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Bolt CEO says he let go of his entire HR team for creating problems that didn’t exist: ‘Those problems disappeared when I let them go’ 

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The Bezos family just donated $100 million to help achieve one of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s top campaign promises

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Current price of oil as of May 19, 2026
NewslettersFortune CHRO

A huge ‘passive talent pool’ of workers is up for grabs—here’s how to win over employees with one foot out the door

Emma Burleigh
By
Emma Burleigh
Emma Burleigh
Reporter, Success
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Emma Burleigh
By
Emma Burleigh
Emma Burleigh
Reporter, Success
Down Arrow Button Icon
May 7, 2024, 8:16 AM ET
Woman looks at her laptop.
A majority of U.S. workers are passively looking for another job, but few are actually applying.Getty Images

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The Great Resignation is over, employees seem to be staying put in their current roles, and a new jobs report shows that the labor market is cooling slightly. But that doesn’t mean that workers are thrilled with their current jobs, and employers should take note. 

About 47% of employees are currently looking at open positions, and 33% think about their career prospects on a daily or weekly basis, according to a new survey of 30,000 workers around the world from LHH, an HR solutions provider. But just 18% of those people are actually applying to jobs. With only 8% of workers looking for opportunities within their own company, that means that the rest are looking for opportunities elsewhere. In short, they’re what the report calls a “passive talent pool.” 

“They’re waiting for the right moment to take action on a career change or a job change,” Gaëlle de la Fosse, president of LHH, tells Fortune. “It doesn’t mean that they’re not interested in a job change.”

This passive talent pool could be a massive opportunity for some savvy recruiters, and it should be a wake up call for HR departments to think about how to retain the workers that they have.

Whether it comes to actively recruiting these folks, or just earning their loyalty, there are some specific things that workers are looking for from employers, according to the report. Companies have to offer learning and development opportunities, put a new emphasis on skills rather than pedigree, and offer room for employees to grow within the company. That can include clear internal opportunities, career coaching, and educating managers on how to avoid talent hoarding. 

“In the past, it used to be essentially salary and benefits. That would really be kind of the main criteria. But people have expanded their criteria,” says de la Fosse. “Chances are if your company does not provide you with what you need, which is a career strategy for yourself, then you will go elsewhere.”

After all, the job hopping pullback, or “Big Stay,” won’t last forever, and employers need to be ready to fight for the hearts and minds of their employees—or know how to lure top talent from other companies. 

“This is a critical moment for companies to really invest a lot more thoughtfully in their workforce,” says de la Fosse. “That’s not only a way to nurture the talent and retain the talent that exists, but also for recruiters to attract new talent that those companies will need in the future.”

Emma Burleigh
emma.burleigh@fortune.com

Around the Table

A round-up of the most important HR headlines.

Ketamine is becoming an increasingly normalized and popular employee benefit, as the drug-assisted therapy is used to combat mental health concerns. Financial Times

Chipotle is asking its shareholders to approve a 50-for-one stock split so that the company can reward its top-performing employees with shares. Wall Street Journal

Condé Nast narrowly avoided a Vogue employee strike just hours before the Met Gala event on Monday, agreeing to a tentative contract with the unionized staffers. New York Times

Watercooler

Everything you need to know from Fortune.

Talent crisis. While the U.K. economy is growing, it’s not keeping pace with its European rivals—with an aging labor force, the region will become more dependent on immigrant workers to stay afloat. —Ryan Hogg

Penalty. A sanitation company will pay over half a million dollars in civil penalties after federal investigators found it employed more than two dozen children to clean dangerous meat processing facilities. —Hannah Fingerhut, AP

Summer Fridays. Kelloggs employees in the U.K. will be allowed to leave at noon on Fridays until September as long as they make up those hours during the rest of the week. —Orianna Rosa Royle

This is the web version of CHRO Daily, a newsletter focusing on helping HR executives navigate the needs of the workplace. Sign up to get it delivered free to your inbox.

About the Author
Emma Burleigh
By Emma BurleighReporter, Success

Emma Burleigh is a reporter at Fortune, covering success, careers, entrepreneurship, and personal finance. Before joining the Success desk, she co-authored Fortune’s CHRO Daily newsletter, extensively covering the workplace and the future of jobs. Emma has also written for publications including the Observer and The China Project, publishing long-form stories on culture, entertainment, and geopolitics. She has a joint-master’s degree from New York University in Global Journalism and East Asian Studies.

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