This text is part of the special section Unionism
Announced as a trend for the year 2023 in terms of human resources, quiet hiring, or quiet hiring, is a practice aimed at filling the needs of an organization without hiring. To be successful from the point of view of the company as well as the employee or the service provider, it must however respect a certain number of criteria, which unfortunately are not always met. Explanations.
Discreet hiring can manifest itself in two forms. When an organization practices it internally, it uses the talent already present. Externally, it involves calling on subcontractors, without hiring. The economic situation combined with the labor shortage represents fertile ground favorable to the emergence of such practices. The current context is not very favorable to companies which do not have the means or the time to wait sometimes several months to recruit specialists in a specialized or rare field. This is what Emily Rose McRae, an experienced principal analyst at Gartner, a research and consulting company that introduced the concept, explains. Properly supervised, this practice can offer career opportunities, but it is not without danger.
Associated risks
The benefits to the employer of hiring discreetly are obvious. For the employee, however, this practice is not without danger, explains Jenny Ouellette, co-founder of BonBoss, a company specializing in management, culture and recruitment strategy. Work overload is a danger mentioned by the specialist who is concerned about the psychosocial risks associated with adding tasks “continuously and imposed on the employee”. There is therefore the risk of the employee feeling powerless and without control, she specifies.
Hyperperformance is a risk factor also associated with the practice, according to Mme Ouellette, because there may be situations where only the most productive employees would be given the best positions without them being posted. There is also the risk of introducing competition between employees, which reduces collaboration and leads to an unhealthy culture.
Discreet hiring from outside the company is also not without consequences. Jenny Ouellette, who has observed an increase in the number of self-employed workers since the pandemic, warns against their abundance within an organization. This can create an overload for the department or person responsible for human resources. There is also a risk associated with this practice because multiple company cultures are integrated, which can dilute the corporate culture of the workplace, says the BonBoss co-founder. She also points out disguised employment as a potential abuse and encourages people to keep up to date with Quebec laws governing self-employment.
Organizationally, we must remain vigilant regarding diversity and inclusion as well as how to compensate employees. The danger, according to Emily Rose McRae, would be to accentuate the wage gap and reproduce certain patterns.
For discreet, winning hiring
Discreet hiring that wins on both sides requires supervision that respects certain conditions. It must always be part of a strategic organizational and employee development objective. Emily Rose McRae advocates discussion and negotiation. If the organization needs specific skills from the employee, “this is the time to discuss, because they are in a position to negotiate.” A salary, a bonus, leave, more flexible work, training, an innovative project, “it’s time to ask for things,” explains the analyst. We must therefore ensure that the discussion takes place. On the employer side, it’s about being transparent by asking employees if they want to make this change.
In Jenny Ouellette’s eyes, it is important to “know how to empower employees” so that they have some control over their environment without feeling overloaded. However, for discreet hiring to be truly successful, the person must have completely replaced their “old job” with the new one, specifies Emily Rose McRae. Asking individuals to hold two jobs means taking the risk of losing someone who occupies two key roles, one of which was strategically important, the analyst maintains.
Jenny Ouellette emphasizes that Quebec benefits from more advanced supervision than the United States in terms of unionization and labor law. “Some trends can’t always be applied to labor law with unionization and case law,” she says. She adds that Quebec labor law “allows us to be much more humane employers.”
This content was produced by the Special Publications team at Duty, relating to marketing. The writing of the Duty did not take part.