Understand the Reasons Behind Quiet Quitting

What is your daily work routine? Do you have time for your social life beyond your tasks?

From mid-2022, these questions appeared in the minds of many employees. Especially during the rise of remote and hybrid work models after the pandemic opened the gates to rethinking career choices and being the decision maker of workflow plans. First, this quiet awakening got onto the stage. Next, people started to question subscribing to the hustle-culture mentality. Following this trend, quiet awakening started to shape into quiet quitting.

What is “quiet quitting”?

The shortest definition of quiet quitting is doing the tasks involved with your assigned role at work, no more, no less; doing your job without completing any tasks not explicitly stated in the job description.

Quiet quitting is different from great resignation – a trend of employees leaving their jobs that starts in early 2021, as a response to a consistent rise in the cost of living without an equal increase in wages to balance it out, safety concerns involving COVID-19, and ongoing job dissatisfaction. So, as quiet quitters, people are not quitting their jobs; they are quitting the idea of going above and beyond.

How does quiet quitting spread?

Quiet quitting is a new term for an old behavior, namely disengagement. Companies and employees have suffered similar conditions for years; however, the quiet quitting term became widespread after 2021. Three points that accelerate the global spread of this term are listed below:

The roots of quiet quitting go back to April 2021 on Chinese social media. A social protest movement - rejecting the culture of overwork - called 'Tang Ping' (lying flat). The entire generation of Chinese youth rejected the pressures of hustle culture by lying flat.
This phrase reached true popularity on TikTok in July 2022 with Zaid Khan's video, which went viral with 3 million views in just 2 weeks
August 2022 Google Trends shows that "quiet quitting" hits a peak on Google.

According to 2022 Gallup surveys, quiet quitters make up at least 50% of the U.S. workforce, and one-third of employees are engaged at work. In Europe, the situation is even worse – just 14% of European workers are engaged at their workplaces.

What causes quiet quitting?

People are demanding flexibility in their jobs, willing to focus on family, travel, and hobbies equally. Under these listed conditions, they are more likely to quit quietly:

Feel burnout at work
Lack of communication
Undervalued at work
Being underpaid and overworked
Lack of sense of belonging
Disinterest with work

Managers' impact on quiet quitting

In a workplace study by HBR, more than 13,000 employees rated 2,801 managers who "balance getting results with a concern for others' needs" and that their "work environment is where people want to go the extra mile." Results show that managers rated highest on balancing relationships, with 62% of their employees willing to give extra effort and only 3% quietly quitting.

These studies point to employers creating an environment where quiet quitting happens. These are the main issues that help create this environment for employers:

Setting boundaries surrounding work hours – no-contact policy around out-of-office times.
Having regular 1-on-1s
Giving value and appreciation for work
Empowering them to say no to projects that aren't aligned with their goals
Asking for candid feedback and indicating that you value their opinions

What can be done instead of quiet quitting?

Quiet quitting seems to not solve the situations employees get into; it is more so delaying it. To solve the case, these can be done:

Decide on what makes you consider quiet quitting.
Try defining boundaries and setting expectations with others.
Speak to your manager about your concerns.
Push for the possible changes instead of disengaging from your role.

Spiky is here

It is possible to prevent burnout before quite quitting takes place by understanding yourself, your teammates, employees, and real responses to your actions. During hybrid or online working, Spiky can provide analysis at the level of sentiment, interest, and inclusivity to empower engagement and let every individual voice be heard.