A New Trend, FUD, or Lipstick on a Pig?

“The phrase to put "lipstick on a pig" means making superficial or cosmetic changes to a product in a futile effort to disguise its fundamental failings.”

from Wikipedia

There is Quiet Hiring, Quiet Quitting, and Quiet Firing.

Or, as it used to be called, Providing Opportunities, Working 9-to-5, and Bad Leadership.

Quiet Hiring is when an organization acquires new skills without actually hiring new full-time employees. It can mean hiring short-term contractors or encouraging current employees to temporarily move into new roles within the organization and take on more responsibilities beyond their original job description. Aka, a smart and creative HR approach and providing opportunities for growth without creating additional layers of middle management.

Quiet Quitting is when an employee is not abandoning their job overtly but losing the concept of going above and beyond at work. They are still doing their job, but they are not buying into the hustle culture attitude anymore. Aka, doing the job you were hired to do within the timeframe that you are being paid for.

Quiet Firing occurs when an employer purposely behaves poorly to get someone to quit. Going years without a raise or promotion, moving duties to jobs requiring less experience, or purposefully withholding development and leadership opportunities are a few examples of quiet firing. It resembles someone who wishes to part ways with an individual but lacks the nerve to do so. Aka, a great example of what bad leadership looks like.

Let's take a deeper dive into Quiet Hiring: CB Insights called it a made-up term based on voodoo analysis. Natasha Piñon called it a new workplace phenomenon that bosses and employees should prepare for. I call it a buzzword that creates fear, uncertainty, and doubt.

Because the circumstances that Gartner’s future of work research identifies as leading to Quiet Hiring have been around before:

• There was, is, and will be regular uncertainty in the economy, making executives and investors nervous, and triggering the usual responses, hiring freezes and layoffs.

• Founders, owners, and CEOs always have ambitious growth goals and need the talent to accomplish them.

• That right talent is hard to come by, and for many roles there was, is, and will be a shortage.

• External circumstances like a strike, the weather, or a public health event always put an additional strain on a business.

Calling this a new trend that we need to prepare for is causing FUD!

Companies need to respond to the immediate need those circumstances demand. This can happen internally by temporarily assigning employees to a different role or asking them to take on additional responsibilities. In a lot of cases, this provides employees with an opportunity to try and prove themselves in different roles, expand their experience, increasing their value for their current and any future employer.

The alternative response is to go external. Bringing in contractors at any level of the organization is the perfect way to add skills and resources as needed, neither over- nor understaffing.

Contact us if you would like to explore the external option for your sales team.

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Natasha Piñon – ‘Quiet hiring’ will dominate the US in 2023

Multiplier – Quiet Quitting, Quiet Firing, and Quiet Hiring

CB Insights – ‘Quiet hiring’ LOL

Photo by Anne Gosewehr