In2020, employers will elevate their diversity and inclusionstrategies, moving beyond just recruitment and minimum legalcompliance to implement policies and programs that foster realinclusion in the workplace. (Photo: Shutterstock)

With U.S. unemployment rates at a 50-year low,organizations will need to work harder than ever to attract,retain, engage and inspire employees in 2020. This means payingattention to employees' shifting priorities and expectations oftheir employers.

According to the Workhuman Analytics & Research Institute's2019 report, The Future of Work is Human, employees rankedmeaningful work as the most important aspect of their career.People want to work for an organization that has a mission whichaligns with their own values, a human-focused culture and a workenvironment that will empower them to do the best work of theirlives.

Related: How to achieve (and maintain) a mission-drivenworkforce

Therefore, to be successful, companies and their HR leaders (orcultural ambassadors) must win their employees' hearts and minds byshifting their thinking from how they can get more from theiremployees to how they can provide a more human employee experience– one that strengthens connections between people and teams, and,ultimately, drives stronger employee and company performance.

Encouraging your company to embrace the following three HRtrends will help position it for success as we enter this newdecade.

1. Understanding the business value of a diverse and inclusiveworkplace

Incorporating diversity and, more recently, inclusion have beentop global HR priorities for many years. But, increasingly, whatbegan as a matter of principle or compliance obligations is nowunderstood to be a business necessity for competitiveadvantage.

Diversity–bringing together employees with different lifeexperiences, points of view, religions, genders, sexualorientations, cultural references and physical and mentalabilities–improves the workplace and enables the creativecollisions that spark innovation. Inclusion, or recognizing andembracing employees' differences, empowers all the individuals inyour organization to have a positive impact because of thequalities that make them who they are. Together, diversity andinclusion help optimize the work environment for continuousinnovation, a requirement for companies to thrive and grow in arapidly changing, fully connected global market.

Unfortunately, conscious and unconscious bias still exist and can underminea company's efforts to build a culture of inclusion. Accepting thatthese biases exist and raising awareness of them in the moment mayenable us to stem the propagation of these toxic attitudes and behaviors, help change themover time, and, ultimately, eradicate them.

In 2020, employers will elevate their diversity and inclusionstrategies, moving beyond just recruitment and minimum legalcompliance to implement policies and programs that foster realinclusion in the workplace.

• Successful organizations will demonstrate that they valuedifferences and break down barriers to inclusion by giving everystaff member a voice to recognize, celebrate and rewardcontributions.
• Companies will promote more women to the C-suite and prioritizeseating them on corporate boards, continuing to close the gendergap. Having more women in power enables companies to build greatertrust in their employee-employer relationships and helps promoteworkplace change.
• More attention will be paid toward LGBTQ workplace rights,including LGBTQ benefits. Companies will use constant vigilance,education and re-education to continue elevating diversity,inclusion and belonging to a cultural imperative.
• Companies also will make progress on ensuring that inclusionencompasses the neurodiversity population, employees who could beon the autism spectrum, dyslexic, or have attention deficithyperactive disorder or social anxiety. Members of this populationinclude many extraordinarily talented individuals.

2. Shifting focus from data collection to human connection

The most competitive companies are evolving in the direction ofthe most human qualities: inspiration, social connection,diversity, individual empowerment, emotional intelligence, anaptitude for learning and adaptation. The least competitivecompanies cling to top-down, slow-moving hierarchies.

While applicant tracking systems, learning management systemsand talent management systems still have a place, forward-thinkingcompanies are embracing the shift to employee-centered moments andinteraction and investing in HR software that is moving beyondprocesses to experiences.

These human applications that focus on people rather thanprocess are designed to foster and support relationships amongpeople and increase employees' alignment with shared values, sharedgoals and shared culture. They help companies instill feelings ofinclusion and belonging among diverse individuals, whose commonground is the "village" of their workplace. These applicationsbring people together through feedback and support, recognizingeffort and celebrating achievement. Above all, they promoteconnectivity, engagement and well-being in each employee in anatural way, because they are built on informal, moment-by-momentcommunication.

3. Ensuring workplace human rights for all

Companies will increasingly become the stewards of basic humanrights for all their employees. Organizations fully committed tothis responsibility will be more attuned to employeeexpectations–delivering an aspirational vision of what a workplacecan be: a place where people deserve to grow to their greatestpotential through training, feedback and rewards.

An authentic workplace promise shows next-level commitment tocreating what employees want and demand in a great place to work: aculture that authentically delivers meaningful work, gratitude,growth, a sense of belonging, work-life balance, opportunities tobe heard and the expectations of both accountability and equalityfor every employee.

In August 2019, the Business Roundtable redefined the purpose ofa corporation for the first time in 41 years. More than 180 CEOsjoined the Roundtable's statement that corporations exist tobenefit all stakeholders–customers, employees, suppliers,communities and shareholders– a dramatic shift from the usual CEOstance that public corporations exist primarily to serveshareholders. While it's reasonable to view such statements withskepticism as well as optimism, they are another step towardnormalizing workplace rights. They also clearly signal that now isthe time for workplace rights to become commonly accepted.

HR departments that demonstrate thought leadership by increasingthe executive team's awareness of these three key HR trends as wellas the business value of embracing them in 2020 will help theircompanies be more competitive right from the start of this newdecade.

Niamh Graham is vice president of global HRat Workhuman.

Read more: 

• Why great company cultures rely on making greathires
• 6 tips for improving companyculture
• Greater gender diversity brings better employeeexperiences