Quiet hiring, also known as silent hiring, is a strategy to acquire new skills or abilities within organizations without hiring new employees. So it is when a company relies on internal talent. More work gets assigned to current employees to increase productivity and fill competency gaps without hiring new employees. This tactic involves giving workers more tasks and responsibilities, sometimes outside of their speciality or even their abilities.
This new trend in human resources is the opposite of another trend: silent resignation or quiet quitting, in which employees only work on the tasks that involve their job position.
Advantages of Quiet Hiring
Cost savings: This is the primary and most apparent benefit. Quiet hiring is a cost-effective way to fill skill gaps without hiring new workers. Using internal talent to fill a need instead of going through a hiring process can be very effective.
Flexibility: This strategy allows for resources to be quickly available in the areas that need them at any time. In addition, improving employees' skills and allowing them to try other tasks can increase retention, engagement, and productivity.
Motivation: For those who are stuck in their job position, experience boredom with their tasks, or need a clear career plan, silent hiring is a way to break the monotony and test themselves with new challenges.
Reduction of gaps: Along with performance and potential evaluations, this is an excellent way to find talent gaps in competencies and improve team talent management. Additionally, if reviewed regularly, you can quickly detect increases in stress or demotivation.
Detection of star employees: With the help of a talent map, silent hiring begins with an internal analysis to identify the best-prepared employees and those who are willing to go beyond their current responsibilities and want and can take on a new role.
Disadvantages of Quiet Hiring
Lack of Diversity
One of the main drawbacks of quiet hiring is the lack of diversity that occurs by not actively seeking out talented individuals outside the team, limiting the potential employees who could bring new knowledge, experiences, and innovative ideas.
Increased Stress or Burnout Syndrome
Increasing tasks instead of replacing or prioritizing them will inevitably increase stress. After all, we are talking about a trend that makes one person do the work of two and sometimes even more.
Demotivation
How can we sustain this situation if employees have a more significant workload but maintain the same salary and do not receive new benefits? What may be attractive in the short term can cause complete demotivation in the medium or long term.
Lack of Commitment
If managers or the organization are not honest about quiet hiring and overload employees with tasks, their commitment will likely begin to erode. In addition, carrying out tasks unrelated to their duties or preparation, which may need to be more enjoyable or motivating, can lead to a talent drain.
What can you do as an Employee?
Before you get carried away and quit or assume new tasks, pay attention to these tips if you know or think that your company is implementing a quiet hiring strategy:
Assertiveness
Assertiveness is communicating our opinions appropriately, non-hostile, and honestly. This way of expressing oneself always respects others but, above all, respects one's own needs and feelings. We must communicate assertively to speak about our limits and capabilities. Tasks may be infinite, but work time will be the same, so you have to be able to prioritize and decide.
Negotiation
If you have a heavier workload and need to learn certain things independently, it is time to talk with your manager. Describe what you are currently working on and ask yourself what your priorities should be to achieve departmental success.
You can request other benefits if you cannot negotiate a salary increase. However, in this post, we encourage you to be creative in negotiating many aspects that are not salary increases, which may be important to your career.
Self-Evaluation and Evaluation
You must ensure you have the necessary skills to take on those new tasks. To do this, propose to your manager to evaluate with self-assessment to learn about your strengths for these new proposals. If you don't convince them, you can do a self-assessment and clearly understand your areas for improvement and positive gaps.
Quiet Hiring In Conclusion
There is no universal pattern in everything, especially in human resources trends. Each employee, each task, each responsibility, and each organizational culture are different and have very different needs.
If you can't hire new talent and need your team to take on new responsibilities, we recommend that you don't do it silently but talk about it openly and clearly. Communication should always be transparent!
In a related article, find out what post-vacation depression is and how to combat it!