What To Expect 

This article addresses the main tension between talent and HR. In short, if candidates are into finding a meaningful job more than ever, HR professionals are still looking at the process and trying to fill as many roles as possible.

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But quantity over quality is only part of the issue. The real elephant in the room is the way companies (don’t) engage professionals throughout the entire talent lifecycle.

The reason we’re addressing this tension upfront is that technology has become a sturdy enough layer of intelligence to help bridge the issue.

The Disconnection 

It would be impossible, not to mention inaccurate, to reduce the entire HR landscape to a single problem. However, we believe that understanding and addressing it can create a healthy connection between what talent is looking for and what companies strive to achieve.

a) The post-transactional and post-strategic era of human resources: from goal-oriented, to process-oriented, to people-oriented

First, what is transactional HR? To answer this, it’s enough to take a look at the way corporations were designed. The HR department had a functional & limited scope – to handle day-to-day administrative tasks related to new recruits while handling the existing ones, to curate CVs and process talent, and to handle the corporate benefits.

Transactional HR is what its job description would have sounded like in the ‘70s. Unfortunately, in many workplaces, despite the PR efforts and the increased number of benefits, it hasn’t changed that much. 

The so-called ‘traffic of resumes’ means gathering and processing as many applications as possible, and it is fundamentally a quantitative measure of success. Admittedly, it worked for an entire generation of professionals. However, it sends the message that people, the most valuable asset a company can have, are just a disposable resource in an infinite cog.

Gradually, the transactional HR roles have become more strategic, with companies looking to improve their processes rather than just the results. Activities were streamlined, inefficiencies were resolved, organizational goals were tuned to necessary skills to make them happen.

Today, these two paradigms work together in corporations, where professionals are seen as an important, but impersonal part of a process. 

So how has this become a core problem? Corporations are mostly hierarchies, with boards of directors and strict financial objectives. Therefore, they are not willing to sacrifice production and their growth projections. This has created a series of issues for the Millennial and GenZ professionals, who feel that their work environment is often hostile, unfriendly and doesn’t cater to their own personal development goals.

Download our whitepaper & learn how to navigate the aftermath of the Great Resignation.

b) Lacking A Real Employer Value Proposition To Engage Talent

• What Fuels Passion Economy

It seems that the pandemic has opened our eyes to the idea of this post materialist world, where we are more aware of the ways to become mindful and to choose with intentionality the way we live our lives. Aside from the Great Resignation, which affected mostly blue collar workers, there has been a shift in the corporate world in respect to how people see their work-life balance.

If 10 years ago it would have sufficed to be well paid and have a predictable, steady income, talent today is looking for so much more.

It seems that, generationally, our priorities have changed. What we’re witnessing is a new paradigm where more and more talent is willing to sacrifice our professional goals for their personal mental health.

So what is passion economy? It seems that all of the talent that bled through the corporate ladder and quit their jobs have turned towards the idea of ‘creators with a purpose’. In fact, the term ‘passion economy’ itself was coined by Adam Davidson, a New Yorker staff writer and cofounder of the Planet Money podcast on NPR.

In his book, the author argues that passion and profit are not opposite elements, but the starting point for this generations’ professional goals.

It stands to reason that all of these talented professionals with a mind for entrepreneurship can be pulled back into the talent acquisition ecosystem with a few necessary cultural tweaks that could make corporations appealing again.

• What is Quiet Quitting 

And now let’s address those who haven’t quit their jobs. Out of them, a decisive majority find their work environments as unengaging. In fact, globally only 20% of the employees are engaged, according to a Gallup survey.

So what is quiet quitting? Instead of letting go of their jobs and financial stability, out of the remaining 80%, most are engaged in this new trend. Quiet quitting means doing the bare minimum for your job, and not being emotionally involved when it comes to it.

While the factors for this trend are complex, unpleasant/toxic/unresponsive work environments have been widely documented and stop professionals from going the extra mile.

This is one of the biggest threats to having a healthy organization. Its implications are whopping. Everything from innovation, to process improvement or quality assurance stands to suffer because of the lack of interest that employees present.

Although the term ‘quiet quitting’ is relatively novel, it already has (as of Aug 30, 2022) over 67 million videos on TikTok, in a viral attempt to create awareness over the phenomenon. ‘You are still performing your duties, but you are no longer subscribing to the hustle culture mentally that work has to be our life,’ says a TikTok influencer quoted by the New York Times, underlining the main tension in this industry.

Turn Recruitment Into A Chance To Connect (For Real)

It would seem that the mutual benefit of having engaged professionals whose needs are met is absolutely transparent. However, an overnight jump from one cultural paradigm to another is close to impossible for corporations.

This is where we come in. Jobful is a solution designed specifically to bridge this gap and to help organizations empower their employees through mutually beneficial solutions endorsed by technology.

We think of ourselves as a tech layer of intelligence that stands between professional and their workplace experiences, whether we’re talking of prescreening, engagement, career path design or anything in-between.

Conclusion

• We’re registering the biggest gap between talent and employers, with only 20% of the global workforce professionally engaged
• We’re witnessing a period of transition, with talent actively creating and pursuing alternatives to the corporate environment
• We’re faced with the decision of embracing this new paradigm and creating ways to accommodate the new personal and professional goals of Millennials and GenZ