2021 was the year of the great resignation. 2022 was the year (apparently) of quiet quitting. You’ll be delighted to know that there’s a new label to learn for 2023: career cushioning, and it could be set to have an impact on your payroll and your company in the coming year.
What’s in a name?
As with so many ‘new’ workplace trends, the label belies a simple and extremely old-fashioned notion. In old money, you might call career cushioning ‘having a plan B’. It goes something like this:
The world is in, or at the very least in the brink of, a recession. This one might last a while. And you don’t have to look hard to see the impact of inflation and recession on every organisation. Many are seeing the impact within their own businesses. Perhaps the marketing budget has been slashed. Perhaps people who leave the company aren’t being replaced. Perhaps your restaurant is opening shorter hours, or your hotel has closed its eatery until things improve. Workers are seeing the writing in the wall, and they’re doing something about it.
Industry experts are seeing it too. Glassdoor crowned ‘inflation’ as its word of the year and noted the pervading sense of insecurity among workers. The Evening Standard reported that LinkedIn had seen a “43 per cent year-on-year increase in members adding skills to their profile”.
That’s an important stat, because as Forbes notes, 85% of workers are worried about inflation. If just 43% are actively preparing for it, the chances are they’ll be the ones best placed should the axe fall on their own positions.
Career cushioning is having ‘the just in case’ ready, just in case. It’s keeping options open and having a safe haven to bolt to if their current position disappears. It’s having irons in the fire, or a side hustle on the go. There’s just one problem for employers: how can you prevent a workforce from taking its eye of the ball and spending so much time preparing for the ‘inevitable’ that the inevitable happens?
How to keep your people in post
In many ways, the key to preventing your people shopping around for a new role is the same key to keeping them loyal when times are a little easier:
- Pay them well
- Create a culture of appreciation and recognition
- Provide opportunities to grow and develop
- Offer flexible working
- Give them a share of the profits
Of course, paying someone well or giving them a share of the profits may not be possible when a business is finding profit hard to come by. Yet many perfectly viable businesses can see staff jumping ship because of misinformation and the fear that redundancy is around the corner even when it isn’t.
So in addition to the above, it’s important to be clear about the current trading position.
- Be honest – if there are challenges, explain what they are
- Share your plan to ride out the difficult times
- Identify the opportunities and show your people why there is reason for optimism
- Invite positive ideas from your staff
- Encourage them to stay. Incentivise them to do so if you can
Being open and asking for your team’s input doesn’t prevent them from looking elsewhere, but it does increase the chances that their career cushion will remain an unused backup, keeping them on your payroll, and onside.
To find out how outsourcing your payroll could help you cut costs and save time when you need it most, talk to us.
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