What Is Quiet Quitting and Why Is Everyone Talking About It?

Quiet quitting is a new phrase popularised by TikTok that refers to young professionals reducing their job efforts to the bare minimum.

Despite its name, quiet quitting does not indicate that an employee is leaving their work. Rather, quiet quitting occurs when employees restrict their workload to the bare minimum required to keep their employment and complete their job requirements. Common behaviours include:

• Not taking on additional work as requested by peers or management.

• Working only during contracted hours.

• Not working during lunch breaks.

• Not replying to emails after hours.

Establishing work-life boundaries is beneficial, but the increased hype surrounding the concept concerns employers.

 

What causes employees to quiet quit?

There are several reasons why employees may begin to display quiet quitting behaviours, but one of the most common is that they believe there is too much burden on them with little support.

Employees may become overwhelmed by the expectations imposed on them by management after two and a half years of working with limited resources and, as a result, withdraw. Others are hesitant to revert to the prior status quo of working to exhaustion because the pandemic has shown them the benefits of a healthier work-life balance.

Stress is likely the most crucial aspect of this movement, especially given the current emphasis on better mental health at work. The combination of increased stress levels and companies asking more from workers than they can or are willing to deliver forces some workers to reassess the effort they are willing to put into work for no pay.

 

Converging into a new normal

For many, the never-ending news cycle of recent years has proved upsetting. Some employees may be dissatisfied with their workplace, how management treats them, or demands to return to the office.

The current economic instability exacerbates the situation. With fewer employees, the tasks and responsibilities of those who remain have grown, putting additional (unwelcome) pressure on workers. While many expected this to fix itself after the pandemic, the present economic environment has caused many employers to pause their hiring plans, increasing the "burden" on current employees.

Some workers may also quiet quit if they believe they are being abused by bosses who abuse their authority or disrespect their staff. 

The problem is that, with so many employees now working remotely, it can be challenging for employers to assess whether quiet quitting is on the uptick in their organisation and even more difficult to pinpoint the root of the problem.

 

Prevention always beats cure

Recent surveys show employee engagement has declined since the epidemic, after an initial spike. Only 21% of employees are engaged in their work, according to the State of the Global Workplace 2022 Report. This indicates that four out of every five employees may be able to quiet quit, a startling statistic.

 

Opportunities for learning

Understanding that stress plays a major role in any quitting scenario, quiet or not, employers must look for strategies to keep it from taking over their organisation. The first step is to ensure that the present workload on staff is fair. 

• Have employees been given new and extra responsibilities without relinquishing previous ones? 

• Are they engaged in tasks that are meaningful to them? 

• Do they comprehend how their efforts fit into the larger picture of the organisation?

One strategy to get answers to these questions is to ask managers to arrange one-on-one meetings with their subordinates to discuss their goals and sentiments about work. Is the employee content with their job?

Organisations that are still against flexible working arrangements, such as full-time remote work or flexible schedules, may want to change their minds. Remote work has been shown to lower employee stress. Even allowing remote work one or two days per week can help prevent adverse mental health issues.

 

Reevaluating the employer-employee relationship

Traditional management approaches are transactional in nature, which means that the employee is rewarded (for example, compensated) for a specific set of behaviours (for example, tasks). While this is important in some professions, transactional leadership styles rarely allow for employee initiative and innovation.

Employers who practise transactional leadership may be more vulnerable to quiet quitting, which, by definition, is an accurate reproduction of this agreement: employees are performing the tasks assigned to them per the job description and nothing more.

Conversely, a transformational leadership style in which managers and companies consider employees' professional and personal needs can help make employees happy and boost productivity, whether they work remotely or in the office.

Employers should focus on nurturing positive workplace culture. When workers are engaged and happy at work, they are far less likely to practice quiet quitting.

Source: Reworked