“Quiet Quitting” is a new term to describe a phenomenon that has been gaining popularity nowadays, especially among younger remote employees, such as Millenials and Gen Z, who feel that the workplace quality has declined since the pandemic (Gallup, 2022). The term refers to the event in which employees still perform their job duties but no longer go above and beyond (Society for Human Resource Management, 2022).
Employees who are “quiet quitting” are doing so to set boundaries: they actively opt out of tasks which go beyond their assigned responsibilities. While they may continue to accomplish their primary duties, they may be less willing to take part in activities considered as “citizenship behaviors”, which include staying at work until late, showing up to work early, or even attending meetings that are not mandatory (Harvard Business Review, 2022).
So, why is this a big issue for organizations? Most jobs today require some level of extra effort from their workers to collaborate with their colleagues in order to meet customer needs (Gallup, 2022). Not only do organizations whose employees are willing to go beyond the call of duty carry a competitive advantage, but without their willingness to go the extra mile, “quiet quitters” often leave their tasks to be done by their colleagues, therefore leaving them with more burden (Harvard Business Review, 2022).
What can organizations do to avoid this?
According to Gallup, “quiet quitting” is one of the results of poor management. To fix this, they suggested that companies must address manager engagement and retrain them on how to adjust to the new hybrid work environment, how to have meaningful conversations with employees to help reduce burnout and disengagement, and how to create accountability for individual performance, team collaboration and customer value.
It is important that employees realize the importance of their role in the workplace, as well as their contributions to their organization’s goals.
Sources:
- Harter, J. (2022) “Is Quiet Quitting Real?” Gallup. https://www.gallup.com/workplace/398306/quiet-quitting-real.aspx
- Klotz, A., & Bolino, M. (2022) “When Quiet Quitting Is Worse Than the Real Thing.” Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2022/09/when-quiet-quitting-is-worse-than-the-real-thing.
- Masterson, V. (2022) “What is quiet quitting”. The World Economic Forum. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2022/09/tiktok-quiet-quitting-explained/
- Society for Human Resource Management (2022). “New SHRM Research: Is 'Quiet Quitting' Affecting Your Workplace.” https://www.shrm.org/about-shrm/press-room/press-releases/pages/new-shrm-research-is-quiet-quitting-affecting-your-workplace.aspx