In the UK, the dust is still settling on the Chancellor’s red briefcase, and this year’s Autumn Budget brought the expected tax increases and challenges for businesses. In the US, they’re still recovering from the aftermath of the longest government shutdown in history.
Business leaders across the globe are seeing storm clouds on the horizon, warning of job losses and hiring freezes.
If you’re here, you’re probably not the person pressing the big red button to freeze hiring. What should a recruiter or HR professional like you do to cope with a hiring freeze?
What is a hiring freeze and why do companies use them?
You’ll hear a few different terms used for this, like “hiring freeze”, “recruitment freeze”, or “headcount freeze”. Strictly speaking, a hiring freeze means a temporary halt to most or all external hiring while the business stabilises.
Just to muddy the water a bit, some organisations use headcount freeze to mean the same thing; others define it more narrowly as “overall headcount can’t increase, but we can still replace critical leavers.” In practice, each company writes its own rules, so the first thing you should do is confirm what the term means for your business or client specifically.
Why do companies implement hiring freezes during an economic downturn?
Simply put: to save money.
Economic uncertainty, cash flow issues and financial instability often prompt leadership to pause the hiring process while they reassess the business's financial situation and protect liquid assets.
I’ve also seen them during company or organisational restructuring, when the leadership team needs time to determine how roles and responsibilities will be defined going forward. Unpredictable external events, such as global crises and other emergencies, can also halt hiring plans.
How long do hiring freezes last and when should you implement a hiring freeze?
Most hiring freezes last between a few weeks and several months, with three to six months being pretty standard. It depends on economic and market conditions, and how quickly your organisation manages to stabilise its finances and rebuild its resources. If the problems persist, the freeze will likely continue.
Staffing needs don't miraculously disappear just because you've stopped hiring.. Worse, a prolonged freeze doesn’t just make it harder to maintain your service levels - it can make it much harder to hang on to your best people.
With that in mind, when should HR advise leadership to implement hiring freezes rather than other cost-cutting measures?
Again, it depends on the financial situation and how much flexibility you have around your salary budget. If the issue is short-term cash flow, a freeze might buy some much-needed time without the upheaval of lay-offs (which are a sure-fire way to harm employee morale).
If you're forecasting a longer stretch of hiring constraints, you may well be better off having a broader conversation about cutting non-essential roles, contractors and other cost-saving methods before defaulting to a blanket recruitment freeze. Otherwise, you risk losing access to top talent that won't be available when hiring resumes.
The first 7 days: how should HR and hiring managers respond to a hiring freeze?
Align on the Scope Before You Announce the Freeze
Before you hit send on anything, work with business leaders to define exactly what the freeze covers. Ask them questions like:
- Does it apply only to new hires, or does it also block backfills when someone leaves?
- Are certain departments exempt?
- What about vacant key positions that are mission-critical?
- And how will you handle contractors or temporary staff?
You need to clarify the rationale with leadership: is this purely to control costs and protect financial stability, or is it part of wider company restructuring?
It’s also important to agree on metrics and review points so the freeze doesn't drift indefinitely without anyone checking in to see whether it's still necessary. Getting clarity upfront will make every subsequent conversation easier and help you respond effectively to concerns from your team.
In terms of the metrics HR should be measuring when you stop hiring efforts, you’ll want to track at least:
- Turnover and regretted attrition
- Sickness absence and burnout indicators
- Internal mobility and promotion rates
- Employee engagement or pulse survey scores
- Time-to-hire and pipeline health for critical roles
Data helps you show leadership the real impact of the freeze and when it’s time to lift it.
Communicate clearly with employees and hiring managers
Once you’ve established the scope, draft a simple, honest communication strategy. You'll need to cover separate talking points for your all-staff announcement and for hiring managers (whose inboxes will swiftly fill with questions).
Be sure to address the elephant in the room right at the start. Be crystal clear about what this hiring freeze means for existing employees, especially those concerned that it could be a precursor to layoffs or further organisational restructuring.
Be transparent about what's changing and, even more importantly, what isn't. If the freeze is designed to prevent layoffs, say so. People appreciate knowing the reasoning, even when the news isn't great. No one likes working in an information vacuum. Silence breeds anxiety, so commit to regular updates, even when there's no news. Maintaining trust during uncertainty is one of the most important things HR can do for their business and their people.
Protect your employer brand and talent pipeline
You also need to consider the effect a hiring freeze will have on the people already going through the hiring process. Immediately update all open positions on your careers page and job boards to reflect the temporary pause. Smooth the transition by reaching out to candidates already in the hiring process and explaining with empathy that you're pausing external recruitment due to current economic conditions.
Be careful here - people can and will leave poor Glassdoor reviews if you handle this part poorly. You don't want to let your talent pipeline go cold, though. Top talent won't wait around indefinitely in today's job market, but light-touch check-ins, talent pools and LinkedIn touchpoints can keep warm relationships alive until you’re able to start hiring again. When the freeze lifts, you'll be glad you invested the time.
How do you protect employee morale and workload when a company stops hiring?
Address the added pressure openly to protect team morale
The reality is that when you stop filling empty seats, everyone else has to absorb the extra work. That means increased workload, longer hours and stalled progression. Ignoring this pressure doesn't make it go away. It just fosters resentment. Acknowledge it openly with your team.
Explain that the idea is to avoid layoffs where possible, not to punish current employees. Naming the challenge gives everyone permission to have honest conversations about what's realistic and what isn't. It also shows them that leadership is aware of the strain. That can go a long way toward maintaining morale during difficult periods.
Re-prioritise ruthlessly to reduce negative impact
Once you've acknowledged the pressure, you need to address it. Work with leaders to pause non-essential roles and low-priority projects so people aren't silently doing two jobs. Give hiring managers explicit cover to drop or delay deliverables rather than expecting the same results from a smaller team than planned.
You don’t have to lower your standards, but you do have to be realistic. If you keep every project and every deadline exactly as they were before the freeze, you're setting people up to burn out.
Re-prioritisation is one of the best ways to keep employee morale up and voluntary departures down - it shows you’re not expecting everyone just to shrug and get on with it.
Use low-cost ways to support wellbeing
You don't need a huge salary budget to show people you genuinely care. Regular one-to-ones focused on managing workload and stress, not just performance targets, can make a real difference.
Everyday recognition, public thanks and peer-to-peer shout-outs are a great way to show your people that they are valued when formal progression is on hold.
Reinforce flexible working, remind people to use their wellbeing resources and actively encourage annual leave. When budgets are tight, small but meaningful gestures can make all the difference.
How do you make a hiring freeze work for your hiring process and talent strategy?
Prioritise and reorganise the hiring process
If your company or your client stops hiring new employees, use the time well. Review all your open positions. Decide which positions are genuinely mission-critical and which can wait. Separating the nice-to-haves from the essentials forces a useful conversation about staffing needs and hiring plans.
At the same time, tidy up your hiring process. Update job descriptions, streamline interview steps, refine evaluation criteria and clean up your ATS data. This lull is your chance to fix the issues that slowed you down before.
Use tools to help lighten the burden. Parseur is great for automating CV parsing and data entry, which frees up your reduced team to focus on strategic hiring decisions rather than tedious admin work.
Parseur: The resume parser that keeps hiring moving
Parseur converts resumes (PDFs, Word, email attachments, HTML) into structured candidate records in minutes. It extracts key fields: name, contact, education, work history, skills, and normalises addresses and repeated blocks of employment history so your ATS or HR systems receive clean, ready-to-use data.
Setup takes minutes: forward resumes to a Parseur mailbox (or upload via the API), and Parseur will automatically extract resume data and map outputs to your HR tools.
That way, when hiring kicks off again, you're ready to move quickly and efficiently. Planning strategically now will pay off when the freeze lifts.
Invest in your current workforce instead of defaulting to new hires
One of the smartest moves you can make during a temporary hiring freeze is to focus on internal development. Use cross-training, upskilling and internal mobility to cover any urgent capability gaps. This demonstrates your long-term commitment to your existing employees, which is even more important when external openings are limited.
Link this to your broader hiring strategy and succession planning. Your people need to see a future, even when the company stops hiring. If people believe there's still a path forward for them despite there being no new positions, they're far more likely to stick around.
Consider strategic alternatives to permanent hiring
Temporary staff, contractors, freelancers and agency partners can smooth spikes in workload, giving you a workaround that still respects the freeze. I’ve seen a lot of organisations still allow temporary hiring even when adding to their permanent headcount is blocked, because the financial commitments and risk profiles are different. This can offer real cost savings and flexibility compared to adding to your permanent headcount, helping you reduce costs while still meeting immediate staffing needs.
At Oriel Partners, we regularly support clients who need temp staff during hiring freezes, whether that's a few weeks of admin support or a longer-term project role. Temps can step in quickly, deliver results, and move on when the pressure eases, without affecting your permanent salary budget.
Read more about how hiring a temp can help you here
Always plan for the next crisis
When it’s finally over, treat this hiring freeze as a rehearsal. What worked well in your response, and where were you underprepared? Be honest about what you'd do differently next time.
My advice would be to build a simple hiring freeze playbook covering decision triggers, communication templates, workload triage and well-being support. A few clear pages outlining the key steps will save you enormous time and stress next time.
Remember, a hiring freeze is usually just a temporary pause. It’s a response to a period of financial pressure, not a permanent verdict on the business. How a business communicates, re-prioritises and supports people will determine whether you lose top talent or emerge stronger and ready to scale up when new positions open up again.
Focus on what you can control, keep your pipeline warm and your people happy, and you'll be ready to hit the ground running.
Author
Auria Heanley is co-founder of Oriel Partners, a temp agency based in Central London. She is extremely passionate about providing the highest quality of service to both clients looking to hire temp staff and candidates looking for a temporary role. Oriel Partners’ clients range from global multinationals to small boutique firms, all requiring the same personal service and high-calibre support.
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