The workplace, and more specifically talent management, are realms that rapidly change. As we look forward to 2015, many industry professionals are already thinking ahead and incorporating new trends and ideas into their talent management strategies for the New Year and beyond.

A few of the trends expected to make a significant impact include:

A New Concept of the Office Space

We recently wrote about the important role office design can have in everything from employee productivity to satisfaction, and while that’s an idea that isn’t necessarily new, it’s one that’s going to take hold in a more mainstream sense.

The idea of creatively designed office spaces is no longer just for Silicon Valley—you can expect to see businesses of all types and scales doing away with the old cubicle set-up and embracing more innovative design ideas and workspace layouts.

This trend can manifest itself in any number of ways from the implementation of open and collaborative-friendly work environments to quirkier concepts like treadmill and standing desks.

The Rise of Millennial Leaders

Up until very recently all of the talk about Millennials in the workplace surrounded the ideas of hiring them and managing them—in 2015 we’re starting to see more significance in how they manage others.

Millennials are beginning to move upward in their careers, with many already holding management positions.

This is going to shift the workplace in a variety of unique ways and we can expect to see a lot of attention placed on Millennial leadership in the coming years.

Increasing Transparency

Transparency in the workplace is something employees of all generations are beginning to not just expect but also demand of their employers.

This is seen in a number of ways from how companies share and distribute information via social media channels to the implementation of open salary information. The shroud of secrecy in the workplace is being dropped and that trend will only grow in the coming year.

Continual Continuing Education

With the growth of eLearning, learning management systems and corporate universities, expect to see continual learning and development opportunities take center stage as an attractive benefit for employees.

Employers and employees can profit from this focus on continuing education and professional development—employers will see a more talented workforce while employees will continue to make themselves more marketable in a competitive environment.

Personality-Based Hiring

We’ve already seen innovators like Zappos who hire based on personality and cultural fit above all else, and in 2015 it’s all about the culture.

Employers are likely to put an increasing amount of importance on personality and less on skills and experience—particularly as training technology continues to evolve making it easier and less resource demanding to comprehensively train employees.

The Never-Ending Job Search

The idea of job-hopping and always looking for the next great opportunity are concepts that really gained attention as Millennials starting entering the workforce, but now the never-ending job search is almost guaranteed.

Employees are increasingly seeing their career as fluid and in order for them to have the desire to stay put, it’s up to employers to find creative ways to incentivize them.

Relying on Referrals

Human resource departments as we know them are on the decline. Rather than human resources, companies are focusing on broader concepts of talent management but they’re also looking to new ways to recruit talent—namely, referrals.

Instead of focusing efforts on the old standbys of HR-based recruiting, expect companies to start building and implementing more large-scale employee referral programs.

What do you think about the list of workplace and talent management trends for 2015? Do you expect to see anything we left off?

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