Workplace dynamics - Seven trends in 2024 employers need to address

As an employer, you may invest time, energy and effort into managing and promoting positive workplace dynamics. This may include promoting diversity and inclusion, booking effective communication workshops and organising team-building activities. But what root causes do you need to watch out for in 2024 that may cause a ripple effect through teams?

In this post, you will discover seven trends to look out for in 2024 so you can continue to promote a positive workplace culture, mitigate risk and improve team performance. 

At byrne·dean we speak to people in workplaces most days – across many industries worldwide. We hear about how they are feeling, about their leadership challenges, and much more. This allows us to put some of the global trends one reads about in context. 

As business leaders and HR teams prepare their budgets for the new financial year, there are seven major themes relating to team dynamics in the workplace that they should keep a close eye on.

7 workplace dynamic trends to address in 2024

‍1. A growing number of workplace disputes

Literally without exception, all employers (whatever their sector) report dealing with a serious uptick in the number of complaints about the behaviour of colleagues.

As the job market tightens, it’s always been notable that people tend not to leave a secure job. Research shows that the main reason people leave jobs is dissatisfaction with colleagues, and particularly bosses. Because no-one is going anywhere, what we are seeing is the animosity factor increasing; there's more hostility, and formal complaints rise.

At byrne·dean, our team has hundreds of years of combined experience handling workplace grievances. And very few of us can point to even one single complaint handled through a formal, internal process that was resolved in a manner that satisfied both parties. It’s, therefore, refreshing that this year, possibly for the first time, we’re also seeing a serious increase in the number of requests for help from our mediators, to help before things escalate to a formal complaint or irreconcilable positions.

2. Employees having less tolerance for others’ views

Without doubt, the increasing polarisation of society is impacting workplaces. People have less tolerance for others’ views; seem increasingly unwilling to accept that situations are complex and contain shades of grey; and have little or no interest in understanding different perspectives.  

We’re viewing this tendency as related to both the rise of Populism and increased social media use. We’ve certainly noticed that workplace disputes often seem to flare up online, particularly on a channel like Slack. Workplace social media channels seem to lull people into forgetting that they are at work and owe their fellow workers duties of respect and to protect their dignity (their sense of self). What’s the real-life version of 20 people liking a derogatory post, if it isn’t workplace bullying?

For a deeper dive into these first two trends, I wrote at length in Personnel Today. My piece was written before the deeply polarising events in Israel and Gaza, a macro-event that’s required all employers to think very carefully about where they stand, the statements they make, how quickly they can or should have reacted to the escalating situation, and the support they can offer to employees who are deeply troubled by events.

3. Increased duties on employers to prevent misconduct, and encourage speak-up

Most employers probably thought that it would be a Keir Starmer Labour government that would introduce legislation supportive of workers’ rights. However, the Worker Protection Act (a Private Members’ Bill) has put in place perhaps the biggest pro-worker change since the Equality Act in 2010. From October 2024, there was a legal requirement for employers to show they’re taking reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment. This is basically an acceptance that the previous legislative approach has not worked.

The timing is apt; certainly, we have been approached by many employers saying that people seem to have forgotten some of the rules of socialising after work (especially where drink is involved). Social media channels and intergenerational tensions have only added to this.

Employers are waking up to the reality of this requirement. Yes, the Equality Act has always required more than some ad hoc training for an employer to successfully mount a defence to a harassment claim. But defending a sexual harassment complaint now looks like it will require the alignment of your Board and clear accountability for a holistic preventative initiative. The experience of Australia (that introduced similar legislation a year earlier than the UK) could be instructive; are your processes people-focused and trauma-informed? 

The FCA’s revised expectations on non-financial misconduct within financial services feel similar in many respects; the need for DEI strategies will also require an increasingly holistic approach. We await the FCA's conclusions, but many clients are already receiving questionnaires seeking detail of how individual grievances have been handled historically. Expectations on employers are rising. 

We have a dedicated page with resources for anyone wanting to learn more about preventing sexual harassment in the workplace.

4. The hybrid work style debate continues

We often hear that hybrid is ‘so last year’ - which is to say that HR teams feel they have adjusted to a new way of working. However, workplaces are still adapting and wrestling over their stance on this, often in conflict with many of their team trying to find a common goal. 

It has been found that most bosses expect employees to return to the office within three years. Still, more alignment is needed between business and HR leaders on this subject and the realisation of what a forced return to work could look like needs to be considered. 

We predict that resentment will continue to be widespread in 2024 as work-life balance is now not only valued, but demanded by employees. For anyone who is a primary carer for children or loved ones, flexible and/or remote working may be a necessity rather than a perk if they are to have an equitable opportunity to progress. Often, this will be women – many in very senior roles – who increasingly feel their position is not understood by their (typically male) colleagues.

Interestingly, many employees are unaware of the law that came into effect in April last year, which enables them to request flexible working from day one. This law pushes employers to consider flexible working requests that they would have initially ignored. However, there have been recurring issues raised by claimants that have shown the process is not as straightforward as it seems, creating more room for debate and conflict.

We hope that in 2024, the stars are aligned for more action - and from workers who businesses cannot do without.

5. Addressing the manager skills gap

Many of our financial and professional services clients are finding themselves in similar positions. Over the last 20 years of our existence, we’ve regularly commented on a management skills gap – stemming mainly from a tendency to promote top performers to management positions rather than focusing first on peoples’ aptitude for a management role.

Employers should focus on people's innate aptitudes, such as communication, team collaboration and the ability to learn quickly, rather than simply promoting high-flying employees so that team dynamics are balanced and work in harmony. This ensures that those hired for management positions have a positive ripple effect on how a team communicates and collaborates rather than simply being top achievers themselves.

6. Class inequality is becoming an EDI priority

Without question, people with working-class origins face very real biases and barriers in the workplace, with an average pay gap of 13.05% that widens in elite occupations like finance, law, and consulting (if you’ve managed to get in the first place).

It’s incontrovertibly the case that there’s a groundswell finally developing around changing this. It is led largely by some influential senior people who can see the talent wasted. Our own Helen Dallimore is part of a working group of leading lawyers, academics, and charities exploring the practicalities of defining and incorporating a potential definition of social class in UK Equality legislation. It feels like this will be when, not if.

We’re seeing more action at the board level, and 2024 will probably see this continue. However, be warned that actions must be meaningful rather than straying into tokenistic class washing. For more information, see Helen’s full article in Quartz.

7. Navigating AI and the imperative for human skills

Something that’s predicted to affect 44% of labour globally is obviously on everyone’s mind: how will organisations adapt? AI has the dual impact of removing the need for many lower-skilled jobs and offering a major productivity boost in higher-skilled jobs. Any manager skills gaps will feel increasingly wide as the need to manage change and uncertainty takes centre stage. 

We predict that we’ll hear often in the coming months and years that human skills, like emotional agility (the ability to recognise your own emotions and be curious about exploring others'), become more critical as AI changes how organisations obtain, process and analyse information. Ultimately, individuals with advanced skill sets are better equipped to navigate teams in flux/change, something that remains beyond the capabilities of robots due to their inability to process emotions. 

And to be clear, these are skills that you can develop. Often done best with experiential, drama-based learning with actors playing out real-life situations.

Navigating group dynamics in the workplace

Workplace dynamics are affected on three levels within a company's culture. This includes the actions of individuals, relationships between team members and the team's overall behaviour patterns. All three levels must be addressed for a company to experience long-lasting, good team dynamics in the workplace. Whilst this sounds simple, various workplace factors are at play, such as managing workplace disputes, considering new hybrid working agreements, addressing the manager skills gap, taking more action around class inequality and adhering to new duties to prevent misconduct. 

At byrne·dean, we help employers understand their role in promoting positive team dynamics through leadership behaviour training. We also support building healthy relationships between employees and management through workplace behaviour training.

Want to learn more about how to have a positive impact on workplace dynamics? 

Contact our behaviour experts for advice and guidance.