It became a cliche to say how much the pandemic has impacted everyday life, including where and how people work. But that is precisely the reason why we see dysfunctional teams and companies. During the pandemic, especially curfews, people start to reassess their priorities. And some of them decided work is not what is (the most) important.
This impacted the relationships and communication with employees and managers. Consequently, it influenced how the work was done. Employees feel disconnected, which makes them frustrated. They also see how others are working less than usual, so they ask themselves:
Why should I put any additional effort into my job, when bare minumum is enough?
And that is how every quiet quitting story is started.
In this article, we will cover five topics to help you understand quiet quitting and prevent it.
This article includes the following:
- what is quite quitting
- sign of quite quitting
- how to deal with it
- how to prevent it
- quiet quitting tips
What is quiet quitting?
It is a form of employee disengagement where employees decide to fulfill only the bare minimum job requirements. Their only goal is to keep the job and nothing more. They don't care whether the company will succeed, their team's future, and how to make an impact. Usually, they don't care about career advancement.
It can be seen as an employee power move. —an effort to regain or retain their self-respect when they feel a psychological threat in the workplace from those who make the rules,"
But this became a movement that has been gaining instigation since 2021. While the trend to give everything for the job lasted for a long time, numerous people only want to do the contractually agreed minimum while generally looking for a new job.
Reddit's antiwork community has more than 2.3 million members, mainly from North America. Even though the community is not solely focused on quite quitting, most of their member are inserted in techniques, examples, and even guides on how to do it.
Whom should we blame?
This depends on the view - from the managerial, moral, and business culture.
Some people see it as an employee power move—an effort to regain or retain their self-respect when they feel a psychological threat in the workplace from those who make the rules,"
Some see it as a response to hustle culture. A mentality that is goal oriented where a person is committed to doing whatever it takes to get ahead, no matter what, regardless of how insurmountable the challenges are. So some communities see Quiet quitting as an active protest to hustle culture.
However, there are valid assumptions that managers must be blamed.
And that is what research from the Gallup study is showing. A study finds that "Quiet quitters" make up at least 50% of the U.S. workforce and probably even more. Also concerning data is U.S. employee engagement, which is at the lowest level in almost a decade. The ratio of engaged to actively disengaged employees is now 1.8 to 1.
How to prevent quiet quitting?
It's a phenomenon that no manager wants to see happen. This "quiet quitting" can be detrimental to morale and productivity, and you must do what you can to prevent it from happening in your workplace. Here are three key strategies:
1. Properly compensate your team. Employees who feel undervalued or underpaid are much more likely to quietly quit than those who feel fairly compensated for their work. Ensure you're offering competitive salaries and benefits and that salary increases are tied to performance.
2. Listen to your team members. Take the time to get feedback from your team regularly and act on it. Employees who feel their concerns are being heard and addressed are much less likely to quietly quit.
3. Maintain boundaries. A healthy work/life balance is crucial for preventing quiet quitting. Make sure your team members have the time to recharge outside of work and don't feel like they're expected to be available 24/7. By respecting your employees' time, you'll build the trust and loyalty that will prevent them from leaving without notice.
Conclusion
Now that you understand what quiet quitting is, why it exists and how to prevent it, you should think about signals from your team members. Try to talk to them as soon as possible and understand their views and emotions.
By doing so, you will understand whether there are any issues and how to manage them on time.