Rage applying; productivity paranoia; here’s your guide to trending workplace buzzwords.
The global workforce has been through significant changes in the past few years; the pandemic, home working and then hybrid, things like Zoom fatigue and ‘the new normal’, the rise of Gen Z and its influence on the workplace, the great resignation and more.
Last year the US workforce lost nearly 4 million people a month to resignations. In the UK, 85% of businesses said they were impacted too. In Australia, reports reveal a massive 10% of the workforce quit to pursue other career paths.
With Millennials and Gen Z documenting their career journeys on social media and being more vocal about engagement, happiness at work and their expectations around office culture, even more trends have gone viral around the workplace.
Here’s what you need to know.
Office Buzzwords Explained
Quiet quitting
428.6M views on TikTok
To do only what’s required of you and nothing more – that’s quiet quitting. It’s when you stop putting in any extra effort or enthusiasm at work. One Gallup survey found the number of disengaged employees in the US is at its lowest in almost a decade – a major contributor to the quiet quitting trend.
Loud quitting
5.9M views on TikTok
Loud quitting is when a team member talks openly about looking for a new job and uses it to negotiate with their current employer. Considered a high-risk attitude, loud quitting, like quiet quitting, is not the actual act of leaving, but more the approach. Data collected by StandOut CV shows that only 45% of millennials are happy in their current job, which is why buzzwords like loud quitting are popular on TikTok.
Rage applying
519.2K views on TikTok
Ever been highly dissatisfied with your job that you’ve sent your CV out to any and every job that seems remotely relatable to your skills? Rage applying is when you apply to several jobs simultaneously out of frustration in your current role without any strategy whatsoever. Searches for rage applying have increased by +388% in a year.
Career cushioning
89.9M views on TikTok
Career cushioning is the process of preparing for new opportunities and upskilling while staying in your current job, without actively applying. This can include acquiring new skills, networking, or updating your LinkedIn profile. Interest in this has increased by +211% in a year.
Productivity paranoia
27.5K views on TikTok
Productivity paranoia is the nagging feeling that your team isn’t working quite as hard at home or in a coffee shop as they would in the office. How we work has changed permanently, with more people hybrid and flexible working than ever before. This move to working wherever and whenever has been welcomed by most of the global workforce, but not everyone is happy with the idea. Research shows managers are still not convinced that teams don’t slack off at home, with 85% of leaders admitting they aren’t as confident as they’d like to be that employees are productive outside of the office.
Boomerang employee
1.9B views on TikTok
A boomerang employee is someone that leaves and then gets re-employed by a company they have worked at before. LinkedIn data shows that last year in the US, 4.3% of all job switches were ‘boomerang hires’.
Quiet firing
17.8M views on TikTok
Quiet firing is when employers purposely don’t provide employees with adequate training and support, to essentially push them out of the business. The extreme of this is when managers purposely don’t fix toxic environments as a way of making employees leave. Online interest in quiet firing has increased by +2424% in the last year as more people call out toxic workplaces.
Return to office
61.1M views on TikTok
Refers to returning to work after the pandemic or going back to the office after having the flexibility to work from home. StandOutCV found that since covid, 8 out of 10 employees feel that working remotely and flexibly reduces their stress.
Proximity bias
5,798 views on TikTok
Proximity bias is when managers give those who work close by favourable treatment over those who don’t work in their vicinity.With hybrid working being the norm now, this tends to have a negative impact on those who work from home and not in the office with their manager.
Overemployment
1.7M views on TikTok
What is it: Overemployment is when someone has more than one job, either remotely or hybrid, and keeps it a secret from employers. it makes sense then that with the cost-of-living crisis that this term has been viewed a whopping 1.7M times on TikTok.
Frolleagues
10.3K views on TikTok
Frolleagues are colleagues that are also your friends, essentially a professional connection that grows into a friendship. According to the Harvard Business Review, the average person spends 81,396 hours at work, this highlights the importance of such friendships.
Retention should be a focus for 2023
If there is anything these trends have taught us, it’s that like the Millennials before them, Gen Z want more from their jobs. One survey revealed 67% of Gen Z look for career progression when applying for jobs, while 66% agree that team member benefits increase a company’s appeal.
With the emphasis on affordable living and the cost-of-living crisis, 70% of Gen Z say pay and compensation are crucial when searching for jobs, but that culture and community is key to retention – 63% say peer relationships are important while 57% say feeling like a part of the company encourages loyalty.
Office space, location and flexibility are key factors in retaining today’s workforce. At Easy Offices we can help you find the right workspace for your business. In the centre of the city, or close to home. Corporate, quirky, luxury or budget. Whatever you need, wherever you need it.
