- The job market is slowly coming back in favor of employers, labor experts told Insider.
- In times of economic downturn, workers may not be able to do the bare minimum.
- That means “silent dropouts” could be the first to be laid off during a recession, experts say.
The pendulum has swung towards workers in the wake of the pandemic – with trends like “the great resignation” and “quiet stop” push back against America’s unrest culture – but now some labor experts are warning that employers are about to take over.
It means employees who put in the bare minimum at work could be the first to receive layoff notices as the economy looks increasingly headed for a recession.
“In good times, employers look at their disengaged workforce and try to figure out how to engage them,” said Coco Brown, CEO and Founder of Athena Alliance. “In tough times, they look at their disengaged workforce and try to figure out which part to give up.”
A point of contention between employers and employees is the concept of “silent resignation”, a viral term used to describe workers who meet their basic job responsibilities but do not go beyond what is asked of them. .
While employees claim that strategic recall at work and “playing their wages” do not be alarmed, 75% of the 1,000 managers interrogates in September by ResumeBuilder.com said it was justifiable to fire someone for doing only the bare minimum.
“A lot of those phrases we use, like ‘big quit’ and ‘quiet shutdown’ will quickly turn into conversations about layoffs — and the crisis of how to keep your job,” Erica Dhawan, executive coach and author of Digital Body Language, says Insider. “I think a lot of these silent quitters will be the first to be laid off during a recession, or they will quickly normalize and realize the threat of losing their jobs.”
But it would be a mistake for companies to use any leverage regained during a recession to roll back improvements in work-life balance over the past three years, according to the chief workplace psychologist of Qualtrics, Ben Granger. This would negatively impact a company’s ability to attract top talent in the future, as it is easier than ever for the public to hear or see how job cuts are being carried out.
“If your company is currently in the highest leverage position for talent, that won’t always be the case. It’s going to swing,” Granger said. “When this happens, do you position yourself positively with future candidates?”
23% of American workers described themselves as “extremely worried” about losing their jobs during a recession
When a workforce faces downsizing, it is HR professionals who enable organizations to address the issues that inevitably arise from layoffs and facility closures.
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Despite the rise of silent renunciation of internet fame – some statistics showing that half of American workers may have ‘quietly quit’ for a decade — many employees are, in fact, very concerned about keeping their jobs.
In a month of June investigation of more than 1,000 American workers surveyed by Insight Global, 23% of American workers described themselves as “extremely worried” about losing their jobs in the next recession. And in the same survey, nearly nine in 10 managers (87%) said they would “probably” have to lay off employees during a recession.
Workers’ more nonchalant attitude toward job security began to noticeably change around Labor Day, said Steve Koepp, co-founder and chief content officer of the values lecture series. from Day One, likening the current state of the job market to a game of musical chairs that no longer has an abundance of open seats.
“Companies were desperate for people. They were offering perks, compensation, all kinds of upgrades to get workers, and then it quieted down over the summer,” he said. “The labor gap between what companies needed to hire and the people available has narrowed by about half.”
But not every beer coaster needs to panic about losing their job, said Atlanta-based business consultant and executive coach Jay McDonald – noting that right now the job market work is always employee-focused.
“You can be a quiet quitter and still contribute a lot. So it’s not necessarily about whether you quit quietly or not. It’s about whether the value you provide is commensurate with the salary,” a- he declared. “Because the first group of people who will be laid off are those who, based on metrics and productivity, actually give the best value for money.”