In the recruitment industry, there are generally buzzwords that are representative of trends shaped by market forces.  The terms ‘the great resignation’, and ‘quiet quitting’ are great examples of these.  ‘The great resignation’ refers to employees rethinking their needs and preferences and finding work that aligns.  ‘Quiet quitting’ is employees not going the extra mile but merely doing the bare basics when it comes to role requirements.  

Quiet hiring is when organisations ask employees to tackle extra projects – similar to stretch assignments.  This allows businesses to fill gaps within the organisation without going to market for new talent. It’s also about bringing in contractors to fill in any gaps, rather than hiring new permanent staff.  

So what are the risks and benefits of quiet hiring?

There are benefits to both the business and to employees.  If done in the right way, employees can gain exposure to different roles that they may not have worked in before.  It also means that they can road-test opportunities without having to go ‘all in’ and they can tackle tasks that might be outside of their experience and training, therefore building their skillset.

The benefits to business are that they can empower their employees to take on diverse tasks and reduce their need to recruit. By backfilling roles with contractors, there is also a reduced risk if there is a downturn.  Hiring costs for contractors is also often lower than with permanent roles.

So what are the downsides?

It’s important to understand what your employees are wanting from their role and from you, as an employer.  Your employees may not want to step outside their comfort zone and might not be interested in taking on additional responsibilities.  This can get tricky if the culture starts to morph into one where taking on stretch assignments is the norm – where does that leave those who don’t want to and are they comfortable pushing back?  Will they feel it will count against them, come performance review time?

It’s also important to consider how your staff are managing additional responsibilities on top of their current workload.  It’s super important that their managers are in regular contact with them to understand any impacts.  The last thing you need is burnt-out staff and a toxic environment due to  increased demands and higher expectations.  This could have a negative effect on your attrition rates and make it harder than ever to attract the right candidates to your business.

It’s also important to ensure you have a rock solid relationship with a recruiter who understands your business and can help you backfill your staffing requirements with skilled contractors.Keen to discuss your recruitment challenges?  Speak to the team at Flexi Personnel.