Fred Foulkes, faculty director of the Human Resource Policy Institute and a professor in the Questrom School of Business at Boston University says Yes! “The pandemic has marked a massive shift in strategic priorities in the workplace”. (1)
Lyra Health, Boston University and Future Workplace, conducts the HR Sentiment Survey of more than 200 senior HR leaders across the U.S. The survey reported significant changes in the top five strategic priorities between the 2020 and 2021 surveys as shown in the chart below.
| Priority Rank | 2020 | 2021 |
| 1 | Employee Experience | Employee Wellbeing/Mental Health |
| 2 | Leadership Development | Diversity, Equity, Inclusion |
| 3 | Learning Transformation | Leadership Development |
| 4 | Next-Generation Leaders | Employee Experience |
| 5 | People Analytics | Managing Remote Workers |
The biggest change from 2020 is the emphasis on mental health. Reports indicate that the stress levels of employees have increased since the start of the pandemic and especially since the start of 2021.
Managing remote workers also made the list of 2021 strategic priorities, especially since many employees do not want to return to work full-time. (2)
Foulkes concludes that “organizations and company leaders will need to adjust their priorities to succeed. Companies that do not adopt new models and paradigms will struggle to retain top talent and succeed as a business.”
(1) https://hrexecutive.com/massive-shift-in-hr-leaders-top-5-priorities-for-2021/
(2) https://hrnetsourcedemo.com/blog/2021/07/14/getting-employees-back-to-work-will-not-be-easy/