Terms Tell The Story

4 years and a day short of 5 months (from March 16, 2020, the day I refer to as ‘Covid Day’ to August 15, 2024) – it has been quite a journey.  So much has happened in life.  We will be studying the effects of Covid for decades – and not just the obvious health effects.  We don’t even know what some of the ‘effects’ are.  Social isolation on so many levels.  Missed events (from graduations to funerals).  Career and work changes.  Family changes. 

I track work changes/the job market/the economy.  Since March 2020, new job search trends, referred to as ‘Greats’, and terms have come out.  They tell a story.  Here they are – mostly in chronological order . . . . . starting with the ‘Greats’ and moving to the terminology.  Most are listed because of a tie to something economic. 

My favorite term from this timeframe is not on the official economic term list – it is Zhirt or Zirt.  It is a Zoom-shirt or blouse.  We are so commonly viewed from ‘mid-chest up’ based on using technology for meetings.  There was an economic ‘trend’ associated with this term.  Apparel stores and their associated warehouses were running low on dress shirts and blouses but were long on dress pants and skirts.  And yoga pants and gym shorts were flying off the shelves.

Happy reading!  (And send me any terms I may have missed!) 

First we had the ‘Greats’

• The Great Pause – everything stopped in mid-March (2020).  Individuals at all levels had a chance to reassess everything . . . . . job, career path, family – especially their children and spouse (due to 24/7 interactions). 
• The Great Resignation – the ‘Great Pause’ caused many of us to make changes – a new job or a new lifestyle (from a new role to full retirement). 
• The Great Attrition/Attraction – companies started experiencing incredible turnover and realized they needed to attract people including their current employees.  Salaries rose; flexibility rose.  
• The Great Realization – we realized we weren’t going back to ‘normal’ and that there was a ‘new normal’ coming. 
• The Great Reshuffle – the outgrowth of the great resignation – people changed jobs and work styles/interactions (once or twice, with some regret, since March 2020). 
• The Great Wait – if I stay with my employer, how will they adjust?  Do I need to go in?  Will they require me to ‘mask’?  Will I need a vaccine or a booster?  Will I need yet another booster? 

THEN the terms began . . . . .

• Hybrid – this started in 2020 and has just gotten ‘louder’ and less defined.  It now means some combination of work-from-home and in-office work.  There is no precise definition from candidates or employers on hours or days for either side of this work-space term.
  • This is the first question candidates ask when we call them about a potential new retained executive search opportunity.  They have their own definition and are accustomed to working/living their lives under the rules that came into being during the first years of the pandemic.  Their question is based on trying to maintain their newer work/life integration arrangement. 
• Workation – this seemed to start in 2021 and is now simply a way to work remotely from a much more (personally) fun and climate-friendly location.  As long as there is a good Wi-Fi connection, a person can work remotely from anywhere. 
• Proximity Bias  (from MSP Business Journal article – 10/11/22) – concern that workers who come into the office are being treated better/given better performance reviews/are receiving more frequent promotions than their coworkers who chose to work from home or in a hybrid situation.  (Remote workers are also worried that they will be laid-off first.)
• Chronoworking – Employees work according to their chronotype (or their individual circadian rhythms).  A person's circadian rhythm can impact how awake he or she feels at different points in the day – and the working arrangement would take that into account.  (Think night-owl or early-bird, something that can be easily managed in a remote or hybrid arrangement.)
• Bare Minimum Monday – more of us want to ease ourselves into the workweek.  We have given ourselves permission to do so, especially after a long or extended weekend. 
• Career Cushioning – a strategy in which employees add security to their careers by taking proactive steps like attending networking nights, updating their resumes and LinkedIn profiles, and perhaps even applying for jobs.
• Polywork – workers who have a ‘side-hustle’ (most of whom are office workers).  The most common reason today for Polywork is the need to make ends meet. 
• Quiet Cutting – we have all heard of ‘Quiet Quitting’; this may be the organization’s response.  Quiet Cutting is when companies intentionally reassign employees to different or lower-profile roles in hopes the employee will quit on their own.
• Job Cuffing – hunkering down in a job that you don't love just for the season. 
  • The term is a play on ‘Relationship Cuffing,’ when someone gets into a relationship just for the cold months – to have someone to attend holiday parties with and get cozy with when it's freezing outside. They don't want to stay with their partner long term. 
  • Situationship – temporary commitments based on current situational/emotional needs or lifestyle changes.  (Younger generations are intentionally entering temporary partnerships, embracing a relationship that may ebb and flow between ‘friends’ and ‘more than friends’.)
  • Boommate – inflation and high housing costs spurring more baby boomers to find roommates.  
• Coffee Badging – a term describing workers who show up long enough to have coffee and earn a ‘symbolic’ badge for being present (in the office) before they return home to work. 
  • Coffee Cup Test – a ‘test’ given to candidates during in-person interviews at the company location.  Candidates who don’t offer to take their empty cups back to the kitchen at the end of their interview are unlikely to get a job offer. 
• Quiet Constraint – (from Fox News – 11/02/22) a workplace trend we see emerging where many employees hold onto valuable knowledge at work, rather than sharing it with their colleagues.  This is judged to be at 58% of employees who do this, with Gen Z leading at 77%.  (WHY – a theory postulates that it is due to remote and/or hybrid work arrangements.)
• Rewirement (NOT retirement) – leaving long-standing careers to focus on new goals and aspirations.
  • Unretirement – retirees taking new positions, looking for social interaction and augmented income.
• Resenteeism – captures workers' tendency toward low productivity because they're resentful. 
  • The workers resent their jobs but won’t leave them.  Lack of advancement opportunities, a toxic corporate culture, an excessive workload and feelings of burnout can all contribute to resenteeism.
• Dry Promotion (it’s back) – (from MSP Business Journal – 04/23/24) – employers are using this tactic again . . . . . a new title but no raise (it is a retention technique). 
• Hush-cation – (from Fox News – 05/18/24) – remote workers taking vacations but not telling anyone (they are ‘working’ remotely but from somewhere more fun – and where actual ‘work’ is questionable).  
• Busy Braggers – (from Fox News – 06-04-24) – touting career accomplishments and persistently sharing how busy they are with colleagues or managers. They continuously boast about their successes, whether big or small, to appear more professional.
• Lipstick Effect – (from Fox News – 06-26-24) – people still spend money on small luxury items during an economic downturn or other times when they are cash-strapped for personal reasons.  While they don't have enough to spend on big ticket items, people were shown to still indulge in small luxuries like premium lipstick. 
• Emotional Salary – (from Fox News – 07-09-24) – the headline – “Companies are beefing up ‘emotional salary’ to address today’s disengaged workers”.  Emotional salary includes the non-monetary aspects of a job, such as culture, career and work-life balance.