‘Quiet hiring’ becomes one of the top trends in the workplace

Quiet hiring is listed as one of the top workforce trends for 2023 by information technology research and consultancy company Gartner. This relatively new phenomenon is when an organisation acquires new skills without actually hiring new full-time employees.

Although it can refer to bringing on short-term contractors, it usually means giving current employees more responsibilities beyond their current job description, says Gartner.

Read: Recession, blackouts could see the ‘Great Return’ to offices in SA in 2023

Fiona Leppan, director in Cliff Dekker Hofmeyr’s employment practice, says given the current economic climate in South Africa, quiet hiring has become quite an attractive option.

“It provides the employer with the flexibility of leveraging resources efficiently and avoiding future retrenchments,” she and colleague Nadeem Mahomed write in the firm’s January employment law alert.

Legal implications

Leppan says employers embarking on a “quiet hiring” strategy should be mindful of the legal implications.

“One can see quiet hiring as opportunism where the employer has [their] back against the wall because of costs but it could also be seen as gross unfair labour practices impacting on the health and safety of employees and their family responsibilities.”

The Basic Conditions of Employment Act protects employees through the regulation of working hours and working days, regardless of the amount the employee earns.

The employer must consider the health and safety, mental health included, and family responsibilities of employees.

“If people are overburdened and expected to work after hours and most weekends you are interfering with those core rights recognised in the act,” says Leppan .

She suggests that employers conduct a proper assessment of the workload – what the work entails, how many people are necessary to do it, and what skill set is required to do the work.

If five people used to do the work and only two are left the question is how much of that work remains to be done by the others. It could be that there is a natural reduction in the workflow because of SA’s economic circumstances. But it cannot be guesswork, says Leppan. “It must be a proper assessment.”

Difficult conversation

There will always be the dilemma where employees are given additional work and are too afraid to say no. They may feel they do not want to let their boss or their team members down, even when they feel overwhelmed.

Leppan says some may be reticent to have the uncomfortable discussion with their employer. However, employees who are struggling to meet deadlines or the demands of the increased workload must have the conversation.

“The employee must speak up if they are concerned about their ability to manage the workload effectively because of concern that the quality of the work will suffer and they may miss deadlines.”

It does not make sense for employees to put themselves in a position where they are unable to cope, or where they start making mistakes.

This could jeopardise their career. It may become necessary to rely on the company’s grievance procedure.

“However, it is better to have a more informal approach first by having that discussion with the employer. If that does not bring about any result then I think the employee must feel at liberty to raise a grievance and escalate it in a due process manner,” says Leppan.

Money makes the world go round

She adds that employees should be clear whether the increased work portfolio will result in an increase in remuneration or if there are any other benefits that the new role may offer (such as an improved possibility of promotion or a bonus).

The question of fair pay arises when the employee is not adequately or appropriately remunerated for taking on the additional responsibilities.

Again the matter could be raised through a labour union, or by following the grievance procedure since it may amount to a gross underpayment and even discrimination if another employee is better remunerated for the same amount of work.

Another trend

Another phenomenon in the workplace is ‘quiet quitting’. It refers to a trend where unmotivated, disinterested, checked-out employees do bare-minimum work at best.

They are doing just enough to get the job done but no more, explains global analytics and advice firm Gallup.

While ‘quiet quitting’ is a new term, the phenomenon is anything but novel. “Disengaged employees have been a long-time, not to mention expensive, problem for leaders.”

According to the 2022 Gallup State of the Global Workplace Report employees who are not engaged or who are actively disengaged cost the world $7.8 trillion in lost productivity.

The report also found that at least 50% of the US workforce are ‘quiet quitters’ or perhaps even more than that.