Why employers fear employees

From the Great Resignation of last year, we are now at another trend, Quiet Quitting

Luiza Moldovan, 05.10.2022, 02:15

We live in complicated time, and life changes from one day to the next. Almost nothing can be predicted any more. One crisis feeds another, which feeds another. The war in Ukraine, the global energy crisis, the out of control inflation, all these demand prudence in every decision we make.

Things are also shifting on the labor market. From the Great Resignation of last year, we are now at another trend, Quiet Quitting. It may be that people are no longer quitting jobs in droves, but they seek a balance between their job and personal life, and choose to stick very closely to their job requirements, on the principle that no one would build you a statue for going beyond the call of duty.

The precedent created by remote work during the pandemic is perpetuating. Even if many companies are calling back their employees to the office, they are no longer willing to bow down to any demand. They are asking why we cant continue to work remotely, when we have proved we could.

We spoke to Ana Calugaru, head of communications for the recruitment platform e-jobs, about the large number of online applications for jobs over the last period, but also about how willing companies are to accept the requirements that the applicants have in turn.

“In September, we had a record number of this type of applications, 130,000, but also a large number of available jobs that can be done from home exclusively, which means that there is a high level of interest for this benefit, this possibility of working from home. This also means that employers are pretty interested in the signals on the market, they want to meet their candidates half way with things that could make a difference when it comes to employment. Which is why they stay flexible, and open to offering candidates the possibility of working from home. It is true that employers also want to implement hybrid work, meaning a number of hours worked at home, and a number of hours worked at the office. They want their employees to be at work for key moments, such as important meetings. But, overall, if someone thought that remote work is going away, the reality in the numbers is nothing like that. Over the next few months of the year, the number of remote jobs, and the number of people demanding to work from home will rise.”

As Ana Calugaru told us, retail sales is till the area with the highest number of hires, alongside customer service and IT.

“September showed us that the areas that are the most sought after by candidates remain retail, services, call centers, and IT. These are areas that are desirable for two reasons. One is that there is a high number of jobs, so the opportunities for employment are very high. The other is that the first three areas target the largest layer of candidates. These are both young, inexperienced workers, but also experienced employees and managers, so a very large target, but also IT workers, which is an area of work that grants a lot of benefits and the highest salaries at this point.”

According to Ana Calugaru, employers pay close attention not only to the skills of potential hire, but also to others, which are decisive for the final choice:

“Most employers right now have a pretty clear philosophy, which says that hard skills can be acquired on the job, and so they are fairly permissive when it comes to candidates that do not master perfectly technical skills, but they wont brush over an inappropriate attitude. They are not easy on people who settle for less, who wont learn, who are not good at being in a team. They pay close attention to everything that is soft skills, which means an ability to work in a team, to positive attitudes, and the wish to learn. Right now, these things are extremely important for employers, irrespective of the career level or the level of experience of a candidate.”

Last year, the Great Resignation became a fashion, almost, and tipped the scales to the advantage of employees. They were fed up with small wages and long hours, and decided to resign en masse. The labor market crisis became a topic du jour. Now, Quiet Quitting is what is striking fear in the hearts of employers. We asked Ana Calugaru, e-jobs head of communication, what Quiet Quitting is and why it is so worrying.

“We are no longer talking so much about the Great Resignation, because we dont feel it as much as last year. Right now, what is much more worrying for employers is quiet quitting, meaning those employers who go into a state of latency, they refuse to work beyond their job requirements, either out of a frustration they gathered over the years, or a wish to better balance their personal and professional life. Also, we maybe are seeing less mass resignations because we have a fairly uncertain economic context, because we see abroad a fairly difficult economic situation, so everyone is playing the waiting game, people are pretty careful in making changes in their employment.”