AFP – A number of new terms have recently emerged to describe our changing relationship with work, including “career cushioning”. This trend encourages current employees to remain on the lookout for new opportunities, without neglecting their professional obligations.
The expression “career cushioning” refers to a strategy which, according to some experts, could be beneficial to employees who are under-motivated by their day-to-day professional lives.
“Career cushioning” invites them to see their current job as a springboard, not an end in itself. This mindset can help enable them to recalibrate their list of what they’re looking for in a job and devote more time (and energy) to creating new opportunities.
In one sense, “career cushioning” is the antithesis of “rage applying”, which is used to describe an employee applying to dozens of job adverts in reaction to a professional setback or disappointment with one’s current work.
On the contrary, “career cushioning” encourages a less impulsive approach. But that doesn’t necessarily mean settling for a job that doesn’t provide the employee complete satisfaction.
“Career cushioning” advocates encourage employees looking for something different to update their LinkedIn profile, acquire new skills, build up their network or take on creative projects alongside their work.
BREAKING THE CYCLE OF DISENGAGEMENT
The point of “career cushioning” is to be proactive, while also taking care not to fall into the trap of using some of your main employer’s resources (time, tools, etc) to advance a side professional project, a reprehensible practice.
This could find an employee being reprimanded if they reply to emails relating to their “side job” during office hours, or if they use their company’s software to redo their resumé.
To avoid any misunderstanding, employees are encouraged to talk to their manager about their career development and personal aspirations.
A manager may even hand out more interesting assignments if an employee confides in them about their quest for something new and different. Companies have an interest in taking steps to break the cycle of disengagement.
But the phenomenon is so insidious that it is particularly difficult to quantify.
No study has precisely enumerated how many working people are affected, although some surveys have been used to assess the extent of the problem. The Gallup Institute estimates that 59 per cent of employees worldwide are psychologically disengaged in relation to their current job.
Disengagement from the workplace is estimated to cost the global economy USD8.8 trillion, according to the latest edition of its annual State of the Global Workplace report. Such a trend raises fears of severe turbulence in the global job market, similar to that seen in the United States over the past three years.
So in this type of climate, “career cushioning” can be an interesting approach. It provides a safety net for employees with doubts about their career prospects, while encouraging them to grow as they seek to move.
For their part, company directors and managers need to take action, either temporary or structural as the case may be, to offer them jobs that will motivate them over the long term.
