The workforce has cycled through various trends in recent months, and healthcare is no exception.
Here are 10 phases gaining popularity among the workforce that healthcare professionals should know:
1. "Richcession." This is a term describing the recent economic downturn that has primarily affected the wealthy. Unemployment has risen fastest amongst households making $125,000 or more, and layoffs were more prevalent in high-paying industries such as tech and finance.
2. "Quiet cutting." Companies are avoiding hard layoffs but still cutting jobs by reassigning employees to different roles. From August 2022 to August 2023, mentions of "reassignment" or similar phrasing during company earnings calls more than tripled, according to data from financial research platform Alphasense. In healthcare, at least 20 health systems have announced changes to executive ranks and leadership teams this year.
3. "Grumpy staying." The term, coined by Insider in late June, refers to high-potential employees staying at jobs they are unsatisfied with but hesitate to leave in a tightening labor market. The publication describes grumpy stayers as "typically employees who recently switched jobs only to discover that their new position isn't what they hoped for or feel stuck in a position they've held for years with no chance of upward mobility."
4. "Quiet hiring." This refers to expanding an organization's capacities by assigning existing employees new responsibilities, often requiring new skills or a higher-level application of existing skills. Companies that are "quiet hiring" may be trying to fill skill gaps while conserving resources.
5. "Loud quitting." A Gallup poll found that 18 percent of workers are "loud quitting," which is defined by Gallup as being less engaged at work than those who do the minimum required and are psychologically detached from their work. It estimates that workers who are not engaged at work or actively disengaged represent an $8.8 trillion untapped productivity opportunity for global workplaces.
6. "Lazy girl job." A term coined on TikTok, a "lazy girl job" is a job where it is easy to "quiet quit," which is another term that describes employees reducing their enthusiasm at work and sticking to the minimum expectations of their role.
7. "The Big Stay." This describes a decrease in job hopping among employees nationwide, suspected to be fueled by professionals valuing job security more highly than career flexibility.
8. "Bare minimum Mondays." This refers to a practice in which employees come to work to do only the bare minimum on a Monday.
9. "Career cushioning." This trend refers to employees looking for "plan B" jobs and taking actions like networking and job board scanning to prepare for the possibility of layoffs.
10. "Quiet firing." This refers to the practice of managers ignoring employees' requests for promotions or a pay bump, hoping they will choose to leave.