Posted on 08/24/2022 8:27:24 AM PDT by Brookhaven
Move over rage quitting, “quiet quitting” is the latest workplace phenomenon.
It may sound like the act of someone silently resigning, but it actually refers to the rejection of “hustle culture” — the expectation to go above and beyond in your job, rather than simply doing the requirements of the job.
It’s a term that has gained traction since a wave of TikTok posts recently emerged from people who consider themselves quiet quitters. TikTok creator Zaid Khan, @zkchillin, posted on TikTok about his own discovery of the term in late July — a video that went viral. In the video he described quiet quitting as “not outright quitting your job, but quitting the idea of going above and beyond.”
But what exactly is quiet quitting, what’s inspired it and what does it signal for how Gen Z shows up at work in the long term? Here’s an explainer.
What is quiet quitting? Going above and beyond simply meeting the bare minimum requirements of a job has long been the working norm. This supercharged work ethic — dubbed hustle culture — has been a way workers have made themselves stand out to their employers, and over time has become standard.
But like most things in the world of work — this too is now being upended.
It might be because of the great resignation trend, which empowered employees to demand more from their work experiences and work-like balance. But it’s also likely a byproduct of the psychological fallout from living through the coronavirus pandemic, and the subsequent burnout that affected millions.
Regardless, giving 110% is out the door because workers want to avoid exhaustion and ditch stressful jobs that expect them to do more than what’s in their job description. And it’s Generation Z workers — those aged up to 24 years old — who seem the keenest to embrace it.
“The generational influences that were paused during the two years of Covid are now back and they have accelerated because of the options that this workforce has,” said Joe Galvin, chief research officer at Vistage, a CEO coaching and peer advisory organization. “The generational drivers behind that place value on things more so than just career, income, career, income.”
The result is that more employees are strictly sticking to their job descriptions and aren’t staying on the clock past 5 p.m. in an effort to avoid burnout and make time for things outside of work.
“It’s an important message to amplify that we’re all deserving of having a work-life balance and for work to not be all consuming and inflicting so much stress upon us,” Khan, who works as an engineer, told WorkLife. “I thought there must be people out there who feel the same way. Going above and beyond at a company, they won’t remember the effort you put in a few years down the line, but what you will remember is those sleepless nights you had. Why can’t you shift that focus to prioritizing your life and your hobbies and nurturing more of the things that matter?”
Khan said he’s made a personal shift to make sure he has the time and energy for things outside of work. But that doesn’t mean he will slack off during his work hours, he stressed.
“In essence what this quiet quitting movement is reinforcing is that doing just your job is enough,” said Khan.
Deloitte Global’s “2022 Gen Z and Millennial” survey found that these generations are striving for balance and advocating for change like never before. The report revealed that good work-life balance and learning and development opportunities were the top priorities for respondents when choosing an employer. It also showed that 45% of Gen Zers feel burned out due to their work environment and 44% have left jobs due to workload pressure.
“Your worth as a person is not defined by your labor,” said Khan in his TikTok, which received nearly 500,000 likes and was viewed over 3 million times.
The Deloitte survey found that 40% of Gen Zers would like to leave their job within two years, and 35% would leave without having another job lined up.
Cathy Acratopulo, co-founder of HR consultancy Lace Partners, said that given the hiring challenges most businesses are facing, employers may find it’s easier to take the productivity hit and retain someone who’s operating at minimum levels than carry the cost of job vacancies.
That said, it’s not something employees are likely to be rewarded for either. “While an employee may feel quietly quitting helps them to achieve a better balance in the short term by not going the extra mile at work, the likelihood is they will be impacted by lower performance-related incentives and reduced opportunities for alternative roles and progression,” said Acratopulo.
So is quiet quitting a new concept? Not entirely. But it’s only now gaining real steam. The pandemic has shifted how people — across all generations — think about their work-life balance. According to PwC’s “Global Workforce Hopes and Fears” survey, one in five workers worldwide plans to quit their job in 2022.
Meanwhile, Gallup’s “State of the Global Workforce 2022” report found there is a 21% global employee engagement rate. In the U.S. and Canada, it’s up to 33%, however 50% of workers experience daily stress and 41% experience daily worry. In the U.K., only 9% of workers are engaged or enthusiastic about work.
And yet, while all generations have reassessed their work-life balance, Gen Zers are known to have radically different views from all older generations when it comes to careers and how to define success in life and in the workforce. So the quiet quitting movement is likely to take hold in this generation especially.
More than 4,300 comments were made on Khan’s TikTok video post, including: “I do just enough to not get fired or noticed,” “I did this when I asked for a raise and they told me no,” “I’ve changed my work motto to ‘strive to be mediocre,'” “my above and beyond requires an above and beyond salary,” and “that’s how normal work should be.” Others admitted participating in quiet quitting for years already.
What is Gen Z saying? “Gen Z is less afraid to speak up and be vocal about this,” said Khan, 24. “We are realizing that our overworking — we don’t see that leading us down the same fruitful path as it did for older generations. Some of my friends and I joke that we’ll never be able to afford a house. Gen Z have this fire under their bellies that something needs to change.”
Twenty-four-year-old Rebecca (a pseudonym WorkLife agreed to) who works at an environmental consultancy in New York told WorkLife that she now only does what her job description outlined after she spent her first year there doing tasks that weren’t discussed during the interview process.
“The most important thing for me is work-life balance,” she said. “If they expect me to not have a life outside of work or lose sleep or sacrifice my breaks or free time or have my hair fall out from stress it will never be worth it.”
While millennials (those born between 1981 and 1996) began to bring some change to the workforce, she finds that some of her millennial colleagues or bosses still have the mindset of a boomer (born between 1946 and 1964) that working hard will pay off.
“I think Gen Z has realized that our time outside of work and our mental health will always take priority and going above and beyond for a company that doesn’t do that for you is not worth it,” Rebecca said.
“We’ve seen a shift for requests by millennials and Gen Zs prior to Covid,” said Vistage’s Galvin. “They were requests, now they’re demands. The reason they can demand it is because the employment market, despite having cooled, it’s only now red hot.”
The power that Gen Z holds in the workforce could be the same reason that they’re able to partake in quiet quitting to steer clear of burnout and ensure they have a work-life balance. Gen Z will account for 30% of the workforce by 2030.
“You see more boomers every day stepping out, fewer [generation] Xs [born between 1965 and 1980] ready to step up, and the millennials and the Zs are now the dominant numbers in the workforce,” said Galvin.
Galvin said that Vistage is focused on developing managerial competencies, coaching capabilities and leadership disciplines so that veteran workers can truly manage the new millennial and Gen Z workforce.
So rather than adopting this quiet quitting, should an employee just talk to their employer about how they feel? Yes. In theory, if an employee is quietly quitting it’s likely a sign that they should appeal to their boss or move on from their role.
However, the young workforce is overall increasingly disengaged.
“I couldn’t care less about what happens to my company,” said Rebecca. “This is a resume builder for me to go into something that actually helps our climate and environment and doesn’t care about profit.”
While some Gen Zers might do more with better compensation, this generation cares more than ever about whether their company is making a difference. According to the Deloitte study, only 18% of Gen Zers and 16% of millennials believe their employers are strongly committed to fighting climate change. Rebecca said her perspective would change on the effort she puts into a job if she felt she was making a positive difference to good causes.
She plans to quit by the end of this year, and won’t necessarily line up another job beforehand.
The quiet quitting phenomenon may signpost how employers need to prioritize different qualities when hiring new employees, like being a curious individual. Building a talent pipeline of professionals who are curious, love learning and are motivated might help avoid creating a staff of quiet quitters.
“We really need to find people that are a good cultural fit who are motivated to learn,” Stacey Force, ManpowerGroup’s innovation strategist and vp of product marketing, told WorkLife last week.
Lace partners’ Acratopulo suggested employers try to prevent quiet quitting by taking the employee pulse regularly to understand how people are feeling and to track engagement. By doing this, an employer could either encourage the employee who is quiet quitting, or ensure they move on to a role that they really want to do.
Pat Ashworth, director of learning solutions at AdviserPlus, recommends that human resource departments focus on how to empower managers with data and tools to identify issues early and deal with underperformance effectively.
“Employee engagement is more than routine one-to-ones and work-focused check-ins; it’s about making employees feel valued and recognized for who they are so that they have a more emotional connection to the organization,” said Ashworth. “Enabling managers to focus on building more personal relationships and empathy with their teams should help to avoid widespread issues of employee disengagement.”
Here’s a ping to most of y’all who commented on this thread. I guess I about killed at 137, but I think it deserves more conversation.
I will not go to my grave wishing I had spent more time at work.
Getting paid for a job means getting paid for a job. You do work, you get paid. Everyone understands this except for politicians and their staffers. And evidently a bunch of FReepers. This term of “quiet quitting” is nothing more than someone saying they’ll do what they’re paid for. Nothing more, nothing less. If you bust your ass and save or make your employer a couple hundred thousand dollars and get nothing in return, then why do it? Duh.
It’s your time, labor, and life. We humans are not slaves. We are endowed by our Creator etc. etc. There is nothing wrong with doing your job and getting paid for it.
Crikey. Most Freepers today that post are roughly 130 years old. You were kids during the transition from horse carriages to automobiles. Flying machines were a new thing in the early 1900s when you were already 40 years old. Then you got us to the moon with a slide rule. You’ve seen some stuff, you oldsters.
Be proud, Boomers. Just don’t disrespect the two or three generations behind you. It’s okay. I get it.
I’m Gen X. I’m the buffer generation between the Boomers and Millennials and, ultimately, Gen Z. You grew up and danced to Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, Perry Como and the Dorsey Brothers. And it was sinful to your parents. Especially Elvis, the Doors, and Jimi Hendrix.
I danced to Billy Idol, the Ramones, Duran Duran, and David Bowie. Still do. Who cares?
Millennials and Gen Z? Who knows what they dance to. Who cares?
What I know is, having spent over three years downrange in combat, is that our young leaders from the Millennial and Gen Z cohort are overall the best and brightest that this or any nation can offer. They’re good men and women. Solid.
Back when y’all old fogies fought the Spanish-American War for four months, or WWI for two years, or WWII for six years, or Korea for three years, or Viet Nam for nine years, these generations have been fighting the (neo-con generated) wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Africa and Asia for over TWENTY YEARS.
That’s a whole generation my FRriends.
That blue-haired chick with face piercings that might be a dude at the grocery store checkout line? Can’t help you there. Fake boobs and a beard doesn’t do it for me, but whatever floats your boat.
Don’t despair. There are many, many, many, young men and women out there who you’d buy a round for if you heard their story. Mebbe you’ll be lucky enough to get to know them.
There is discontent between employees and employers, but how is that different than everywhere and every time in history? Respect goes both ways.
Don’t listen to the media. This is an amazing country with amazing citizens and Patriots, young and old.
Kit
PS: For the record, I do love some Billie Holiday and Cab Calloway. You can keep Perry Como and Lawrence Welk.
after I was let go after the 50th time in the trades, I chose to adopt only 2 speeds... “the one im working at, and the other is sitting over there on that bucket smokin a cig...” going above and beyond never got me anywhere on the job and all it did was create animosity and the clique pushed you out...
Working hard as a business owner gets results. Working hard for someone else may or may not get rewarded. I’ve done both.
The problem, as an employee, is that the employer has an incentive to only pay you what he needs to in order to keep you around. He will only pay you more if he thinks you’re worth it AND HE IS CERTAIN YOU WILL LEAVE if he doesn’t.
That’s the key thing: demonstrating that you can be an asset to him, and that you WILL be an asset to the competition if he doesn’t do right by you.
“ Getting paid for a job means getting paid for a job. ”
If you want to get ahead and move up in the world, you go above and beyond .
If you don’t care about that of work at Walmart, then you don’t .
An old saying is that you get paid what your worth at your next job.
Unions frown upon workers actually working..........................
true if youre a kid.. a grumpy old bastard stuck in his ways(Me) in the true sense of job experience, you write your own ticket. I can go anywhere and get a job due to my portfolio. I no longer go above and beyond because 95% of my quantity(Amount of tile put down in 8 hours) per day, far out shines that punk over there going above and beyond. ...and I still go out and smoke 4 or 5 times other than scheduled breaks! Quality is always top end. I truly do not know how to do a hack job. just sayin...
lol... not the companies I worked for!! as an example, about every 8 years or so the Marriot in Detroit’s Rencen(84 floors in the center tower) goes thru rehab. Walking into that job we’re told, on a standard 3 walls over the bathtub enclosure 12 x 24 tile, “we want 3 out of you a day or your out...”
I worked for 3 of the majors here and its no joke. if you dont turn the numbers, your replaced first chance they get. the Tile and marble trade is union because they have to be. the tile company owners still count their pennies big time!! it’s no where near like the big 3 auto or teachers unions.
That is strange, for unions.
The Postal Union will tell you to slow down, you make everyone else look bad!.....................
The worst thing is that “seasoned” employees are expected to stand in the gap for the quiet quitters. The closer I get to retirement, the more work they put on me. That’s made worse because I am one of the lowest paid people on the team (it’s an IT thing, newest people get paid the most).
Luckily, they can’t fire me. My contract requires them to pay me for a year and I am eligible to retire in a year.
A little bit of an oversimplification. But let be start with the most important stuff. I feel just awful that you didn't grow up in the 60's and 70's. What a time. You'll never understand the "magic" of the Beatles, sitting in your living room in anticipation of watching them in Black and White on the Ed Sullivan show. For that matter, it's sad that so many folks following the boomers had to put up with that gawd awful "music" of the late 80's and 90's, when I turned on TV and rap was winning all the grammy awards, just awful. But back to the topic. People work for different reasons. Some value a life work balance, others want to outwork everyone for many good reasons. Just doing the bare minimum is a horrible attitude, it's a union mentality, it's not what made this country great.
25 years ago I was told that. and, as stated in another comment, that was probably the reason for a majority of those 50 lay offs I went thru. the foremen on the job pretty much control who stays and goes. if you weren’t “Cool” you pretty much knew youd be on the first wave of layoffs. I never gave af!! I went in, did my job, collected that check and went home.
The union sucks in a different way for me. I’n my union, since day one, you need 5 years consecutive before your pension starts.. to date, I never did it and, I dont have a dime vested. so I have no loyalty. I get a calls all the time and I go with the best pay. IF... If I get a call from a union shop, they know I want the normal check, plus that extra envelope on the side a week. and if theyre desperate enough they pay it. if not, then I stay on my own or with someone who does...
I’m of two minds on this…
I worked for a company for nearly 20 years. Started in sales and rose to VP of Operations. I worked hard, long hours. 80 hour weeks were not uncommon. We went through a merger and I was laid off. I was also asked to train the 5 people that would be replacing me. Had I not hustled, I would not have become VP, but in the end they could still get rid of me.
Now I own my own company. Some employees do just the minimum, some hustle. The hustlers get paid more. I do not ask someone to put in extra time, but if they do, they get more. Is that wrong?
Had I not gone “above and beyond” I could have remained a labor grade 7 my entire career. (10 lowest, 1 highest) Instead I did my job and added when I could. It benefitted me with more money than remaining stagnant for 36 years Instead I retired as a salaried grade 47. (41 lowest 49 highest). Better retirement money than as a union position and proud of what I had accomplished (not saying a 7 might not have been proud. Personally for me) Not putting them down. Just different philosophies. Still had plenty of time to enjoy things we did. Despite the hours spent at work I played in a band for 14 years as well. As for Ellington, Holliday, Como, Dorsey? They were more towards the “greatest generation” age bracket. Boomers are classified being the ‘46-’64 time frame. 🙂👍🎸
Yep, these kids don't know nuthin! :)
😂😂😂😂😂
In China, the very wide spread phenomena is called ‘lying flat”
How ever in China lying flat is the rejection of 996 or working from 9am to 9pm 6 days a week with no chance of advancement or betterment.
Why even try......... better to just lie flat
Just for clarification, the charts (?) indicate that the greatest generation batch is 1901-1927 and the silent generation is 1928-1945. Seems like the generations run in 20 +/- year cycles. Wonder what the time frame will be defined for the ‘tranny generation’?
The reward for being the best ditch digger is that you're given a bigger shovel.
This generation has seen too much evidence to the contrary to believe that anymore. Hard work isn't rewarded. They're told "there's no money in the budget to give you a raise, but keep working hard, we'll bring in some pizza to thank the team and maybe there will be a cold slice left in the break room when you finish doing all that extra work."
“ Hard work isn’t rewarded. They’re told “there’s no money in the budget to give you a raise, but keep working hard, we’ll bring in some pizza to thank the team and maybe there will be a cold slice left in the break room when you finish doing all that extra work.”
So here is what you do.
Learn EVERYTHING you can about your company, your industry.
Read the manual of the office equipment (be the problem solver), read up on your industry over lunch break, go to free local networking events, meet people in your business and related businesses, talk to them and listen.
That’s how better opportunities come to you.
Guaranteed
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