improvement in initial performance. 

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Start Meaningful Onboarding 

Good employee onboarding increases employee engagement, productivity, satisfaction, and retention. Excellent onboarding increases employee retention by 82%, yet 88% of companies admit they aren’t great at executing a solid onboarding experience or dedicated onboarding tech solutions. 

According to Aptitude Research’s 2023 Talent Acquisition Buyer’s Guide:

• Companies are twice as likely to spend on talent acquisition and employee experience than onboarding. 
• 42% of companies don’t have dedicated onboarding technology. 
• Only 26% of companies entirely automate onboarding. 
• Only 50% of companies want to increase their investment in onboarding tech.

Onboarding has powerful financial, retention, and performance benefits for organizations that take the time to structure it. It could give companies a competitive edge since so many organizations are overlooking it.

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Continue Showing Your Clients Value

More than 8 in 10 employers using a PEO say they’ve experienced significant or moderate growth in the past three years compared to only 5 in 10 of those who don’t. Continue showing your customers value by having solutions for upcoming HR trends before they realize these challenges. 

About HiringThing 

HIringThing is a modern recruiting and onboarding platform as a service that creates seamless talent experiences. Our embeddable private label solutions and open API enable technology and service providers to offer hiring and onboarding to their clients. Approachable and adaptable, the platform empowers anyone, anywhere, to build their dream team.