64% of workers plan to stay put in 2026, yet 56% got no recent training. Why 'job hugging' is a hedge, not loyalty, and how Indian teams can turn it into.
Key takeaways
- ManpowerGroup's 2026 Global Talent Barometer (13,918 workers in 19 countries) found that 64% of workers plan to stay with their current employer. The report links this to a search for stability amid rapid technological change.
- Staying is not the same as being engaged. The same report notes that around 60% are nonetheless job hunting, which suggests many people are hedging rather than committing.
- The support gap behind it is large: 56% of workers reported no recent training and 57% reported no access to mentorship.
- AI use is rising faster than confidence. Regular AI use reached 45% of workers, while confidence in using technology fell, and 43% fear automation could replace their job within two years.
- In India the picture is more strained. ManpowerGroup's India findings (over 1,000 workers) show only 48% planning to stay, 75% reporting burnout and just 38% satisfied with their current job.
- Job hugging is a skills-and-support problem. Teams that pair visible growth paths, manager coaching and practical AI training turn "stuck" talent into engaged talent.
Last updated · Bodhih Insights team
What the dashboard cannot see is that Karthik has not asked for a stretch assignment in two years, has stopped volunteering in meetings, and keeps his résumé current "just in case." He is not staying because he is inspired. He is staying because the market feels risky, AI is rewriting his job description, and nobody has shown him what his next role looks like.
This pattern now has a name: job hugging. And if you lead a team in 2026, it may be the quietest risk on your balance sheet.
What "Job Hugging" Actually Means
The term describes employees who hold on tightly to their current jobs, not out of enthusiasm but out of caution. Hiring has slowed in many sectors, layoffs make headlines every week, and AI is changing what many roles will look like within a few years. In that climate, the safest move feels like no move at all.
For employers, the first reaction is often relief. Lower attrition, lower hiring cost, fewer backfills. But relief is the wrong response to a number that measures fear. Retention that is driven by a lack of options and not by a reason to stay is fragile. The moment the market improves, the people who were quietly hedging are the first to leave. And until then, they tend to give exactly what the situation calls for: the minimum that keeps them safe.
The Gap Behind the Hug
Look at what the Barometer says people are not getting. More than half reported no recent training. More than half reported no access to mentorship. Meanwhile regular AI use has climbed to 45% of workers, while confidence in using technology has dropped. People are being asked to use powerful tools and to prove their future value, with little guidance on how.
That combination is what turns caution into stagnation. When a person cannot see how to grow in the current role, and cannot see a safe way to move, they freeze. They do the job, avoid risk, and wait.
In India the pressure shows up in wellbeing figures. The India findings report 75% of workers experiencing burnout and only 38% satisfied with their current job, even though overall worker confidence remains high. High confidence and high strain together describe people who believe they can cope but are running on empty. The India sample is smaller (a little over 1,000 respondents) and the figures come from the survey publisher, so read them as a directional signal rather than a census.
Why Standard Retention Tools Miss It
Most retention programmes are built to catch people who are about to leave: exit risk scores, stay interviews, counter-offers. Job huggers do not trip any of those wires. They are present, polite and quietly disengaged.
Three things make them hard to spot:
They look productive. Output stays acceptable, because the person is protecting their position. What drops is initiative: fewer ideas, fewer cross-team requests, fewer questions.
They do not complain. Speaking up feels risky when security feels thin. Silence is read as satisfaction.
They are rarely asked the right question. "Are you happy here?" gets a safe answer. "What would you want to be able to do a year from now that you cannot do today?" gets a real one.
Turning Staying Power Into Growth Power
The good news is that a workforce that is staying put is a workforce you have time to develop. Teams that make the most of that window tend to do four things.
- 1. Make the next step visible. People hug jobs partly because the road ahead is a blank. Spell out two or three realistic next roles for each function, including lateral moves, and the skills each requires. A person who can see a path takes fewer defensive decisions.
- 2. Put coaching in the manager's job, not the HR calendar. The 57% figure on missing mentorship is really a manager-capability finding. Managers who hold regular, structured growth conversations change what "staying" feels like. Programmes such as Bodhih's Coaching for Managers train people leaders to ask better questions, give usable feedback and help someone plan the next twelve months, without it becoming an annual appraisal ritual.
- 3. Close the AI confidence gap with practice, not slides. Fear of replacement drops when people have hands-on proof that they can direct the tools rather than compete with them. Role-specific work on real tasks, as in AI Literacy Training, builds the verified, safe use of AI that makes people more valuable to the team, and more certain of it.
- 4. Handle change as a people process. A lot of job hugging is a reaction to change that was announced rather than explained. Structured support, such as Change Management Training, helps leaders explain what is changing, what is not, and what it means for each role, which is the single biggest relief for a nervous team.
A 30-Minute Experiment for This Month
You do not need a budget line to start. Ask every manager on your team to hold one conversation with each direct report using three questions:
- What is one skill you would like to have a year from now that you do not have today?
- What part of your work do you think AI will change first, and how do you feel about that?
- What is one thing I could remove or add that would make this job more worth staying for?
Write down the answers. Within a month you will know more about your real retention risk than any survey will tell you, and you will have a ready-made learning plan for the people who answered honestly.
The Bigger Idea
A high retention number can mean two opposite things: people are committed, or people are cautious. They produce the same chart and very different futures. The organisations that come out ahead will be the ones that treat this period of unusual staying power as a gift of time, and use it to give people a reason to stay that is stronger than fear.
Frequently asked questions
What is job hugging?
Job hugging is when employees hold on to their current jobs mainly because the job market and technology change feel uncertain, rather than because they are highly engaged. The term gained wide use after ManpowerGroup's 2026 Global Talent Barometer reported that 64% of workers planned to stay with their current employer amid rapid technological change.
Is job hugging good or bad for employers?
It is mixed. Attrition and hiring costs fall, which helps in the short term. The risk is hidden disengagement: people avoid initiative, skip stretch work and leave once conditions improve. The Barometer also reported that around 60% of workers were job hunting, which suggests many are keeping options open.
How common is job hugging in India?
ManpowerGroup's India findings, based on over 1,000 workers surveyed in September to October 2025, show 48% planning to stay with their current employer, well below the global figure of 64%. The same findings report 75% of Indian workers experiencing burnout and 38% satisfied with their current job. These are survey-based figures from the publisher, so treat them as indicative.
How can managers tell if someone is job hugging?
Look for changes in initiative rather than output: fewer new ideas, no requests for stretch work, quiet in meetings, reluctance to take on unfamiliar tools or projects. Open, specific questions about future skills and career direction reveal far more than satisfaction questions.
What training helps reduce job hugging?
Training that makes growth visible and safe: manager coaching skills so career conversations happen, practical AI literacy so people feel capable rather than threatened, and change management skills so leaders can explain what change means for each role. Bodhih offers Coaching for Managers, AI Literacy Training and Change Management Training, each customisable for corporate batches.
Where do the statistics in this article come from?
The global figures are from ManpowerGroup's Global Talent Barometer 2026, a survey of 13,918 workers across 19 countries released in January 2026. The India figures are from the ManpowerGroup India release of the same survey. They reflect self-reported sentiment, not audited workforce data.
