“Quiet quitting” has become a term that has risen in popularity in recent years, but what is it and how can it affect your business?
Quiet quitting is basically the new name for the ‘working to rule’ principle, where employees do exactly what they are employed to do and not a thing more – no staying late, no working through lunch, no answering emails out of hours – just what their contract specifies.
If they feel unsatisfied, undervalued or burnt out, they will do the minimum possible to still get paid and not fall foul of the HR department.
In no particular order, the seven top signs of quiet quitting are:
- Minimal effort – the employee does the basics of their job as specified in their contract of employment and nothing else.
- Lack of or reduced initiative – they stop doing anything they are not asked or told to do, and they no longer volunteer for new jobs or tasks.
- Withdrawing into themselves – they no longer engage with other team members as much, avoiding work social events or asking for assistance
- Less engaged – they don’t contribute in meetings any more, or offer less ideas and solutions
- Fall in enthusiasm – they no longer have any passion or enthusiasm for any aspect of their work or the goals the business is working towards.
- No interest in growing – they show little or no interest in learning new software, undertaking new training or developing their career.
- Decrease in quality – the quality of their work drops, they may miss deadlines or make errors. Alternatively, their work may be perfectly fine, but not as good or thorough as it once was.
In no particular order, the seven top causes of quiet quitting:
- Burnout – if they have been continually been operating at a higher level than their job role, or higher than everyone else around them, that cannot be sustained so they have to fall back to a minimum standard they can cope with.
- Bad management – if their managers are unsupportive or continue to push them beyond what can be reasonably expected then this will demotivate, especially if they feel there is no compensation for going above and beyond.
- No recognition – as mentioned above, if they do not feel appreciated or respected then why would you bother to go the extra mile?
- Being undervalued – if they are being paid the same as everyone else, and those doing less than them have never been punished for it or rewarded less than them, why would you bother?
- Unclear expectations – if they do not have goals and expectations communicated to them and they are criticised for not meeting them despite not knowing what they are, this will not encourage extra effort.
- No growth potential – if they cannot see any potential to advance or have been overlooked for promotion in the past then they may not continue to go above and beyond.
- Toxic environment – if the workplace is abusive, unfair or discriminatory in any way they employees will likely disengage from it for their own sanity.
In part, the trend has grown out of the work/life balance that has become more important to people in recent years, but also as a response to ‘hustle culture’, whereby people do everything they can to get ahead even if they are not rewarded for it immediately. Many people felt badly treated by their employers during COVID-19 and are in no rush to go back to going above and beyond as the norm.
It is also not a trend just restricted to Millennials and Gen Z as some first suggested, and it is being found across all industries and at all levels. It has also been found to be more related to the manager’s ability to engage staff rather than the employee’s willingness to work harder. The more an employee feels undervalued and underappreciated has a direct correlation to their likelihood of quiet quitting.
Why is it bad for business?
If people on your team start to quiet quit, then the drive and enthusiasm your team has will start to drop which will of course have a knock on effect to your business productivity and output. These employees are not doing anything wrong either so you cannot just get rid of them either. Our advice is to nip it in the bud as soon as you can and turn the unhappiness around.