‘Job hugging’ up as resignation rates in Singapore at record lows, average job tenure rises to eight years

The term "job hugging" has taken on new-found popularity in 2025 as a buzzword coined by consulting firms and adopted by social media users to explain their current career anxieties. -- PHOTO: ISTOCKPHOTO via The Straits Times/ANN

SINGAPORE (The Straits Times/ANN): After more than two years in his role at TikTok, Mike (not his real name) feels trapped.

What seemed like a perfect mid-career pivot into a high-paying role in the tech sector has become increasingly intolerable. He says layoffs and restructuring exercises now happen around him at an “almost quarterly” pace.