Five recruitment and retention trends for 2024

A new year is almost upon us, bringing with it new challenges and opportunities for HR pros as they look to hire and retain top talent.

HR Brew checked in with five people leaders to get their thoughts on what they predict will be the biggest recruitment and retention trends in 2024.

“In terms of trends, so many companies are bringing their employees back to the office, but I’m really looking at the advantage and leveraging the marketing of being fully remote. I think that gives us a talent and sourcing advantage. So, that’s one thing I’m looking at building for 2024.”—Sherri Manning, CPO at Olo

“I am closely watching the impact of AI on the workforce. I believe AI will lead to job creation, including demand for STEM skills, as well as the need for soft skills, particularly work that requires high emotional intelligence. AI does not have to replace people if we steer it in a manner to complement workers. But it will be important for companies to invest in upskilling, reskilling and retraining people as they adopt AI.”—Kerry Norman, EVP of operations at CHG Healthcare

“I believe the biggest retention trends will be around building a culture…a culture where people feel valued, heard, and have the ability to grow. As HR professionals, it’s important to make sure that leaders create an environment where people want to stay.”—Monigo Saygbay-Hallie, CPO at Checkers & Rally’s Drive-In Restaurants

“Given that there is still a lot of uncertainty in the broader economic market, I think you’ll see companies really need to be more agile and nimble in their recruiting and staffing approaches. That’s a trend that I would be looking for in 2024. What I mean by that is, at XPO we’re staying close to our customers to understand [the] demand trends they have, which in turn impacts how many people I need and how many people we need across our network to help move those customers goods.”—Carolyn Roach, CHRO at XPO

“One that folks may not be thinking too much about, but that we are hearing from our candidates, is around pay transparency. New York, I think, was the first [state] to put out rules around companies posting pay ranges for their jobs. In higher ed and some other government institutions, it was pretty traditional for pay ranges to be posted, but for corporate America in particular, that was pretty uncommon. The breadth of how companies are doing this is confusing for candidates…so I think [pay transparency is] one of the things that may become a trend in 2024.”—Jeri Hawthorne, CHRO at Aflac