World of Work Buzzwords Defining the Way We Work in 2023

The outgoing year is a particularly ripe one for additions to our vernacular that represent just where we’ve been and where we may be going: all the phrases that capture our ‘return to normal.’

Post-pandemically speaking, the traditional ways, when’s, and how’s we work have been challenged, re-thought, re-evaluated, reconsidered, recharacterized. What has emerged are new concepts—and buzzwords to define them—that represented the world of work in 2022 and the year ahead, beyond the omnipresent ‘new normal.’  Here’s a rundown of end-of-year buzzwords that defined our world of work heading into 2023.

9 World of Work Buzzwords

These are the world of work buzzwords defining our evolving world of work in 2022 and beyond.

1. Quiet quitting

Quiet quitting is arguably one of the most significant and yet highly debated new buzzwords of the year. The term, to some, immediately indicates resistance, rebellion, even a casual nonchalance. What it represents, however, is an agreement for an employee to fulfil the responsibilities of their job fully, without feeling the additional pressure to put in more effort or time beyond what was agreed in the employment contract.

2. Proximity bias

The pandemic drove many workers to move to a home office… but when employers called their workers back to the office, some didn’t want to return. As much as employers may say hybrid working, remote working, or traditional in-house working provides the same opportunities as work from home, many employees who work remotely feel left out of in-person opportunities to contribute, be noticed, be heard.  

3. Social capital

For many workers, a work-from-home set-up increase their wellbeing and their work-life balance. It even boosted some workers’ performances… but for others, it created a void. Social capital speaks to the ability for people to work together, for a common purpose, to share ideas, to network, to create personal connections.

4. Let it rot

Have you heard this one before? “Let it rot” is basically “let it go”…but with a tougher stance. “Let it rot” means to release yourself from anything that is clearly on its way to deterioration. According to some workers, the phrase stemmed from Chinese gaming communities after ‘Big Eggplant’ (大茄子), a Chinese livestreamer, popularized it. It’s described as “leaning into self-indulgence and open decay and away from life expectations that seem neither meaningful nor attainable.”

5. Acting your wage

“Acting your wage” relates to quiet quitting and refers to the idea that workers should be able to set boundaries. What type of boundaries? Well, boundaries regarding the financial compensation they receive weighed against the support for their wellbeing, psychological safety, and general treatment. For many workers, it means limiting the amount of effort that will be committed to their job responsibilities.

6. Waist-up fashion

For anyone who has spent the last two or more years engaged in Zoom or other such video meetings, waist-up fashion will be self-explanatory. You may look professional from the waist up, but personal (and comfortable) from the waist down. Who hasn’t conducted a video conference in a crisp shirt and jacket with pajama bottoms below?

7. Bleisure

Business travel was long known to be a glamorous idea, but reality it meant a rigorous, unrelenting experience of racing from terminal to hotel, from meeting to work dinner, back to the hotel and home again, only to return to the office the next day.

But now a new trend is emerging: bleisure, a blend of “business” and “pleasure,” which enbables workers to extend their hectic business travel experiences to take time to enjoy mini-holidays. Some workers may bring along family members or spend time exploring each location on a more personal level.

8. Upskilling

More than salary, title, or work flexibility, workers over the last year have made it clear that engagement and continuous learning are essential to work motivation. At the same time, organizations that had to reset processes to stay abreast of change during the pandemic. That change includes the unprecedented speed of technological advances which made training and upskilling opportunities all the more important for workers.

9. Talent retention

For hiring managers and human resource workers alike, the pressure increased noticeably post-pandemic. As employers began to reset their expectations of what they want to give to their jobs versus what they expect back, as the Great Resignation and Great Reevaluation set in across the workforce, finding new ways to hold on to the talent that drives successful business practices became a new challenge. Wage and title alone were no longer the incentives to achieve employee loyalty, and new schools of thought to understand what makes talent want to stay and feel inspired to contribute fully emerged and will continue to into the new year.

Goodbye to the old, hello to the new

The words and phrases we introduce, adopt, and normalize are clear indicators of social shifts and norms, and as far as the world of work goes, 2022 may have added the most new buzzwords to our work vernacular.

Although 2020 and 2021 will forever be the years that uprooted many of our long-held work norms, 2022 is the year that saw us, globally, being to return to the ‘new normal,’ which has exposed how much attitudes and approaches to work have really shifted throughout the pandemic years. As a new year unfolds, we can reflect on these buzzwords to prepare our thinking and strategies for how to move forward in 2023 and beyond.