These 3 HR roles are trending right now. Here’s why.

In the employee-led market we’re seeing now, the quality of company culture is becoming ever more important. In LinkedIn’s Global Talent Trends 2022, it was reported that 40% of candidates “consider company culture a top priority when picking a job.” Which points us to the stewards of a healthy company culture: HR professionals. As the global economy rebounds, so has the expansion of this crucial department and the diversity of the roles within it.  

In a recent Lunch & Learn, we were joined by guest Stuart Elliott of Elliott Scott HR — a firm that helps companies across the globe recruit top-tier talent into their HR departments. In this session (which you can watch here), Stuart shed light on some of the most compelling trends in HR right now, one of which was the rise of 3 specialist HR roles he’s seeing.  

What are they and why are they trending?  

#1 The Analyst  

“The first role we're seeing a lot more of right now is definitely on the HR analytics and reporting analytics side of things.” - Stuart Elliot

A lot of companies have been investing in HR technology over the past two years and particularly in the types that provide HR teams with data about employee wellbeing, satisfaction, and performance. While this was on the rise before the pandemic, this technology became a crucial tool to gain visibility in the quality of the employee experience in remote workforces.  

As this data collection continues to ramp up, so does the need to systematically take action on the insights. As Stuart remarks, “I'm seeing that now in a lot of the bigger organisations, where they now need someone to take that data away and bring it to the table in terms of what it means to the business.”

Companies are finding that — at a certain scale — processing the insights, finding the priorities, rolling data findings into implementation plans, and following up the results is best accomplished by adding analytical-focused HR professionals to their team.  

#2 Wellness & Wellbeing Manager  

“The second role we’re seeing a lot more of, not necessarily in terms of abundance of the roles, but rather in terms of the buzz, is the wellness and wellbeing piece.” - Stuart Elliot

While wellness initiatives may have seemed more optional pre-pandemic, and perhaps over-associated with perks like in-office yoga, supporting the wellbeing of staff emerged as a full-blown corporate priority during the pandemic in the face where, as Stuart put it, “people were struggling a lot of the time with their own mental health, wellbeing, and how they look after themselves.”

Large companies are beginning to look for wellness and wellbeing managers. Where wellness is an integral priority for the company, this role could be titled Chief Wellness Officer.

Even in companies that are not large enough to employ someone with 100% focus on this topic, its importance is being underlined throughout the job descriptions for other HR roles. As Stuart says: “The companies that are not big enough to have that — that have more HR generalists in their make-up —  the terms ‘wellness’ and ‘wellbeing’ are becoming far more prevalent in the job descriptions and the competencies that we are seeing."

#3 The DE&I Advocate  

"Diversity and Inclusion is a big part of the new opportunities we're seeing.” - Stuart Elliot

The prevalence of the DE&I Advocate role has seen a roller coaster ride over the past few years. Before the pandemic, as global conversation about equity and anti-racism continued to escalate, the corporate world responded by opening DE&I-related positions. Data from Glassdoor shows that these vacancies these vacancies fell by 60% at the outset of the pandemic, but began to recover after the protests following the killing of George Floyd in May of 2020 — rising by 55%.  

Valerie Frederickson, founder of a Silicon Valley recruitment firm, summarised it well when she said:  

"With CEOs making public statements pledging to increase diversity at their companies came an uptick to find and hire DE&I leaders as quickly as possible."  

Hiring this role is one of the most pronounced ways companies can express their commitment to DE&I is to hire someone responsible for initiating real action and change. As focus on the pandemic starts to recede, this critical topic is again back on the agenda, along with an increasing number of vacancies for this role.  

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A little bit about Lunch & Learn...

Winningtemp’s Community Leader, Cecilia Holmblad, began the Lunch & Learn concept in the early days of the pandemic when the need for inspiration, connection and community was at an all-time high. Now this community consists of 6,000 people and Cecilia continues to welcome inspiring guests who are experts in fields like HR tech, psychology, and organisational performance for high-tempo, 45-minute discussions.  

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