Previously, we’ve discussed both quiet quitting (where employees do just enough work to avoid being fired), and quiet firing (where employers make work conditions uncomfortable and unbearable enough that employees quit on their own). If you thought there weren’t any more opportunities for employers and employees to passive-aggressively manipulate each other, you were wrong.
The latest buzzword in this silent chess match is “quiet hiring.”
A New Employee Relations Buzzword
“Quiet hiring is when an organization goes about acquiring the skills and capabilities that it needs without necessarily adding full-time headcount,” says Emilie Rose McRae, Senior Director of Research at Gartner, in a recent podcast.
This doesn’t necessarily mean, though, she says, that employers will save money on payroll costs because they’re not adding full-time employees. Quiet hiring could involve simply having employees work in another part of the organization. McRae explains: “Say, moving some HR and marketing analysts from their HR and marketing roles to open data scientist positions and then either reskilling or upskilling folks so that they can do that work or maybe redesigning the role a little bit and bringing in contractors to do some of the more complex parts that the HR and marketing analysts might otherwise need to be reskilled for.”
A general theme in all of these “quiet” employment relationship actions is that the party on the receiving end of the “quiet” action generally doesn’t like being on the receiving end. Employers don’t like it when employees quietly quit, for example, and employees certainly don’t like being subtly pushed out the door through quiet firing.
Quiet Hiring Can Be Perceived Positively
So, is quiet hiring in the same boat? Not so, argues Jordan Turner, writing for Gartner. Quiet hiring doesn’t just benefit organizations, Turner says, it can also benefit employees by providing them with opportunities to grow current skills and competencies or learn new ones. This might, for instance, involve stretch assignments that let employees demonstrate their potential value to the organization they currently work for—and for future employers as well.
However, Turner notes that “quiet hiring doesn’t mean employees who volunteer for these kinds of assignments shouldn’t be compensated or rewarded in some way.”
While there may certainly be benefits to “quiet hiring” for both employers and employees, employees would likely be more enthusiastic about the concept if the “quiet” part was removed, both in name and in practice. It’s great to give employees new upskilling and career advancement opportunities, but it should be done in a climate of transparency.
Lin Grensing-Pophal is a Contributing Editor at HR Daily Advisor.
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