The year in buzzwords

Following workplace news in 2022 was a lot like witnessing the creation of a new language. Every labor market development was characterized by a catchphrase, each measurable dip in worker sentiment defined by a slogan. New acronyms became everyday parts of the corporate lexicon as Americans RTO’d and WFH’d.

This year’s buzzwords could form the basis for a game of bingo. Every cursory glance at our inbox yielded about 600 emails a day about “quiet quitting,” “the Great Burnout,” “loud firing,” or the not-at-all-exaggerated claim that “nobody wants to work anymore.”

A lot happened this year, but legacy media outlets and talking heads on cable news reduced much of it to buzzwords that stripped reality of its nuance. So, HR Brew reader, let’s be masochists and relive the year in buzzwords. Get in the car, we’re playing bingo.

Great Resignation. Our friend the Great Resignation first emerged in 2021, but lingered for much of this year. It was shorthand for a supposed mass exodus of workers from the labor force, who ostensibly opted to eat-burritos-and-chill instead of earning a living. But in reality, the trend was more about people seeking better jobs. (See also: the Great Reshuffling, Great Burnout, Great Disconnect, Great Retention, Great Reskilling, etc.)

The Great Resignation made a lot of people mad—so mad, in fact, that it spawned its own buzz-phrase, which brings us to…

“Nobody wants to work anymore.” Does anyone who screamed this from the rooftops (or, more likely, angrily tweeted it) know enough people—ie, everyone—for this sweeping generalization to be remotely true? Although there was a labor shortage this year, and industries severely affected by the pandemic struggled to fill roles, it seems like this phrase is merely the revival of an old American chestnut.

Quiet quitting. This one impressed even the cynics among us by consuming so much of the news cycle during its peak. And as HR Brew noted earlier this year, it created a monster, spawning terms like “loud firing,” “loud quitting,” “quiet fleecing,” and “fast quitting” that, like their predecessor, would also come to dominate headlines—and our Sisyphean inbox.

Productivity paranoia. More people work from home now than before the pandemic. As many stories confirmed this year, various corporate leaders and managers have expressed skepticism over whether remote employees can keep up with productivity demands. Some employers are spying on remote workers to find out.

Thanks to Microsoft, which coined the term “productivity paranoia” in its workplace trend index report, we have yet another snappy term to define a phenomenon borne of a complex work environment.

Career cushioning. This latecomer is currently making the rounds via various explainers (the SEO gods are smiling…or are they wincing?). Career cushioning is the act of preparing for an impending layoff or career switch by reskilling or job hunting. Welcome to the buzzword family, career cushioning. You’re going to do just fine.

Did you have these five buzzwords on your bingo sheet? Congrats, you may now scream “bingo!” and proceed to the canteen to receive your free gift card to Buffalo Wild Wings.—SB

Do you work in HR or have information about your HR department we should know? Email [email protected]. For completely confidential conversations, ask Sam for his number on Signal.