You’ve heard of “Quiet Quitting,” and now… “Quiet Hiring?”
This new buzzword has mixed reactions: some are positive and action-focused, some are eye-rolls about another scary buzzword, and some are outright hostile and claim this is just another way for employers to make more money off their employees.
We’re going to hang out in the first camp for this article, although we agree that we can dispense with buzzwords and call things what they are. In this case, that’s optimization and communication.
New Skills, Same Employees
“’Quiet hiring’ is when an organization acquires new skills without actually hiring new full-time employees,” either through “hiring short-term contractors … or encouraging current employees to temporarily move into new roles within the organization.”
When organizations hire new employees, they usually do it for one of three reasons: filling a role that has been vacated, creating and hiring for a new role for growth, or addressing “an acute, immediate need.”
“Quiet hiring” is for that third category and can either be a disaster for employers or an enormous opportunity.
Potential Disaster or Sound Strategy?
If leaders don’t go about it right, asking people to temporarily move into a new role can make them feel as if their own role isn’t important–after all, no one is moving to occupy the space they just vacated–and might lead them to search for a new role. But if leaders can articulate precisely why the move is crucial and how it’s going to benefit the employee and advance their career, then they are more likely to have motivated employees who are on board with the change. Adding in a few contract or freelance people to support the change can get a company through a crunch.
It can also be a way for companies to do what they should do anyway: assess what they need to move forward and optimize the skills and talent of the employees they already have. Everyone should be in the right seat on the bus for the organization to run as well as possible and for the team to bring in and feel the most value. Moving people around to new roles can highlight some latent skills or talent or find better team configurations to get a company through a crunch while also accelerating growth and job satisfaction in the long run.
If you’re a leader looking to shift things around and make sure your organization is running optimally, give ROI a call. We can offer an outside perspective and assessment to make it easier.