What’s trending—and ending—in the hiring world?

When it comes to effective hiring practices, employee retention reigns supreme. But wait, shouldn’t retaining employees come…later? Not in the modern hiring sphere. These days, employee retention is its own version of recruiting.

Data from Workday, Inc. indicates that the year-plus hiring slowdown is coming to an end. Seasoned employees are eager to grow their careers, and 81%* of business execs are concerned about losing top performers to disengagement. Many companies are investing more energy and resources into their current people while engaging prospective talent.

Need some direction? We teamed up with the pros at Workday to share case study findings, trends, and pointers straight from the Workday Hiring and Talent Trends report. The data is based on more than 36m job requisitions, 284m job applications, and 25m offers that customers processed using Workday Human Capital Management (HCM). (Talk about thorough.)

It’s time to recruit some key learnings into your hiring strategy. Let the onboarding of knowledge begin.

Revamping resources—and outlook

Ready to boost your retention game? Here’s how HR teams and organizations are attempting to keep both current and future workforces engaged and content:

• Internal growth: Recruiting and talent teams are partnering to bolster internal opportunities + mobility programs for their peeps.
• Flex 💪 work: Companies are exploring creative ways to give their teams much-desired flexibility in how and when they work.
• Skills-based hiring and planning: What’s the difference between talent acquisition and talent management? Good q. The two are coming together to effectively nurture an existing workforce.
• Managerial matters: How people feel about their manager impacts a lot. Developing and enabling top-notch people leaders boosts productivity, engagement, and retention.

One of the biggest challenges Workday sees in the near term for all kinds of organizations is evolving from a talent scarcity mindset to one of talent abundance. As macroeconomic hiring trends see a gradual upturn, this will become even more important.

That’s right. The rate of decline in job requisitions slowed down in the second half of 2023 (-2% from 1H 2023 to 2H 2023), which suggests the end of aggressive hiring slowdowns may be near.

Key hiring and talent findings

So with an uptick in hiring looking more likely, are any industries seeing growth already?

We’re glad you asked because the answer is yes. Critical industries, in particular, are seeing the most growth. Healthcare and the public sector ran counter to the broader hiring slowdown last year with growth in requisitions. The number-of-applicants-per-offer ratios increased, especially for media, communications, and tech. These industries had, on average, 30 applicants per offer. Whew.

So how do aspiring employees get a leg up in this competitive market? There’s nothing like a good old-fashioned referral to stand out. In fact, Workday calls referrals “critical” for job seekers.

Referral submissions in 2023 trended up compared to ’22 (+14%), illustrating how orgs are turning to their own people for quality candidates. In turn, job seekers lean on their networks to get a foot in the (crowded) door.

Let’s zoom out for a sec: How is hiring looking on a global scale? In short, pretty dang good. Globally, Workday saw a much smaller decline in both requisitions (-6% vs. -15%) and offers (-2% vs. -10%). Global hiring also saw a larger increase in applications (+49% vs. +26%) compared to the US alone, which could indicate greater hiring resilience.

Case study: Internal mobility

For retaining top talent and fostering internal mobility, Workday decided to put all of this knowledge to the test—and into action at their very own HQ. (Who doesn’t love a juicy case study?)

Workday implemented four internal changes to retain top talent: increased job posting transparency through the company’s Talent Marketplace, revamped eligibility criteria, improved manager visibility, and unveiled internal gigs as a way for employees to learn new skills.

Workday also completed a series of in-depth interviews and focus groups to implement changes designed to help their internal mobility program scale. The results? We don’t throw the term *chef’s kiss* around lightly, but:

• Internal hires were 82% more likely to be rated as a “top performer” in their first calibration in their new role vs. external hires.
• Approximately 30% of all Workday roles over the last several years have been filled by internal candidates.
• Employees who made internal moves had a 26% increase in retention compared to the Workday average.

Apart from Workday’s monumental win(s), fellow industries that created the most job requisitions in 2023 include:

• retail with 8.3m
• manufacturing with 5.6m
• financial services with 5m
• healthcare with 4.9m

We should note, however, that compared to 2022, each of these industries still saw a decrease in reqs. In short? We’ve got a hill to climb, but that doesn’t mean the current steps being taken aren’t making a difference.

Take it to a hire level

According to Workday, successful orgs will be the ones that take steps to engage and optimize their current workforce while cultivating a deep focus on attracting the right talent. Need some parting advice? Take these tips from Workday to heart:

• Optimize hiring flows: Continuously review and update processes, such as interview stages, application progress, and approval requirements. New tech holds enormous potential, but so does taking a fresh look at your processes.
• Skills first, plz: Double down on skills-first hiring. These strategies are proven to expand and diversify talent pools to improve the quality of hires. Identify the skills missing from your org and look to talent acquisition to fill those gaps.
• Expand collab networks: A recruiter’s scope of responsibility is only growing. That’s why building a strong network with a bigger set of stakeholders (talent management, L&D, and workforce planning, to name a few) can become critical to success.

With these insights, strategies, and real-world examples in tow, we bet you’ll find the hiring world a li’l less daunting—and notice more ways to engage your current rockstar teams and future leaders.

If you’d like to dive into even more detailed hiring-sphere findings (who could blame ya?), get your free copy of the Workday Hiring and Talent Trends for continued game-changing insights.

*Source: Guild, Workday Ventures