Why Quiet Quitting Sucks for Everyone
“Quiet quitting” is everywhere. You may have heard the term from one of the hundreds of trending TikTok videos amassing more than 3.9 million views or from news roundups from The Wall Street Journal or USA Today covering the trend.
What is “quiet quitting”?
The phrase “quiet quitting” is initially deceiving. It doesn’t mean leaving your current job —it actually means that you do the status quo or bare minimum of your job to get by, and no more. It’s also a direct rejection of the formerly glamourized “hustle culture” mentality popularized in the 2010’s — something The New York Times dubbed “toil culture” in its 2019 widely circulated article, Why Are Young People Pretending to Love Work?.
Is “quiet quitting'' really new?
A lot of coverage might attribute the concept of “quiet quitting” as a Gen Z trend, but the idea of coasting at work has been around for generations. As a so-called (gulp) geriartric millennial myself, the concept of keeping your head down and carefully caring less has been a survival mechanism candidly discussed and utilized among former colleagues and friends in abysmal work environments many times over the years — it just didn’t have a viral term and TikTok responses to go along with it.
“Quiet quitting” is also a direct rejection of the formerly glamourized “hustle culture” mentality popularized in the 2010’s — something The New York Times dubbed “toil culture”.
From a quantitative perspective, Gallup has reported that employee engagement in the U.S. saw its first annual decline in a decade -- the rate of engaged employees dropped from 36% in 2020 to 34% in 2021, continuing the decline into early 2022 with a current rate of 32% of engaged employees. This data shouldn’t come as a surprise. A lot has happened over the past three years that impacted employee engagement, individuals’ perspectives, and social impact priorities — COVID-19, Me Too, Black Lives Matter — that can’t and shouldn’t be ignored. From a global pandemic to social disruption, these cultural shifts have fundamentally changed how so many of us view our work lives within the overall context and priorities of our whole lives.
What does this mean for business leaders?
For managers, it’s critical to really understand what each of your team members want out of their roles at your organization — what motivates them, what challenges them professionally, what they want to learn, but also, what’s important to them outside of the office. Strong managers rely on understanding how team members and clients are feeling — they know when someone is fulfilled or overwhelmed and can adjust accordingly. The idea of my team using “quietly quitting” as their constant coping mechanism or status quo would not only concern me, but it would have a deep ripple effect.
In my dual role as a business owner and as a leader of a virtual team, I’m heavily dependent on trusting my team to tap into their respective passions for what we do in the social impact space and channel that into strategic ideas for clients, campaigns for civic partners, or programs for our Community Partners. We’re successful as a firm because our team members are passionate, engaged, and constantly challenging themselves—and me as their manager—to do better. To create that kind of environment, it’s critical that we be transparent with each other about what we as individuals need: time away from work, the space to say when we’re overwhelmed, the ability to ask for support when we’re stuck, etc. Being a manager means guiding and challenging your people, but it means taking care of your people, too.
What can I do about it?
Organizations’ instinctive reaction might be to lose trust in its employee base, but that’s counterproductive. If you’re a manager and you suspect one of your team members are “quietly quitting,” it’s your responsibility to first try and figure out if the work environment can be improved to engage the team member again. It’s critical to include self reflection in that process and evaluate if you’ve been available to your team, if you’ve been responsive to their needs or concerns, and if the transparency and trust you’d like to see from them are being returned. Beyond that, is there flexibility where certain responsibilities can be shifted to spark more engagement, interest, or growth in a team member who may need it? Or, are there things you can do as a manager to ensure that they understand their role in the organization’s mission and bigger picture?
For me as an individual, I’ve always sought out work environments that allowed me to learn, ones that challenged me or kept me on my toes. And while I know it’s not the same for everyone, I personally feel creative and engaged when I’m working with a team. Is my job my entire life and identity? Definitely not. Can you find a role where you’re mentally challenged, excited to be there, and still maintain healthy boundaries? Yes! Because if quietly quitting becomes your status quo, it might be a signal that you need to start looking for a new job. For me, quiet quitting is not something to aspire to; it’s a warning sign.
“Quiet quitting” may be the latest TikTok trend, but it’s reflective of the bigger reprioritization that workers of all ages have been making. Whether you’re managing a team of four or 4,000, this culture shift provides a clear opportunity for managers to rethink how they communicate with their team, and what they can do to inspire and engage them so that they aren’t forced into professional apathy as a coping mechanism. I’m not making a case for superficial “cool office” culture equivalents like ping pong tables, snack bars, or other outdated gimmicks, nor am I advocating for 12-15 hour work days or performative workplace politics — instead, all employers need to intentionally and formally evaluate if their organizations have truly adapted enough to reflect what employee needs demands in 2022 and beyond.
