Stay where you are, hug the jobs

There was a time, not too long ago, possibly half-a-generation ago, when it was cool to hop jobs, excitedly grab a new opportunity, even if the pay was 10-15 per cent more, and even if you had spent only a few months at the old workplace. According to HR experts, and behaviour psychologists, job-hugging is the new mantra across generations, not just Genz or millennials. Even those at the fag end of their careers, a few years from retirement, are unwilling to leave their present jobs. Look around you, and there are scores of examples that will stare at you.

A Delhi-based woman in her early fifties, who works in publishing management, faces several problems. For more than a year, she has not got any increments, bonuses, or promotions. Yet, she refuses to look around, and sticks to the present job. Another senior executive in an IT firm faces almost-daily backlash from the boss. But he grits his teeth, and takes it. He does not want to leave, or even look around. In this sense, job-hugging, or staying where you are, with complete disregard to the workplace environment, has become the norm, not the exception.

“Simply put,” according to a media report, “job-hugging refers to employees choosing to stay in their current jobs despite feeling under-challenged, disengaged, or unhappy primarily because they fear the uncertainty of changing roles.” According to another article, “Today, many workers are prioritising security…. Rather than pursuing new opportunities, they are choosing the reliability of a steady pay cheque.” Hence, it is not about loyalty, or the previous century’s dogma of joining the best-possible firm, and retiring from it. This is about fear and caution. This is about doubts that there is another job for you.

Post-pandemic scenarios, joblessness, tech invasion, war disruptions, trade wars, lack of belief, genuine lack of skills, and inability to change and adjust are among the several factors that contribute to job-hugging. But before we delve into some of the reasons, it is an opportune time for a caveat. Job-hugging goes together with other employee-related trends. These include a pattern among Gen Z to work as freelancers, and gig workers, and invariably have a gig on the side. Others, like millennials, acquire additional skills to change responsibilities. There are many who pursue multiple consultancies to expand the job basket.

According to a media article, “In the ever-evolving world of work, new trends seem to emerge almost every year to describe how employees are navigating their professional lives. Over the past few years, phrases like ‘quiet-quitting,’ ‘bare-minimum Mondays,’ and ‘career-cushioning’ have entered everyday conversations about workplace culture. Each of these trends reflects changing attitudes towards work, productivity, and job satisfaction….” Hence, the entry or popularity of job-hugging does not imply that the others have vanished. Each one coexists with the others. People adopt multiple ways to deal with the workplaces.

Let us return to job-hugging. In the pandemic world, two trends became dominant. Millions lost their jobs immediately, a similar number witnessed huge dips in existing salaries, and many lost any chances of increments and promotions for a couple of years. At the same time, as an economic ‘J’ curve emerged, a steep fall in GDP growth, followed by a much-higher rise, job opportunities opened, but mostly for the youngsters and newcomers. The older generation, which lost jobs during the pandemic, remained at not-working-from-home. This is when the 1990s-2000s trend of job-hopping coupled with job-losses.

This marked the beginning of job-hugging, when a huge number of scared and scarred employees, who saw their colleagues being asked to leave within a day or a week, decided to sit tight, stick to their jobs, and do whatever it takes not to lose them. However, it was clear for most generations, including newcomers and first-timers that the number of jobs had dropped, and finding the ‘right’ one became tougher. According to reports, joblessness, or lack of jobs has plagued India for more than a decade, ever since 2013. With fewer opportunities, caution reigns.

Artificial intelligence (AI), and the induction of other tech, has made matters worse. Most of the available jobs require different skills compared to the pre-pandemic world. Workplaces, or at least in the organised urban setups, have radically changed in the past six years. Each time, executives are nudged, even forced, to adopt new tech, their fears, doubts, and uncertainties rise exponentially. They are unsure about their future. They do not wish to think about their futures, and hope to ride out the present, and stick to their jobs. Tech is the new glue that binds them tightly to the existing workplaces.

Over the past 3-4 years, external disruptions, disconnected with India, workplaces, or jobs have dislocated minds and behaviour. Starting from the Russia-Ukraine war, trade wars, tariff tensions, India-Pakistan drone battles, to the Iran war, Indian and global employees have walked in from one crisis into another one. Each one undermined their confidence to deal with daily life pressures. Each one created more uncertainty at homes and workplaces. No one wanted to move or budge. Sit where you are. Stay where you are. Do not do anything drastic. These became the new mantras of life for the working class.

Global surveys indicate similar trends. According to one on job-hugging in 2025, an astounding 75 per cent of the polled executives contend that they plan to stay in their present roles until 2027. Half of them admit that this is because of fears and uncertainty, and has nothing to do with job satisfaction. Almost 60 per cent agree that job-hugging is more common, and a higher percentage expect the trend to rise. Of course, employees juggle between the pay they get, and security a job provides. In the survey, just over a quarter cite the two reasons.

What is more interesting is that job-hugging is a two-way trend. Firms too are scared to lose talent. In the pandemic madness, when employees were let go with impunity and complete disregard, firms lost skills and experience. They replaced them with youth and energy. But this worked up o a point. Hence, employers are “reluctant to lose experienced staff.” However, on the positive side, employers make attempts to make those employees happy who they wish to hug. Employees, who indulge in job-hugging realise that they need to do something extra to grow within. Career coaches give similar advice, ‘pivot in place,’ or find ways to grow within a firm, rather than another one, and not remain passive.