Photo: RetailWire
Will “quiet hiring” become the next big trend affecting labor just as the “great resignation” and “quiet quitting” did before it?
The practice, defined as when an organization acquires new skills without actually hiring new full-time employees, may involve taking on short-term contractors or encouraging current employees to temporarily assume different tasks or new roles.
“The reality for the next year is — whether or not we go into a recession — everyone’s a little nervous,” Emily Rose McRae, who leads the future of work and talent analytics research teams in Gartner's HR Practice, told CNBC. “In a lot of cases, organizations are not necessarily doing a hiring freeze, or layoffs, but maybe slowing down a little bit on their hiring.”
In an article for Inc., columnist Kelly Main writes that quiet hiring can be an effective way to mitigate quiet quitting, or when employees do the minimum requirements of their job in order to support work/life balance.
Employers can save significant money with little cost involved by recruiting and training internally and steering the best candidates into open positions. She writes, “The strategy of quiet hiring may sound like it's designed to help employers, but it's equally advantageous for employees who are eager to advance their careers and earn more money.”
Ms. McRae said transparency is key, with some employees possibly viewing the changes as a critique on their existing job performance rather than steps to avoid worse hardship. She also agreed employees can use it to their advantage to secure promotions.
Some on social media responding to the CNBC article weren’t seeing the benefits to employees.
One wrote on Twitter, “See they call it ‘quiet’ hiring because there’s no actual hiring. They just press people to take on more work without commensurate increases in compensation.”
Another wrote “‘Quiet hiring’ is the exciting new trend where your job expects you to do even MORE stuff, including things that are way outside your job description. Because it’s cheaper for THEM than hiring a skilled worker, and YOU don’t want to get fired, right.”
- ‘Quiet hiring’ will dominate the U.S. in 2023, says HR expert — and you need to prepare for it – CNBC
- Google Secretly Uses the Quiet Hiring Method – Inc.
- 'Quiet Hiring' Is on the Horizon – Here's What Employers and Employees Need to Know – Entrepreneur
- There’s no actual hiring – Twitter
- Your job expects you to do even MORE stuff – Twitter
- Should retail worry about the ‘quiet quitting’ trend? – RetailWire