Job hugging: Why employees are clinging to their jobs

People love a great headline, and a buzzword is a juicy way to contextualize changes in the world of work.

The latest buzzword? “Job hugging” – the act of clinging to your job for dear life.

Record-shattering numbers of employees left their jobs during “The Great Resignation,” but as of fall 2025, voluntary turnover has plummeted to its lowest point since before the COVID pandemic. The “quits” rate, which measures the number of people voluntarily leaving their jobs, is a key marker of worker confidence. It has fallen to 2% in recent months – the lowest sustained level since early 2016.

In this article, we take a closer look at job hugging. We explore what this buzzword indicates about the state of the workplace and what it means for HR and people leaders.

Defining job hugging

Job hugging describes a recent labor market dynamic in which employees increasingly prioritize job stability. Job-hugging employees choose to hold onto their current jobs instead of pursuing new opportunities or career advancement – regardless of how engaged they feel at the company.

This behavior is primarily attributed to employees’ feelings of fear and uncertainty about the current job market. You can think of job hugging as a form of “survival mode.” Imagine a rock climber clinging to the steep slope of a cliff, or a shipwrecked passenger clinging to their lifeboat on a turbulent sea – that’s the metaphorical equivalent of what many of today’s workers are going through.

Job hugging is almost the direct opposite of the more well-known act of job hopping, in which workers proactively (and sometimes rapidly) “hop” from job to job in pursuit of better opportunities.

In an employee’s market, job hopping is seen as an effective and efficient shortcut to advancing up the career ladder and increasing one’s salary. However, as we’ll explore in the next section, hopping jobs is no longer a viable (or attractive) practice in today’s economy.

The factors behind job hugging

In the U.S., the rise of job hugging has been attributed to several interconnected factors, including:

• Economic uncertainty. Fears of inflation, mass layoffs, and the rising cost of living have contributed to a more pragmatic approach to work as a means to an end, with one AP poll finding that over half of Americans say the cost of groceries is a “major stress” in their lives. Policy shifts and tariffs have further clouded the economic outlook.
• Weak job market. The unemployment rate is at its highest in the last four years, with only 22,000 jobs added in August 2025 – dramatically lower than economists’ predicted 76,500 new roles.
  
  Hiring has slowed considerably, with nearly two million job seekers still struggling to find a job after more than 27 weeks (i.e, approximately a quarter of all unemployed people). Meanwhile, worker confidence in one’s ability to find a new job has hit the lowest point yet, according to a recent survey by the New York Federal Reserve.
• AI-driven anxiety. As artificial intelligence continues to rapidly evolve, many employees fear that their skills and experiences will soon become obsolete. This sentiment tracks with a recent Reuters poll, which found that 71% of surveyed Americans fear that AI will permanently displace jobs.
  
  We’re starting to see the early effects of AI on the job market. A study by Stanford University’s Digital Economy Lab found that since 2022, early-career workers in the most AI-exposed occupations have experienced a steep 13% relative decline in employment. This finding suggests that skill obsolescence and technology displacement are no longer distant possibilities – they are happening now.
• The end of the job-hopping premium. For the first time in a decade, wage increases for switching jobs barely outpace those for staying put, closing a long-standing pay gap that incentivized mobility. According to recent Atlanta Fed data, stayers received a 4.6% wage increase, compared to just a marginally higher 4.8% for switchers; this shrinking premium removes a key motivation to jump ship, especially when uncertainty is high.

In summary, many U.S. employees find that holding on to their jobs is a smarter choice than gambling on a sluggish job market, given the current state of the economy and mounting technological anxiety.

It’s essential to note that this phenomenon isn’t unique to American workers. While the exact socioeconomic context may differ, a similar trend is occurring in other parts of the world. A quick Google Search reveals articles about how “job hugging has arrived” in countries such as the U.K., Australia, Singapore, and more.

For all intents and purposes, job security now seems to take precedence over job fulfillment – though this doesn’t mean that employees have stopped caring about finding purpose or a sense of belonging at work. They are simply shifting their priorities until the forecast improves.

What job hugging means for HR leaders

From HR’s perspective, job hugging isn’t a good thing. While retention rates and commitment to staying will likely increase in the coming months, these are not the positive signals they would be in a healthy labor market.

As Culture Amp’s research on quiet quitting and recent labor market studies reveal, HR must look beyond headline retention numbers to understand what’s really happening beneath the surface.

Why increased retention is not always positive

Unlike in a healthy labor market, where employees stay because they’re motivated by meaningful work and feel committed to the company’s success, job hugging is predominantly an act of risk aversion.

Employees are motivated enough to stay, but potentially not enough to thrive. An employee who decides to stay for the “wrong” reasons might show up and do their job, but they’re not bringing the kind of enthusiasm, creativity, or discretionary effort that leads to innovation – or sustained high performance.

Heather Walker, Senior Data Journalist at Culture Amp, adds:

"We’re seeing what we’ve started to call a talent jam – when employees who would have otherwise left stay put, blocking the growth and mobility opportunities for those ready to move forward."

This surface-level stability poses further risks for organizations:

• Workforce stagnation: When employees are motivated by fear, there’s a marked drop in internal mobility, proactive skill development, and willingness to pursue new opportunities or assignments. This hinders upskilling, succession planning, and long-term talent strategies – which in turn can foster a workforce environment resistant to change.
• Disengagement and lost productivity. Disengaged employees who remain in their roles have been estimated to cost companies roughly $8.9 trillion globally in lost productivity.
• Motivation and underutilization. When employees aren’t motivated by their work, performance stagnates and morale falls. Culture Amp’s people scientists confirmed that employee motivation – a core driver of engagement – has declined for the last three years.

The overall effect? A workforce that appears stable while actually being stuck, potentially masking a critical absence of engagement and innovation and hampering growth and development.

What HR and people leaders can do to address job hugging

Given these risks, HR leaders must prioritize, identify, and take action on hidden signs of disengagement and take proactive steps to re-engage their workforce. Consider the following:

• Keep a pulse on how your employees are feeling.
  Run regular engagement surveys to diagnose disengagement and identify barriers to motivation. Compare trends over time to understand how sentiment is changing and drill down on specific groups to see if certain teams or departments are feeling the pain more than others.
• Re-energize motivation and growth.
  Even with budget constraints, you can create meaningful opportunities for growth and skill-building. Consider offering lateral stretch assignments, project rotations, and mentorship programs to help employees build new skills internally.
• Double down on belonging and purpose.
  Culture Amp’s research demonstrates that a sense of belonging correlates most closely to engagement, motivation, and retention. Create opportunities for meaningful connection by encouraging team-building rituals such as regularly scheduled connection meetings, social events, ERGs, and interest groups.
• Communicate transparently and frequently.
  Communicate openly and frequently about business health, strategy, and opportunities for employee involvement – reducing anxiety and giving employees a clearer sense of the company’s future and their place in it.
• Invest in upskilling and future-proofing roles. In a climate where AI and automation spark fears of obsolescence, employees welcome learning pathways that help them adapt, remain relevant, and regain confidence in their career prospects.

From job hugging to job loving

The rise of job hugging signals a workforce that may look stable on the surface but is actually at risk of widespread disengagement and stalled growth. Employees are holding onto their jobs out of caution – not commitment – and as a result, organizations will find themselves facing hidden costs like lost productivity, underutilized skills, and a lack of innovation.

This environment demands more than passive retention; it requires intentional action to truly re-engage, develop, and connect teams – so they’re no longer just hugging their jobs, but loving them.

Engage and retain your employees

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