After quiet quitting, comes quiet hiring: Is this new workplace trend helping or hurting employees?

The corporate world is all about jargon and don’t we know it. As coronavirus transformed the way we worked, new buzzwords trying to capture the change in the workplace were also coined; who can forget ‘quiet quitting’, ‘rage applying’, ‘loud quitting’ and such others.

Now, as we draw close to the end of the second month of 2023 where mass layoffs are the norm, a new buzzword has entered the vernacular — quiet hiring. Technological research and consulting firm Gartner even declared it as one of the nine workplace trends of the year.

Several companies, including search giant Google, are using this under-the-radar recruiting strategy and in a market where recession fears continue to persist and layoffs continue at a relentless pace, quiet hiring has understandably caught people’s attention.

Here is what to know about quiet hiring — from what does it entail, who’s using it and how it is beneficial to employer and employee. Talk about a win-win!

What is quiet hiring?

Even though there’s a buzz around quiet hiring, the actual strategy has been around for decades.

So, what does it mean and how does it work?

Quiet hiring refers to obtaining new talent without hiring new employees. It works something like this: a company assesses its current workforce, mainly those who are working way before their job description. Seeing their input and their performance, the company doles out a requisite raise or promotion to that concerned person, thereby saving the worker a job search, the company a hiring spree, and everyone time.

But for those who worry that it’s actually just a fancy way of cutting manpower in offices and thrusting more work on existing staff, Emily Rose McRae, senior director of research at Gartner, says it’s more specific than that.

Also read: Will recession put an end to work from home in 2023?

“With quiet hiring, we’re talking about an organisation strategically, at a leadership level, looking at the talent they have across the organisation and where the critical gaps are and finding ways to fill those,” she told ABCNews. “It’s trying to acquire new skills and capabilities without acquiring new people.”

For instance, a company may require five programmers in order to meet their targets for the year. Instead of initiating a job search, negotiating with the probable candidate and waiting for them to join, the company may decide to move five people from another department and train them for the new job. This is the simple and effective way of explaining quiet hiring.

McRae adds, “The idea is that you have a finite amount of talent in your organisation, and you need to make a call about where it’s going to have the best impact.”

According to an article in Inc.com, Google has been using this strategy for a long time and is part of what enables the tech giant to identify the brightest minds (internally and externally) and place the best candidates into its open positions.

Cary Cooper, an organisational psychology professor at The University of Manchester and member of the Academy of Management, added that quiet hiring has been taking place for ages — especially during difficult economic times like recessions and hyper-inflationary periods.

Who does it benefit?

At first, quiet hiring sounds shady — adding to an employee’s workload and handing them tasks outside of job profile. In fact, one user on Reddit wrote, “No one is getting promoted for doing multiple jobs. They will keep you there, as their obedient workhorse, with minimal raises and zero support until something breaks. There is no reward for taking on extra tasks — except more tasks.”

However, human resource experts state that quiet hiring isn’t bad for employees. In fact, the trend that is being seen as a reaction to the quiet quitting movement, could be beneficial to workers.

A poll conducted by job-search platform Monster also revealed that more people are open to the idea rather than hating it. The survey showed that 63 percent of workers are amenable to the idea, believing it a good opportunity to expand their skillsets.

“If it’s done properly, both parties can benefit from this. Hiring externally is very costly, and by putting more responsibility or shifting tasks for their existing staff, employers will save money,” Charnay Horton, CEO of Resume Addict was quoted as telling Purewow.com, adding, “It also allows employers to fill the gap of skill shortages by training from within.”

For a company, quiet hiring is a smart business practice and also helps in cutting costs. It promotes promotes promote reengagement at work.

Jennifer Kraszewski, vice president of HR at US-based Paycom, told Fox News that quiet hiring allows businesses to tap into their current staff rather than investing in the recruitment and training of new hires, Kraszewski said. “It also enables them to reassign current team members whose typical areas of focus may not be a priority at the moment.”

However, if done incorrectly it could cause resentment among employees. Hence, these are some tips that one should follow if you are being ‘quietly hired’. Firstly, be assertive about your boundaries and your capacity to work. Also ensure that you are being paid — either monetarily or in terms of office perks — for the work you are putting in.

Why will quiet hiring continue in 2023?

Regardless of the arguments over the pros and cons of quiet hiring, one thing is certain: it’s here to stay and will continue to be the big practice in organisations worldwide.

Why is it, you ask? Currently, companies are facing a competitive hiring landscape, an economic downturn and pressure to keep costs down. In this environment, employers face the task of finding new talent while retaining old performers and also grappling with budget cuts and layoffs.

Explained: Why mass layoffs will continue in 2023

As a result, many feel they need to get creative and are turning to quiet hiring to fill the gaps.

McRae states that the current economic uncertainty is definitely pushing quiet hiring forward, as more companies are slowing down their external hiring. She adds that there’s also a widespread talent shortage.

Cary Cooper, speaking to Fortune magazine, echoed similar views. Between “destabilising economic and geopolitical upheavals, businesses will be very reluctant to hire more people, instead aiming to keep labour costs at a bare minimum.”

And that’s exactly when quiet hiring will step in.

Cooper said that this trend, whether liked or hates, will stick around for at least a year or two. So, here’s to quiet hiring and awaiting the next workplace trend.

With inputs from agencies

Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News,
India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.