ELMA OCAMPO GABRIEL, MAPA,
PhD. Student
Divine Word College of Laoag
Abstract
Quiet quitting is the latest workplace buzzword that is taking social media by storm and is gaining popularity as employees continue to reevaluate their relationships with their jobs. The term is spreading through career sites like LinkedIn, where some job coaches and managers are cautioning against the practice. The term is a bit misleading because quiet quitters aren’t walking away from their jobs. "Quiet quitting" is a new term for an old concept: employee disengagement. However, it comes at a time of "unprecedented burnout". It follows after the "Great Resignation," in which nearly 4 million employees left their jobs each month in 2021 due to disagreements over flexibility and a widespread rethinking of how work should fit into their lives (Kacher, 2022). The emergence of the quiet-quitting phenomenon, according to experts, is not a coincidence. It is the result of the COVID-19 pandemic, which resulted in the loss of millions of jobs as the disease shut down the economy. Even though the majority of people have found new jobs or been rehired, the country's workforce is still smaller than it was before the health care crisis. This puts additional strain on existing employees, who are frequently asked to do more for the same pay.
Keywords: Employee disengagement, Quiet quitting, generation gap, bare minimum
Introduction
According
to Park (2022), the phrase quiet quitting was initially coined
in March 2022 in a tweet. However, the phrase reached true popularity in TikTok
in July 2022. The idea gained traction in the middle of August 2022. The roots
of quiet quitting go even further back to at least April 2021 on Chinese social
media. The Chinese trend tang ping, or “lying flat,” essentially means the same
thing as quiet quitting: avoiding overwork, not making your job your only thing
in life, and otherwise living a happy, healthy life.
According
to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the COVID-19 pandemic not only
disrupted everyone's lives with restrictions and a lockdown on public
gatherings; it also made some people rethink their career choices. During
what's known as the Great Resignation, 71.6 million people left their jobs from
April 2021 through April 2022, which averages 3.98 million people quitting
monthly. In June 2022, the number of people quitting reached 4.2 million. Not
only are people resigning from positions, but they also want to limit their
workloads. Enter quietly quitting -- the new way of doing a job's bare minimum.
Quiet
Quitting Defined
Quiet quitting does not imply that an employee
has left their job, but rather that they have limited their responsibilities to
those that are strictly within their job description to avoid working long
hours. They want to do the bare minimum to complete the task at hand while also
establishing clear boundaries to improve work-life balance. These employees are
still performing their duty long and are not adhering to the 'work is life'
culture to guide their careers and stand out to their superiors. They stick to
their job description, and when they get home, they put work aside and
concentrate on non-work duties and activities.
Quitting
quietly, on the other hand, could indicate that an employee is dissatisfied
with their job or is suffering from burnout. Quitting quietly is one option. According to a Pew Research Center survey, the top
reasons Americans quit their jobs in 2021 will be a lack of advancement
opportunities, low pay, and feeling disrespected. As "quiet quitters" defend their decision to leave their jobs,
company executives and workplace experts argue that while doing less may feel
good in the short term, it may harm your career—and your company—in the long
run.
Signs of quiet quitting work
Quiet quitting signs can vary depending on
the employee's reasons for wanting to take a break from work. If an employee is
truly unhappy, the signs may be much more visible than if they simply want a
better work-life balance. Below are some signs of quiet quitting that include
the following:
·
not attending meetings;
·
arriving late or leaving early;
·
reduction in productivity;
·
less contribution to team projects;
·
not participating in planning or meetings; and
·
lack of passion or enthusiasm.
Why are employees engaged in quiet quitting?
For
years, workers have quietly quit their jobs to pursue new opportunities,
whether it was due to low pay, an unmanageable workload, burnout, or a lack of
advancement opportunities. According to Asana's (2022) Anatomy of Work report,
seven (7) out of ten (10) employees experienced burnout in the last year. The
report findings also showed that employees suffering from burnout are less
engaged, make more mistakes, leave the company and are at a higher risk for low
morale.
According
to LinkedIn's Global Talent Trends (2022) report, more people had time to think
about and question their careers, as well as seek more work-life balance.
People are now using social media to air their grievances. Work does not have
to be life, according to a TikTok video, and people should reconsider their
work-life balance needs. Moreover, as per Gallup's (2021) survey, only 36% of
people are engaged with their jobs.
Working
from home has also altered the workplace dynamics because employees and
managers communicate in new ways through online meetings on platforms such as
Zoom or Teams. Because these interactions must be scheduled rather than
impromptu, they may feel more formal than office chat sessions. Employees and
management may become estranged as a result of infrequent meetings. Employees
who receive regular support and praise may feel valued and connected.
Quiet
quitting may also indicate that an increasing number of employees are
disengaged from their jobs and employers, which benefits neither party (Spielman,2022).
As a result, businesses may fail to get the most out of their employees, while
employees put in long hours on a job they dislike.
Generation
Gap
According
to Deloitte's (2022) Global Gen Z and Millennial Survey, there are potential
generational differences between Boomers and Gen-X executives who have
subscribed to the hustle 'rise and grind' mentality to climb the corporate
ladder and younger generations who prioritize a better work-life balance.
According to the survey, one of the top concerns of the Gen-Z and millennial
generations is money, with pay being the number one reason workers in the
demographic have left their jobs in the last two years. Unlike previous
generations, one of the most difficult challenges for the new generation of
professionals is maintaining interpersonal connections and relationships in the
workplace, after the pandemic isolated them during critical years of
development.
Money
may not always be the top priority in a job for Generation Z, those who were
born between 1997 and 2012 and are also referred to as Zoomers by Pew Research
Center. Instead, they prioritize work-from-home and remote flexibility,
wellness and mental health initiatives, and meaningful work and culture. Many
people are willing to change jobs to find the best fit. According to Oxford
Economics, the number of Gen Z workers in Australia, France, Germany, the
Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States is expected to more than
triple to 87 million by 2030, accounting for 30 per cent of total employment.
According to an August 2022
survey of 1,000 employees conducted by ResumeBuilder (2022), approximately 25%
of workers across all age groups said they are doing the bare minimum at work.
However, the study found that approximately 30% of people aged 25 to 34 said
they are doing the bare minimum, compared to only 8% of workers aged 54 and up.
Meanwhile, some conservatives and older workers are bashing the idea of quiet
quitting, deriding it as "lazy," self-indulgent and
lacking professionalism.
Despite these differences,
experts believe the debate will ultimately benefit both employees and employers
by revealing how modern workplace communication between workers and managers
must change.
Downsides of engaging in Quiet Quitting
Quiet quitting is a natural
reaction to the overwhelmingly unfair and unbalanced world of salaried work. We
give up our right to overtime and hourly pay in exchange for benefits, job
security, and the feeling that we're "taken care of." We're also
expected to go "above and beyond" at our jobs, which means taking on
extra responsibilities and working extra hours, with the expectation that our
efforts will be rewarded. Except that anyone who has ever worked in any job
knows that it is relatively uncommon for those who work hard to be rewarded.
However, there is a far more
compelling case to be made that employers are the ones Quiet Quitting - they
are the ones who have failed to create incentive structures for working harder
and doing more, and they are the ones who have failed to create meaningful ways
to grow in an organization, and they are the ones who are now complaining that
people aren't working hard enough.
According
to Freedman (2022), when bosses consider whom to promote, they might look to
workers who are going above and beyond their job requirements. "With that
choice [of quiet quitting], there will come slower promotions and less
visibility, and possibly fewer rewards," she added.
Quiet Quitting corresponds to
Quiet Firing
This is the equivalent of
bosses complaining about "quiet quitting." This is a difficult
question for bosses to answer because it is nearly impossible to answer without
sounding evil. As a reaction to quiet quitting, "quiet firing"
involves employers mistreating their employees in the hopes that they will quit
but not fire them.
The
decision to step away from a “hustle culture” can cause tension between
employees and company executives, and can also cause a rift between colleagues
who may have to pick up the slack. "Whether people feel like their
coworkers are committed to quality work can affect the performance of the
organization and cause friction inside teams and organizations (Harter, 2022).
How
employers respond to combat quiet quitting
Leaders
must devise strategies for engaging the quiet quitters. Working actively is
required to ensure the success of both the individual and the business.
Employees will thrive if they enjoy their jobs and find meaning and purpose in
what they do.
The
most effective way to prevent employee disengagement is to improve the employee
experience. Speak with employees, solicit their feedback, and determine what
you can do to make them feel appreciated. It could be as simple as daily
encouraging words.
Ensure
that workloads are realistic and that appropriate boundary is in place to
maintain a work-life balance. It is critical to check in with employees to
ensure that these boundaries are clear and that an open and honest relationship
is established. Managers can help prevent burnout by encouraging employees to
take breaks during the day and to take advantage of their vacation and paid time
off throughout the year.
Another option is for
managers to set a good example by not responding to emails when they are not
working. Managers should avoid sending non-urgent late messages to
"incentivize employees to completely disconnect from their computers."
Lastly,
employers should discuss career paths with employees and look for ways to help
them achieve their ultimate goals through clear, actionable tasks. Quiet
quitting will not change unless companies help employees feel valued and learn
how to manage realistic expectations.
Conclusion
Understandably, workers feel exploited and unfairly
treated at work. Given everything that people have been through in recent
years, it's understandable that they would want to decompress and practice
self-care. There must, however, be a time limit. The longer you let the day
drag on, the worse you will feel. You must eventually find a way to earn a
living while also enjoying your work.
Additionally, all of this poisonous panic stems from
capitalism's fundamental misunderstanding of loyalty. People can be brought
together by a mission, and they can believe in that mission and work hard to
achieve it, but true loyalty is a two-way street. If the management wants people
to work harder, give them a tangible reward for doing so, such as a clear path
to advancement in the organization or even money. If they want people to work
harder, they should make it clear that they will be rewarded for job
performance and be specific about the outcome of good job performance.
At the end of the analysis posed an important question: Is Quiet
Quitting Good or Bad? Does it harm the employees and hurts the organization?
Quitting quietly is generally a good thing for most
people. Workers are establishing boundaries, recognizing their labour power,
prioritizing things outside of work, and achieving a better work-life balance.
For the executives, quiet quitting may not seem ideal, but happy workers and
content will likely work faster and harder. If a problem exists, managers can
consider improving compensation and benefits, and reducing exploitative hours.
Management should remember that, while numbers and metrics are important in the
workplace, employees are, first and foremost, human after all. They must
consider their employees' desire to be seen, heard, acknowledged, and valued.
When such needs are met, the level of motivation rises, resulting in increased
productivity and higher quality yield, which prevents quiet quitting.
References
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(2022, August 24). “Quiet quitting”: A revolution in how we work or the
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the End of Working Hard? – Retrieved from www.cbsnews.com. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/what-is-quiet-quitting.
Garcia, N. (2022, August 31). “Quiet
quitting” is taking over the workplace – what exactly does it mean? • l!fe •
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Telford, T. (2022, August 21). This is
what quiet quitting looks like - The Washington Post. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/08/21/quiet-quitting-what-to-know/
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