When the pandemic completely transformed our routine, job dissatisfaction was one of the feelings that came to the fore the most. After the quiet quitting movement, in which employees limited themselves to doing only what was necessary during their working hours, career cushioning has arrived as a new trend to cushion the discontent of everyday work.
A recent survey by McKinsey & Company shows that almost a third of Brazilian professionals are not satisfied with their current job and are considering changing jobs within the next six months at the latest. The study also indicated the main reasons for seeking change: lack of career development leads the responses, along with inadequate pay and inflexible working hours and formats.
It is in this scenario that career cushioning, the main subject of our article, is emerging. The new movement values the creation of a “plan B”, something to support the professional when changes, expected or unexpected, occur.
Continue reading and stay up to date with this strategy!
What is career cushioning?
Quiet quitting has been a term that has been used a lot over the past year. But in 2023, career cushioning is expected to take up this space in articles, research and LinkedIn publications.
What actually happens is that not every employee who is dissatisfied with their job can resign without having already confirmed another alternative to support themselves or take care of their family. Therefore, silent resignation does not always end with the employee leaving the current company.
The term career cushioning was created from the expression used for those who maintain the strategy of already having a “second person” when a romantic relationship ends, with the intention of minimizing the negative feelings that may arise from this breakup.
The intention would be to cushion a loss.
FOR CONTEXTUALIZATION
We are living in uncertain times—political, economic, and environmental changes—and as a result, people are worried and feel insecure about their jobs. Another factor that we can add to the list is layoffs, the dismissal of dozens of employees at the same time, which we have seen affect startups in particular.
Career cushioning, therefore, involves developing a second plan of action: looking for new jobs, starting a refresher course, structuring a career transition or planning your own business, all while maintaining a full-time job. To translate into numbers how much the career cushioning movement is already happening, we can highlight a recent figure presented by LinkedIn itself : in the last 12 months, users added 365 million new skills to their profile descriptions, a 43% increase compared to the previous period.
How to deal with the career cushioning movement?
Those who start flirting with new opportunities usually act in a similar way. The worker starts to develop other skills, follow trends and the market, interact with colleagues and professionals in the field and become interested in growth opportunities.
Employees, in short, decide to put their careers first when they start the career cushioning movement. It’s about self-growth coming before employment.
Therefore, the most positive scenario we can expect from this recent movement is that companies begin to see which employees are unhappy and understand how the situation can be changed.
If at the beginning of the article we saw that stagnant careers, outdated remuneration and inflexibility are some of the reasons that make employees want to change jobs, why not deal with this dissatisfaction at home?
The world of work has been changing very quickly, and the mindset of professionals has kept pace with these changes. Therefore, organizations that want to retain their talent need to assess what is necessary to overcome this concern.
Check out below what actions your company can take to deal with career cushioning .
REDEPLOYMENT
Redeployment is, to put it simply, an internal movement of the workforce. It offers employees the opportunity to seek change within the organization where they already work, without having to look for it elsewhere. The strategy brings benefits both to the company, which does not lose talent due to dissatisfaction with their current role, and to the employee, who can rethink their career.
FLEXIBILITY
Adopting a more flexible work model allows employees to define the best working conditions for themselves, whether in terms of working hours, space, or clothing. The balance between professional and personal tasks has been increasingly sought after by workers in a variety of sectors.
And if your company operates in a sector that cannot embrace remote work, such as the industrial sector, flexibility can be applied in other ways. Offering more up-to-date benefits, such as cards that are accepted in several establishments, can be a first step.
CAREER TALK
Is it part of your company’s culture to listen to what your employees are feeling? Career conversations can be a good tool when dealing with career cushioning. The idea is to engage and boost talent through honest conversation, allowing employees to express how they feel about their work, the organization, and what they want for the future.
PROTAGONISM
When an employee feels that they are not valued in the company, one of their first reactions may be to stop developing professionally. Therefore, a culture of protagonism must be implemented: it allows the employee to be proactive when seeking solutions, whether to deal with internal or external changes. In addition to encouraging self-development in their careers, this strategy tends to boost engagement, satisfaction levels and team productivity.
FEEDFORWARD
You’ve probably heard of and even used conventional feedback to talk to employees about tasks that have been completed. But now, the communication tool that is gaining ground in organizations is feedforward, which proposes reflections on the future, including where employees want to go and what can be done to achieve their goals. Feedforward can also work in line with the career conversation we mentioned earlier.