Dueling Trends Set It Up

It was a closely watched experiment. In 2021 and 2022, employees emerged from pandemic troubles with new perspectives on work. In the U.S. and elsewhere, “quiet quitting” (aka “acting your wage”) was a bottom-up signal that hustle culture was out and life balance was in. Gallup found that 6 in 10 workers around the world were quiet quitting.

Finance and accounting leaders were already struggling to find talent. (If you know, you know.) In this field and beyond, quiet quitting made it worse. Driven by necessity, many employers foisted the unclaimed body of work upon weary in-house staff. Analysts called it a “quiet hiring” trend. Employees grumbled in response to euphemistic appeals by the bosses to please “upskill” and “stretch” to get the work done.

Loud Hiring + Finance Transformation

The experiment’s conclusion? The quiet hiring trend is a loud failure. While it might save employers on the cost of a new hire, it can lead to insularity when new people and their ideas are boxed out (e.g., AI). To say nothing of low morale and attrition. For employees protecting a life beyond the cubicle, more work is a nonstarter. In a recent paper, we argue that “loud hiring” – meaningfully recognizing, celebrating, supporting, promoting highly motivated talent from within – is the way forward. This choice is possible when it’s scaffolded by finance transformation (e.g., automation, cloud upgrades, enhanced analytics, AI) to ward off the rote tick-and-tie tasks causing disengagement and burnout. With new tools bringing efficiency and accuracy, talented employees will be less of a “flight risk” and will stand a much greater chance of fulfilment. That’s a trend where everybody wins.

“The only way to do great work is to love what you do.” – Steve Jobs