When fewer people resign, many HR dashboards call it a good quarter. The data on why people are staying suggests a more complicated reading.
In February 2026, ResumeBuilder.com surveyed 2,188 US workers and found that 57 per cent described themselves as "job hugging," meaning holding on to a current role because of conditions in the market rather than satisfaction with the job. Six months earlier the figure was 45 per cent. The practice has acquired a name because it has become common, and Canadian data points in the same direction, with some differences worth understanding.
Staying put, by choice or by caution
The ResumeBuilder survey, conducted through Pollfish with 1,250 of the respondents identifying as job huggers, gives a detailed picture of what the behaviour looks like from the inside:
70 per cent worry AI will affect their job security within six months, and 63 per cent fear layoffs in the same period
More than 80 per cent fear being laid off first if they changed employers, the "last in, first out" risk for new hires
52 per cent have worked longer hours than usual, 45 per cent have taken on work outside their core duties, and 35 per cent took less time off
22 per cent were denied a raise and 20 per cent a promotion they were up for
75 per cent of those not currently searching would search more actively if the job market improved
Stacie Haller, ResumeBuilder's chief career advisor, described the staying as driven "not out of loyalty or fulfillment, but out of necessity and fear." She also warned of "resentment, disengagement, and turnover once market conditions improve." That warning is the part employers should read twice. A job hugger has not made a commitment. They have made a calculation, and the calculation can change.
The Canadian reading: secure, but wary of the search
Canada's numbers are not identical, and they should not be borrowed wholesale from the US. Angus Reid Institute's September 2026 survey of 4,417 Canadian adults (fieldwork September 8 to 16, margin of error plus or minus 1.5 points) found that 87 per cent of employed Canadians describe their jobs as secure, "virtually unchanged from a year earlier." The same poll found that 77 per cent of job-seekers, or people reporting on someone close to them who is searching, call the experience "bad" or "terrible." Only 15 per cent say the search is going well.
Put the two findings together. Most Canadian employees feel secure where they are, and almost all of those who have looked elsewhere describe the market as hard. That combination is a recipe for staying, and it does not require anyone to feel committed.
The labour market backs up the caution. Statistics Canada figures cited in the same coverage show a net gain of only 26,000 jobs since January 2026, including a loss of about 42,000 in August alone, and almost three unemployed Canadians for every job vacancy, nearly triple the 2022 ratio.
The restlessness underneath
If low turnover meant contentment, intentions to leave would be low. They are not. Robert Half Canada's survey of more than 1,500 employed Canadians, fielded in April 2026, found that 44 per cent planned to look for a new job within six months, up from 33 per cent in the first half of 2026 and 26 per cent a year earlier. Interest was highest among HR professionals (57 per cent), millennials (53 per cent) and technology professionals (53 per cent).
The reasons are practical:
Better benefits and perks: 38 per cent
Career advancement: 38 per cent
Feeling underpaid for their skills: 33 per cent
More flexibility: 33 per cent
More remote-work options: 31 per cent
Note the other half of that survey. Among those intending to stay, 46 per cent said they did not want to lose their workplace's flexibility. For many employees, in other words, the thing holding them in place is not enthusiasm for the company but a feature of the job they cannot be sure of finding elsewhere.
Robert Half's survey did not specify the base group for every figure, so treat the percentages as indicative rather than precise. The direction, however, is clear. Intentions to look are rising while the market makes looking difficult. Employees are staying, but a growing share are not settled.
Why this matters more than a turnover chart suggests
A company can look stable while carrying risks the usual metrics do not show.
Engagement can fall without anyone resigning.
In the ResumeBuilder survey, job huggers reported high stress, with nearly three-quarters rating it moderate to high. People who work longer hours, absorb extra duties and take less time off are showing signs of strain, and strain affects quality and judgment before it affects attendance.
Skills can stall.
Haller's phrase, "a stagnation of skills and ideas," describes a team where people keep their heads down, avoid risk and wait. In a year when AI is changing what many roles require, that is a poor time for a workforce to stop learning.
Three-quarters of non-searching job huggers say they would search more actively if the market improved. When it does, an organization that has not done anything to earn their commitment will see departures arrive together, and replacing several people at once in a recovering market is costly and slow.
What employers can do now
Ask better questions than "are you happy?"
Stay interviews that ask what would make someone leave, what they would miss if they left, and what they would change tell managers more than an annual engagement score.
Look at pay before the market does.
One-third of those considering a move feel underpaid for their skills, and pay transparency rules, covered earlier in this edition, make comparison easier. Fixing obvious gaps before they surface is cheaper than counter-offers after.
Protect flexibility.
For the 46 per cent who say flexibility is the reason they would stay, changing arrangements is a risk. If a policy change is coming, explain the reason and expect a response.
Give people somewhere to go inside the company.
Career advancement is one of the two top reasons cited for leaving. Internal moves, stretch projects and clear paths to the next level address it without waiting for an external offer to force the question.
Plan for capacity.
If a recovery brings several resignations in a short window, project-based and contract talent can cover the gap while permanent hires are made carefully rather than in a rush. Staffing partners such as SRA Group are often used for that kind of bridge capacity.
The bigger picture
A slow labour market has given employers a pause in turnover. It has not given them a more committed workforce, and the evidence suggests that many of the people staying are doing so for reasons that will not last. Companies that use the quiet period to repair pay, flexibility and career paths will be in a different position when the market turns than those that took the low resignation numbers as a verdict on how things were going.