Quiet Hiring

3 Mins

It’s January, so the perfect time to make predictions about upcoming work trends. Already there’s a new work trend making headlines this new year, and it’s likely to pop up a few times throughout 2023. 

Quiet hiring 

In 2022, you probably saw a few headlines about ‘quiet quitting’ where employees remain in their jobs but only do the minimum and no longer go ‘above and beyond’. It causes companies to lose skills and hire more staff to cover the workload.

Now there’s ‘quiet hiring’. This is about upskilling and repositioning the employees you have, rather than hiring new staff by default. When hiring happens, this trend is more about using networks and talented recruiters to headhunt rather than casting the net open to all.

You may think that’s all good, but there are some who are concerned staff won’t be financially compensated for the extra responsibilities given. Also, a negative is the possibility of moving people to fill a skills gap rather than serving the interests of the person and their career goals.

With any ‘trend’ like this, there’ll be some companies who don’t live up to its positive potential and instead shuffle staff around and add responsibilities to an already unhappy workforce.

The best will be channelling skills more effectively, creating a more flexible and skilled team of workers and creating new career opportunities.

A key thing is to attract and retain top performers and leverage the talent available in a way that supports the company and the workforce.

So, if you hear the phrase “quiet hiring” this year, remember where you heard it first!

Are you a fan?