From Quiet Cracking to the Big Freeze: what’s happening in the world of work

So many new career phenomenon are happening now in the world and in the US where I’m located (I’m writing this from my home in Los Angeles). I’ve been personally following this movement and piecing it together.

Here are a few I’ve been particularly following to give a good pulse of the new dynamics:

• Quiet Cracking: employees are silently struggling, becoming emotionally and mentally disengaged from their work, but remain in their jobs. Quiet cracking is an involuntary, gradual internal erosion of your true self, it’s caused by chronic stress, burnout, unclear expectations, or a feeling of being stuck. On the surface, “quiet crackers” often still appear to be high performers, making the issue much harder to detect until it reaches a breaking point…

• Job Hugging: Economic uncertainty, low confidence in the market, AI disrupting the old ways of working is also causing anxiety… Many workers are now holding on to their job and are prioritizing stability over anything else. Job hugging is the opposite of Job hopping.

• Big Freeze: This phenomenon is different and has been showing up i 2025. Specifically for early entry job seekers, the job marketplace can seem to be stagnant or locked-down. It can show up as a low rate of hiring. In 2025, new graduates have been experiencing a career ladder broken rung.