In 2015, an improving economy wasn't enough to allay theconcerns of business owners and HR professionals. Stagnant wages,continued high benefits costs and regulatory uncertainty combinedto make both employers and employees skittish about the future.

But the underlying movement in the U.S. economy is towardgrowth, and HR professionals should prepare for theissues that have come with it: competition for workers, demandfor flexible benefits, pressure for more productive andhealthier workers, and technological innovations that will spurboth innovation and new risks.

One of the top issues for HR departments in 2015 was employeerecruitment and retention; and this will continue to be a challengeinto 2016. HR regulatory compliance, including but not limited tothe Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, continues to be aconcern for businesses. And the concept of wellness continues toevolve, with companies motivated to strive for a healthier and moreproductive workforce.

Let's look at these and other HR issues that are likely to bepressing concerns in 2016.

1. Competing for workers

Plenty of Americans are still looking for work, or looking for abetter job. But employers are reporting that it's getting harderand harder to find quality job candidates, especially inhigh-demand areas such as technology and health care. But it's notjust highly-educated workers who are hard to find.

“It's going beyond the traditional hot job sectors of tech andhealth care at this point. Truck driver might be a harder job tofill right now than software developer,” said Tim Sackett, an HRblogger and president of HRU Technical Resources. “I actually havehiring managers say to me, 'Just find us people who will actuallyshow up and work' — and these are for professional jobs.”

“All of our labor market research shows that recruitingdifficulties are at pre-recession levels and going beyond thatnow,” said Jennifer Schramm, manager of the workplace trends andforecasting program at the Society for Human Resource Management.Schramm said that although there was technically not a laborshortage in the U.S., a number of sectors are having troublefilling positions.

In response, companies are being forced to become more creativein recruitment efforts. Flexible work hours, expanded benefits,more vacation or medical leave options, ping-pong tablesin the break room — anything and everything has been tried byemployers scrambling to find, and keep, workers.

“Employers are trying different things to see what works forthem; a lot of it depends on company culture,” said Julie Stich,director of research with the International Foundation of EmployeeBenefit Plans. “What works for Google or Netflix may not work foryour company, but you should take a look to see what does work foryour workforce.”

Experts said understanding your company's culture and brand iskey to fine-tuning your recruitment efforts. If a company canarticulate to potential employees what makes it different and whatvalue that brings to workers, it is ahead of the game.

2. Generational issues

Directly related to the recruitment/retention issue is theproblem of providing benefits to workers of different generations,who may have very different expectations and needs.

HR experts note that the younger generation expects morebells-and-whistles at a workplace, such as those ping-pong tablesor cereal bars, but older workers are more likely to wantfinancial counseling.

At the same time, Schramm warned that companies that try toohard to target benefits to older workers can run into trouble.Generally speaking, older employees often distrust programs thatare focused primarily on them.

“They don't want to be singled out; they feel more vulnerable,”Schramm said. Instead, she said, companies should show that theysupport workers regardless of their age. “Our research shows theNo. 1 job satisfaction factor across generations is respect foremployees at all levels.”

Mentoring of younger workers by older, experienced employees issomething that got a lot of discussion in 2015, but Sackettexpressed skepticism about how much a company should expect fromsuch programs.

“I don't know how much mentoring and/or transfer of knowledge isactually taking place. I think we want to believe this ishappening, but it takes a special person to be a mentor,” he said.“The other part is young employees know everything — just ask them.Just like every single younger generation that ever entered theworkforce. Turns out, almost every organization is awful at this,and most of us are just trying to make it work any way we can.”

3. Wellness

One part of the HR equation that benefits workers of all ages isa wellness program. And employers continue to be very interested inoffering such programs.

“A large number of organizations offer wellness programs,”Schramm said. “Our surveys show that 69% of our members offer them.And a lot of them say they're increasing investments inwellness.”

And with an aging workforce nationwide, it makes sense toemphasize wellness to ensure both health and productivity amongworkers, Schramm added.

Both Schramm and Stich agreed that many companies are lookingfor better ways to measure return on investment on wellnessprograms, but that it might continue to be a tricky thing toquantify.

Stich also noted that the definition of wellness isexpanding.

“We're seeing an evolution here; it's becoming more about totalemployee well-being,” she said. “Not just focusing on physicalwellness, but looking at things like mental health and financialwellness. Wellness programs continue to evolve, and employers areadding more and more components to their programs.”

4. Regulation and politics

There's at least one HR issue we're likely to be hearing aboutduring the 2016 presidential campaigns: Paid family leave.

Both Democrats and Republicans are talking about the issue, andalthough Republicans seem much cooler toward the kind of nationwideprogram Democrats are pushing for, both Sen. Marco Rubio and newHouse Speaker Paul Ryan have made statements putting family leaveon the political radar.

Paid family leave — providing paid leave for new parents or whenan employee needs to care for a sick family member — is not a newconcept; several states have implemented some type of paid familyleave benefit. And paid medical leave is being pushed by workergroups who said it makes sense to provide the benefit, rather thanforce sick workers to come to the workplace while they may be bothcontagious and less productive. In addition, President Obama signedan order in September requiring federal contractors to provide onehour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours an employee works.

Stich said even without government mandates, such policies arebecoming more popular with businesses, in part because it helpsthem compete for employees.

“It's something employers are looking at; something they canprovide to make them an employer of choice,” she said.

Other areas in the regulatory realm that employers will betalking about in 2016 include the changes to the definition ofovertime work as part of FLSA regulations, PPACA's Cadillactax, and possible changes to regulations regarding contract orcontingent workers.

“I think the rising percentage of contingent workers, as a totalpercent of our workforce, is going to cause further regulatoryissues down the road,” Sackett said. “The recession has ledmore companies to increase their percentage of contingent workers,and this won't go back down. This will definitely increase thepressure for further regulation amongst this job segment.”

5. Tech and personal data

The news that more than 22 million federal workers, along withfamily and friends, had their data hacked shocked not only theaffected agencies but the business community, as well. A number ofhigh-profile hacks on customer data has been costly for banks andretailers, and the prospect of employee data also being breached isyet another worry in an age where work is done on multiple digitalplatforms.

“With so many different systems and devices, it's reallychallenging to keep this data secure,” Schramm said.

In a 2014 survey of the IT industry, 63% of respondents reportedthat their organizations had experienced data breaches as theresult of mobile security issues. The threat of data breaches, andhow to protect companies and employees alike, will surely beanother topic that bears watching in 2016.