Job Hugging: The HR Buzzword That Reveals a Deeper Productivity Crisis

The term tree hugging has been around for decades. It originated from acts of courage—people literally embracing trees to protect them from destruction. Over time, the phrase evolved to symbolise a deep respect for nature and a desire to preserve it. It was about protection with purpose. The term job hugging, however, is something else entirely. It’s a relatively new addition to the HR vocabulary, popularized earlier this year by management consultancy firm Korn Ferry to describe employees “holding on to their jobs for dear life.” Unlike tree hugging, job hugging has no noble cause. It’s a symptom of a stagnant corporate ecosystem.

Of course, the behavior itself is not new. Labor markets have always seen a proportion of workers who stay put—some for good reasons (stability, family, loyalty), others out of fear, comfort or lack of opportunity. Some are in danger of becoming like the eponymous clerk in Herman Melville’s Bartleby, the Scrivener: ever present but largely unproductive. But the label job hugging is new—a catchy, slightly cynical shorthand for something organizations have long struggled with: how to distinguish between loyalty and lethargy.

The illusion of movement

Even during the so-called Great Resignation during the years following the Covid-19 pandemic, voluntary attrition rates barely exceeded 3 percent. Today, they’ve fallen back below 2 percent in most Western economies. Despite headlines claiming massive workforce churn, most people stay where they are, and always have. That’s why job hugging is less a revelation than a reflection of how some HR consultancies work: the constant need to repackage familiar truths with new labels. 

The trend also speaks to broader economic anxiety. In the U.S., where headlines about soft landings coexist with layoffs rippling from tech to media and hiring freezes, many employees are opting for safety over exploration. Economic uncertainty has made job hugging a rational choice, though one that often trends short-term security for long-term stagnation. 

Yet behind this buzzword hides a more serious issue: the slow erosion of productivity, agility and engagement across many Western economies. When productivity stalls, it’s not because people aren’t working. It’s because many organizations have built cultures that preserve work rather than improve it. They reward tenure, process and compliance over creativity, curiosity and courage. The result? Workforces filled with people optimizing for personal safety rather than business performance. They’ve become professional job huggers.

What job hugging really reveals

Let’s be clear, most job huggers are not bad people. They are often exhausted, over-managed and under-inspired. They have become conditioned into thinking that doing just enough to stay out of trouble is safer than taking risks. Many have quietly concluded that their companies don’t genuinely recognise performance—that effort and reward are weakly linked. So why stretch?

At its core, job hugging is a failure of leadership and system design, not of individual morality. Most organizations are simply not very good at measuring productivity or contribution. Their performance management systems are ritualistic: annual reviews, vague ratings, endless calibration meetings. What they lack is clarity and communication about what success looks like and how it is measured.

A culture of job hugging grows wherever leadership avoids hard conversations and mistakes politeness for kindness. False kindness—tolerating mediocrity in the name of harmony—slowly eats away at trust, ambition and excellence. It’s time to talk about this openly. And it’s time to act.

Moving beyond job hugging

Here’s a pragmatic framework—not theoretical HR jargon—to help companies transition from cultivating a job-hugging workforce to building a healthy performance culture. A culture that is supportive but not soft; ambitious but not toxic.

Establish a clear sense of direction

People can only perform when they know what they are performing for. In 2023, Tufan Erginbilgic, CEO of Rolls-Royce, called the company a “burning platform,” warning that there was in fact no time left to initiate change. The phrase electrified his workforce and investors alike. It was brutally honest, and necessary. By stating what wasn’t working, Erginbilgic laid down a challenge and an opportunity to “all think differently, act differently, make a difference.”

Every company needs this kind of clarity: Where are we heading? Why does it matter? What will happen if we don’t change? Without a compelling direction, even the best talent drifts into routine. With that, ordinary teams can become extraordinary. 

Create a framework of rolling milestones and metrics

Big annual targets don’t work anymore. Modern organizations need rolling, transparent milestones—specific, ambitious yet realistic goals reviewed quarterly or even monthly. This cadence builds rhythm, accountability and energy. More importantly, it shifts the focus from busyness to outcomes. Most job huggers are very busy—answering emails, attending meetings, maintaining the illusion of contribution. Milestones force clarity: are we moving the needle or just moving paper? 

Assess delivery for teams and individuals

Many companies claim they already do this. Most don’t. Performance assessment in most firms is subjective, biased toward likability or hierarchy. True assessment is difficult because it requires confronting discomfort and naming what isn’t working and why. High-performing organizations are brave enough to measure delivery against agreed milestones, not impressions or politics. It’s the difference between leading by data and managing by gossip.

Address under-performance and misplaced comfort

There is no room for sustained under-delivery or toxic attitudes in a for-profit enterprise. That does not mean cruelty or heartlessness; it means honesty with compassion. False kindness helps no one: not the company, not the team and not the individual stuck in a role that no longer fits. Many job huggers are themselves unhappy but choose the safety of a regular income over the risk of change. Good leaders create a culture where these conversations can happen with dignity and respect. Sometimes, helping someone move on is the most humane act of leadership.

Be generous with exits

It may sound counterintuitive, but generous exit arrangements often pay for themselves quickly. Most large organizations are over-staffed by 10 percent to 20 percent. A well-designed voluntary exit or redundancy program can have a very short return on investment—not just financially but culturally. When people leave with goodwill, those who stay are reminded that the system is fair, humane and focused on performance rather than punishment

 The deeper question: What are we optimizing for?

If job hugging is the symptom, what is the disease? It’s the modern corporate workplace’s obsession with stability over vitality. In many Western economies, we have built work cultures that celebrate control, predictability and routine. Those qualities bring safety, but they also suffocate innovation. Real performance comes from energy—from people who feel they are part of something that matters. When leaders reignite purpose, align goals with meaning and reward courage as much as compliance, the job huggers either transform or self-select out. Both outcomes are healthy.

Job hugging may be the latest HR phrase, but it captures a genuine malaise: too many people, in too many organizations, are holding on instead of moving forward. The challenge for leaders is not to criticize them, but to create environments where movement feels safe, purpose feels real and performance feels recognized. When companies are clear about direction, honest about contribution and generous about exits, they stop cultivating job huggers and start nurturing performers. And just maybe—like the tree huggers before them—they rediscover that real protection comes not from clinging, but from caring enough to act.

Dr. Helmut Schuster and Dr. David Oxley are leading career experts and authors of Artificial Death of a Career: How to stay relevant and thrive in the age of AI (Practical Inspiration Publishing)