'Holding on for Dear Life': What's Behind the 'Job Hugging' Trend That's Stagnating Your Career

Last week, consultants at consulting firm Korn Ferry asked a question that revealed a growing workplace trend. The question: "Have you noticed any colleagues leaving for a new role lately, or been asked to help someone find one elsewhere?"

The answer for many people was "no," and Korn Ferry says it points to an "alarming" trend of "job hugging" — where employees feel like they are holding onto jobs "for dear life" out of fear of economic instability, rather than making bold moves in their careers.

Related: How to Know If You Are Being Quietly Fired

"There's quite a bit of uncertainty in the world — economic, political, global," Matt Bohn, an executive search consultant at Korn Ferry, said in an article quoted by CNBC. And that is contributing to the other side of the stagnation coin — employers hiring fewer people. According to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, the hiring rate is at its lowest point in a decade.

Stagnation isn't great for employees or employers. For workers, it means diminished earnings (most job changes come with a larger salary), and for employers, it means a slowdown of fresh ideas and perspectives.

In a recent sitdown on Entrepreneur's podcast, How Success Happens, founder and investor Kim Perell advises people to follow her rule of thumb: "If you're not earning and you're not learning, you've got to make a change."

She says three years after working at a job, if you are not making significantly more money or gaining new skills, you owe it to yourself and your career to move on.

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