With voluntary quits down across industries, employees are hunkering down in their jobs—here’s how HR can help.
By Maggie Mancini
The employment market has slowed in recent months, with the U.S. adding just 22,000 jobs in August, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Employees are quitting less often than at any non-pandemic time since 2018, even when they are otherwise disengaged. This has led to an increase in the number of “job hugging” employees—workers who are staying in their jobs not because they feel connected to their work, but because they are afraid to seek opportunities elsewhere.
This widespread decline in attrition is, in part, happening due to a white-collar recession, says Josh Bersin, global industry analyst and CEO of The Josh Bersin Company. As AI slows or eliminates hiring, it has become difficult for both skilled employees and entry-level candidates to secure jobs. This results in people “hunkering down” to stay where they are and has created a lot of fear.
At the same time, many employers are experiencing financial challenges within the current economic and business landscape, says Mike Gomez, VP of HR at Tasty Restaurant Group. This has resulted in turbulence within the workforce, especially for employees looking for stability.
“Economic uncertainty and rapid technological innovation have made people anxious about their job security, and they feel that because they have something now, they should hold onto it. Otherwise, there may not be another job waiting for them.” – Traci Chernoff, senior director of employee engagement, Legion Technologies
Since high attrition is a chronic problem in industries that hire hourly workers, a drop in turnover might seem like a good thing at first, Chernoff says. However, there’s a clear difference between retention due to genuine engagement and retention due to fear. Job hugging speaks more to the latter.
In some cases, like in the tech industry, voluntary attrition has slowed alongside an increase in involuntary attrition, says Jennifer Christie, chief people officer at Docusign. This is largely due to economic uncertainty and how generative AI is affecting productivity and the overall workforce. “This is impacting employee mobility, and job hopping has turned into job hugging,” she says.
Christie suggests that HR leaders should not focus on what is driving the decline in attrition, since so much of it is outside of their control. Rather, it’s important to understand and address how much this is impacting their organization’s talent.
“When employees are not moving on to new opportunities outside the organization, it can create stagnation for career growth for employees, especially in small- to mid-sized organizations that don’t have the option of just simply adding headcount in order to create opportunities for people to move on to new roles or get promoted,” she says. “Backfilling roles with internal talent that is hard to pull in this environment, and employees are getting increasingly frustrated and even your brightest talent can start to disengage.”
Keeping these employees engaged is incumbent on two things, Christie says.
- Be creative about developing growth opportunities. Even if an organization can’t offer employees a new role to jump into, providing an opportunity to lead a high-growth project, travel to attend an offsite, or learn a new skill can be a changemaker.
- Maintain a high bar for performance. “There are still a lot of employees working really hard and who are trying to have an impact, and it is demoralizing for them to work alongside colleagues who have disengaged or are not doing their part,” she says.
Engaging Job Huggers
“The job hugging trend is a signal to organizations that they must double down on worker development and connecting with their people,” says Doreen Coles, senior director of career growth and development at ADP. “To avoid complacency, HR leaders should focus on enabling meaningful career growth conversations, adopting a strength-based culture, and connecting employees’ personal purpose to the organizational priorities to help reignite motivation and engagement at work.”
Perhaps the easiest way to improve engagement is to offer more flexibility, Chernoff says. According to Legion’s State of the Hourly Workforce Report, 61% of hourly workers consider flexibility their top priority besides compensation. Hourly employees should have the ability to have a schedule that meets their preferences or easily swap shifts with a colleague when something comes up. Leaders can also leverage scheduling to improve productivity, she says, whether by placing new employees with managers for training purposes, or staffing the highest performers on the busiest shifts. “Leaders want to ensure that people are staying in their jobs not out of necessity, but because they like them,” Chernoff says. “Now may not seem like the time to make sweeping investments in the employee experience, but there are plenty of cost-effective, high-ROI ways to keep employees engaged at work that won’t damage your bottom line. Rather, they’ll probably improve it.”
HR leaders should understand that they don’t necessarily need to make huge financial investments to build a better workplace. They can focus on things like:
- flexible scheduling;
- administrative task automation; and
- targeted employee development to increase engagement.
When workers are encouraged to identify and use their talents at work, Coles explains, engagement increases dramatically. “Managers can take it a step further by using those insights to uncover ways they can use their strengths to contribute more to the team and the overall organization,” she says. “Helping employees work within their ‘strength zone’ can also be a great way to mitigate ‘quiet cracking,’ where workers reach a breaking point and can mentally disconnect from their work environment.”
HR leaders can work with the broader leadership team to deepen the engagement of all employees by creating visible feedback loops, showing employees that their input drives change, and being transparent about company direction and opportunities, Christie explains.
HR should help people leaders understand their employees’ careers are personal, and that one size doesn’t fit all when it comes to organizational wants and needs, Coles says. When managers take the time to ask their people what growth they’re looking to achieve, they can better understand, collaborate with, and support that growth.
Another potential solution is to provide adequate benefits to all employees. Gomez explains that Tasty Restaurant Group offers its part-time and hourly employees a minimal, essential coverage benefits package to help boost retention while providing cost savings for the business.
Employee Development: A Potential Solution
When employees are job hugging—and not staying because they like their jobs—it’s likely that they don’t see a future path at their organization, Chernoff says. Employee development that aligns with real career tracks gives employees a tangible goal to chase, which promotes greater engagement and improved performance in their work.
“Employee development is one of the most effective levers that HR can use to combat disengagement and enhance the employee experience. But development can’t just mean training programs. It should aim to equip managers to lead well, encourage employees to take smart risks, and give them ownership of their careers.” – Jennifer Christie, chief people officer, Docusign
Gomez explains that employees want to know that their employers care about them and their contributions to the workplace—and that includes their development and career growth. For Tasty Restaurant Group, this means creating HR systems that require participation, facilitate discussions surrounding development, and include a development plan for every salaried manager within the company.
When workers see their organization is investing in their growth, they’re more likely to stay engaged, rather than just employed, Coles says. Job hugging stems from a sense of stagnation, where employees feel secure in their jobs, but lack clarity on how they can grow. Employers, she says, should take this as an opportunity to focus on growth strategies to keep workers engaged and productive.
“With evolving skill demands, employees are feeling the pressure to uplevel or risk becoming less competitive in the job market,” says Cheryl Yuran, CHRO at Absorb. “As almost three quarters of workers say they aren’t reaching their full potential due to a lack of development opportunities, the desire to learn without the proper support from their organization is fueling disengagement.”
Conversely, companies that prioritize skill development report a 30% to 50% higher engagement rate. Investing in employee growth helps establish a culture of support and continuous learning within the organization, showing workers that the company cares about them beyond their productivity, Yuran says.
“Giving managers the opportunity to be more hands-on with coaching and teaching will also ward off disengagement, and not just because junior employees will have a familiar face handling their trainings,” Chernoff adds. “Managers want to be coaches. As Legion’s data shows, 64% of managers say they’d spend time gained from AI automation on coaching their teams. Everyone is eager to adopt AI, but when it comes to employee development, one of its best use cases is in automating tedious work, so managers have the time and energy to build a stronger, more engaged workforce.”
When the Tide Shifts
When the market opens up again, companies that have demonstrated that they value their employees, work proactively to provide growth opportunities for them, and invest in the employee experience will have better retention and will be able to attract top talent for their organization, Christie says.
Companies will likely see two outcomes when the job hugging trend shifts, Yuran says. The organizations who used this time to invest in upskilling their workforce will see higher employee loyalty and be better equipped to handle evolving business needs. Those who don’t will see a large portion of their workforce leave for other opportunities.
“As the market changes, organizations that have placed a clear and consistent focus on development will have an advantage in hiring and boosting overall employee sentiment,” Coles says.
While the job market will continue to ebb and flow, having an engaged and satisfied workforce will always be a priority, Chernoff adds. “The best thing employers can do is be the better opportunity in the first place. Use this time to invest in your so-called ‘job huggers’ and create a workplace where people can do their jobs confidently and productively,” she adds.
