The labour market has flipped. After years of job hopping for pay rises, employees in 2025 are doing the opposite - holding tight, asking for raises in place, and treating stability as the win.
Job Hugging Is the New Job Hopping
We went through an era of job hopping, switching roles like socks in search of higher pay.
But then came layoffs. Hiring freezes. AI. And today's unpredictable economy.
In 2025, fewer new roles are opening, quit rates are down, and employees are less willing to take the leap and start looking for a new job. In other words, the age of job hugging is here. Or, as CNBC put it:
"Clinging to your job for dear life."
In this environment, the main strategy for getting a raise isn't scanning job boards or attending interviews, but sticking with the classic approach: asking your current company for a pay increase. Time to sharpen those negotiation skills!
Here's a super short video (4 minutes) with Barbara Corcoran from Shark Tank offering useful tips on negotiating a raise.
Barbara, the queen of walking away from deals she doesn't like
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Where the Numbers Back This Up
The "job hugging" framing isn't just a CNBC headline. US Bureau of Labor Statistics data from mid-2025 shows the quit rate has fallen to 2.0% - the lowest since 2015 and well below the post-pandemic peak of 3.0% in late 2021. LinkedIn's Workforce Confidence Index for the same period found that the share of employees actively looking for a new role has dropped roughly 8 percentage points compared to 2023. The pattern is sharper in tech and consulting, where AI-driven role consolidation and aggressive cost-cutting have shrunk the pool of available senior roles. The downstream effect for retention is that the "I'll leave if I don't get a raise" lever has lost most of its weight - employees know the alternative job isn't waiting for them. That's good news for employers managing headcount and bad news for employees who counted on external offers as their leverage. For office managers, expect more requests to negotiate in place, and more frustration if those requests are flatly denied.
How to Handle a Raise Conversation in Place
Prepare the case in writing. Quit-counter-offer math doesn't work in this market - the case for a raise has to stand on the work itself.
Anchor on market data, not the previous raise. Glassdoor and LinkedIn Salary both expose role-level benchmarks; managers respect the data more than the ask.
Time it to a clear win. A finished project or measurable result gives the conversation a concrete anchor.
Separate the conversation from the review cycle if possible. Annual reviews are often too crowded for individual cases to land.
If a raise is genuinely off the table, ask for what is: an expanded scope, a title bump, paid training, or a flexibility benefit that effectively raises take-home compensation.
