For the past 2 ½ years, many people have been able to work from home, something that wasn’t an option before Covid, and for some, they don’t see the need or value into returning to the office. However, with many companies moving to hybrid or in person, things are changing and new trends have surfaced.

Many companies are moving to a Hybrid work environment, asking people to go into the office anywhere from two to four days per week. With this change, many employees are pushing to stay remote and many job seekers are only considering jobs that are remote. About 68% of white-collar jobs seekers are searching for remote only jobs, compared to 30% earlier in the year. In an already stressed candidate market, this makes finding people for in-person and hybrid opportunities even more difficult. Between 2019 and 2021, the number of people working from home tripled, from 9 million people to 27.6 million. The portion of U.S. workers from 5.7% to 17.9% during that period.

The advantages of working from home as:

1. Time – less time spent commuting, means more time to work and a more flexible schedule throughout the day.
2. Cost – less money spent on commuting and clothing
3. Work Quality – better able to focus without distractions of being in an office.

The disadvantages of working from home include:

1. Less collaboration – collaboration isn’t the same as being together in an office
2. Less socialization – many people develop strong relationships with those they work with and see every day and you lose the ability to learn about someone outside of the work itself.
3. Less learning – how did most of us learn what we know and the techniques to do our job well? For many, it was by listening and observing those around them, in meetings, over the cube wall. How does this critical learning happen in a remote environment?
4. Less awareness – Managers don’t see their team frequently enough to be aware of what they are doing and how they are doing, leaving them less time to coach/mentor.

Remote and Hybrid work environments have escalated two trends that I think everyone needs to be aware of:

1. Quiet Quitting and Quiet Firing
2. Proximity Bias

Quiet Quitting a term used to describe workers who intentionally decide they will no longer do work they feel is above and beyond what they are getting paid to do. If you have Social Media, many employees have used to TikTok and other platforms to discuss/explain their status publicly and have taken the business world by storm. Quiet Quitting can be a combination of a lack of engagement at work and higher-than-average burnout, both of which can be tackled by employers.

Signs of Quiet Quitting can include:

• Being disengaged during meetings. Estimates put the cost of a single disengaged employee at 34% of their salary — meaning a disengaged employee earning $50,000 could cost their employer $17,000.
• Productivity may have slacked off compared to their past benchmarks.
• Never turning on cameras during virtual meetings
• Unexplained absences

The ways companies can combat Quiet Quitting include:

• Be curious about your people and know what they are working on, if they feel like they have enough work or too little, and find out if they are being challenged.
• Be consistent with your interest. It shouldn’t be a check box. Managers need to be generally interested in their people, their work and their employment satisfaction.
• Ask them what they need. Simple, right? However, how come it’s often not asked until it’s too late and someone is already disengaged or resigning.
• Embrace tough conversations. People are not all the same and managing them isn’t always easy. Sometimes the toughest conversations build trust, bring the biggest growth, and increase engagement.
• Check on your easy employees. Don’t let them slip through the cracks just because they are low maintenance.
• Expect change. This is an ongoing process and what you know today, may not be true tomorrow.
• Generational differences play a role. Don’t assume all workers need or want the same thing. Being flexible to understand the needs of all generations is important.

Experts say employers that are concerned with quiet quitting and its potential impact on their business should ask themselves three questions:

1. Are we really paying enough? Businesses need to assess what existing employees can fetch on the open market while also better aligning roles with pay — avoiding scenarios where workers are drastically underpaid or overpaid for the work they are expected to do. At Logisolve we are constantly trying to understand what the market is paying and educating Clients and Candidates on what to expect.
2. Can employees see a future here? There are going to be cases in this environment where companies simply can’t match what workers can make on the open market from other employers. When a company can’t rely on pay alone, they need to account for the gap in other ways. If you can only pay 70% of what an employee could make elsewhere, how are you going to account for the other 30%? Logisolve is constantly tackling this question. How do we get good talent for all of our clients regardless of the rate? Things that are important outside of salary for candidates include: workplace flexibility, a mission they can align to, knowing they are valued, etc. It’s also important to display a tangible and personal career path. Experts say companies need to take tangible steps to ensure workers see a future within the business, such as dedicated training plans, mentorship opportunities and options like retention bonuses.
3. How have duties changed over the past two years and do they need to change again? Experts say that the quiet-quitting trend and burnout are closely related, and one factor driving burnout is how work has evolved since the start of the pandemic. Because of staffing shortages and the hectic nature of the Covid-19 recovery, many workers have simply found themselves with more on their plates than before — often without an accompanying increase in pay. During the height of the pandemic, many employees were willing to take on extra work to help the team, but things have changed and that amount of work can’t be sustained. Robert Half’s research found 74% of employees are working more than 40 hours per week and survey after survey has shown employees, and often business owners, are stressed about the current state of affairs. There are opportunities for employers to prioritize specific projects to avoid burnout and many are also bringing in contractors or consultants to help address specific tasks that could lighten the workload. Logisolve continues to see a steady number of opportunities for consultants to help relieve internal company staff shortages.

Quiet Firing is when an employer or manager has a person on the team who they can’t terminate for legitimate reasons, so they find subtle ways to remove them from the equation. Quiet Firing can include putting employees in a position to fail or finding passive ways to push them out. A LinkedIn Poll of 20,000 people on the platform found most were at least familiar with quiet firing as a concept. About 48% of those who responded said they had seen it at work before, while 35% said they have experienced the issue personally. Everyone needs to be aware of this trend and ensure they are staying engaged, communicating with their team, and showing value in their work on a regular basis.

The last trend, as a result of hybrid work environments, is Proximity Bias. Proximity bias is when employees who are closest to managers are the ones who get career advancement opportunities or access to choose projects or efforts within the company. Experts say many cases of proximity bias in the workplace aren’t intentional, it’s just a consequence of the hybrid world. We all know, it’s the small moments that add up over time. It’s the five minutes before and after an in-person meeting that those working at home miss. It’s when a manager is talking out loud about a task that needs to be done and the in-office employees hear it first and volunteer. If companies aren’t careful, experts say those consequences can add up to in-office workers having more opportunities for career advancement. It’s a top fear for remote workers, and it can have implications for morale and turnover.

To avoid issues, companies need to ensure hybrid workers have access to the same level of opportunities as in-office workers and avoid setting up systems or processes that are inherently biased against those who sometimes work from home. Gena Cox, head of advisory and research at Feels Human Inc., offered one big tip for fighting back against proximity bias — simply asking employees how they are doing. Companies need to hold managers accountable for communicating with each employee and frequently checking in on remote employees to ask about their well-being, share information, and discuss career aspirations. Employees who feel like they are supported and check in with managers feel that there will always be room for them. Cox stressed that these meetings are for the employee’s benefit, not the manager’s. This connection will ensure that the manager learns about employees’ needs, hopes, and aspirations. A connected manager can keep and attract new talent, understand what supports and hinders employee performance, and best supports each employee’s career goals. At Logisolve, we have a Capability model where not only are candidates being checked on by their Capability leader, but their recruiter, sales person, operations and often the team lead within the client they are billing. Finding multiple touchpoints to ensure consultants are connected to Logisolve as their employer and not their client where they are billing, is critical.

Companies also need to think about how meetings, including training sessions, will work in a hybrid world. They need to ensure all team members have equitable access to those opportunities — not just those who come in most often.

Experts say the need to guard against proximity bias is unlikely to go away in the near future — due to the growing demand for flexibility among employees. Less than one-third of knowledge-industry employees are working from the office every day, while the percentage of those in hybrid arrangements has increased to 58% compared to 46% in May 2021, according to recent a survey of more than 10,000 knowledge workers across the world by Future Forum.

Luckily, at Logisolve, with our employee base being consultants, proximity bias at the client is minimized. Consultants are usually engaged to do a specific job and many of the things impacted by proximity bias are nonexistent. In addition, if a consultant is hired for a remote or hybrid job, there is no expectation for them to be in the office.

I know this gives me something to think about. As an employer, how do we manage remote and hybrid teams? As an employee, how do you ensure inclusion and stay engaged and visible if you are remote? Many companies and employees will be evaluating the pros and cons of being in the office versus hybrid/remote over the next several months and making decisions that ultimately could impact their business or career.

Available Positions

If you have individuals in your network that may be a fit for any of the positions below, this is a great time to make a referral. Many clients are starting to head back to the office one or two days a week and are focused on local resources!

Use our referral email address: referrals@logisolve.com

Below are our most active Client Opportunities; contact us for more information! There are additional positions posted on our website: http://www.logisolve.com/positions.aspx

Quality Assurance

Sr. QA Lead (2 positions)-highly desired Financial industry experience-must be local to MN

Sr. QA-strong SQL experience-local to MN

QA-API-remote

QA-financial/actuarial experience-hybrid

BA

Sr. BA-hybrid-St. Cloud

Sr. Business Analyst (2 positions) -Healthcare-agile-remote

Sr. Business Systems Analyst-wealth Management experience-hybrid (MN)

Sr. Business Analyst-reinsurance-hybrid (MN)

Business Analyst/Oracle ERP Functional Administrator-hybrid (MN)

Microsoft/Java

Sr. Java Developer (2 positions)-react, Java8, spring boot, spring-remote-must be local to MN

.NET Developer-SPA-C#, SQ, Web API-remote

Data

DevOps Engineer-informatica-Azure-remote

EDW-ETL Administration-health catalyst experience required-remote

SQL DBA-contract to hire-hybrid-must be local to MN

Azure SQL DBA-remote

Misc

D365 Solution Architect-Direct hire-remote