'Quiet Hiring' Is on the Horizon – Here's What Employers and Employees Need to Know This new hiring trend could be the difference between a business sinking or swimming in 2023, but it all depends on how employers communicate the change to their employees.
By Madeline Garfinkle Edited by Jessica Thomas
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2022 came with a slew of new workplace lingo: quiet quitting, quiet firing and fast quitting. However, a new trend is likely to dominate the hiring space in 2023: "quiet hiring."
The concept of quiet hiring hinges on the idea that a business can add new skills and fill gaps without actually hiring full-time employees. Gartner research expert Emily Rose McRae told CNBC that quiet hiring often comes in two different forms: internal and external.
Internal quiet hiring means current employees might temporarily move to other roles or take on different assignments within the organization. External quiet hiring means hiring short-term contractors to keep the business running without taking on more full-time employees.
"The reality for the next year is — whether or not we go into a recession — everyone's a little nervous," McRae said, per CNBC. "In a lot of cases, organizations are not necessarily doing a hiring freeze or layoffs but maybe slowing down a little bit on their hiring."
Although quiet hiring might be the ideal solution for employers to ensure workplace efficiency without causing financial strain, its success or failure could hinge on one factor: communication.
McRae warns that without adequate transparency about the reasoning behind the decision to implement quiet hiring, some employees might take the shift from their current role into another one as a signal they aren't needed and therefore begin looking for other opportunities.
McRae told CNBC that employers should be clear about what the move means for workers and assure them of the importance.
"If you're asking a bunch of people to make this move, you should be able to articulate: What does this mean for them?" McRae told the outlet.
Employers should reiterate how the move not only helps the organization but also the individual's strengths and career trajectory.
McRae encourages employees to think about leveraging quiet hiring as a way to advance their careers and current positions. If the company shares its plans to restructure, employees should consider how the pivot might actually help them in the long run and even position them for a promotion.
"This is a really good chance for employees to sit down and say to their managers, their HR people and to the company as a whole, 'Yeah, I'm willing to do this. Let's talk about what this means for my career,'" she said, per CNBC.
Related: 'Quiet Quitters' Might Not Have the Upper Hand for Much Longer. Here's Why.
