“Quiet Quitting” is a Workplace Reality
The Great Resignation is behind us. The new workplace phenomenon is quiet quitting. First coined by Zaid Kahn, he advocates separating work from your identity and productivity from your worth as a person.
No longer just an HR focus, employee engagement and wellness are slowly becoming an integral part of business strategies. It is no surprise, as we continue to navigate our lives post pandemic with a renewed sense of what really matters to us, professionally and personally.
Gen Z and younger Millennials are leading quiet quitting and have made it popular among a broad age range as the idea settles in with all generations.
Factor Related to Job Satisfaction
Burn out workplaces lead the long list of reason which includes a feeling by some that they are not being properly compensated. According to TeamStage, there are several factors to consider that we may not fully realize as it pertains to job satisfaction. Consider below.
- 49% of employees are happy with their current job.
- Respected employees are 63% more satisfied with their job.
- 58% of managers received no training before they became managers.
- Just 12% of employees quit their jobs for more money.
- 43% of engaged employees receive weekly feedback.
- 45% of workers relate weight gain to their current job.
- 70% of American education workers relate their job to their identity.
- Company culture is important to 79% of US employees.
- 55% of Americans claim work exhaustion.
- 44% of US women would leave their job for the sake of flexibility
Is it possible that one can avoid burnout while staying engaged and collecting a paycheck? The answer is yes!
It pains me to see companies and hear from staff who mention one or more of these indicators above as reasons for not being satisfied in their jobs. There are ways to mitigate this which I share at the end.
Quiet Quitting Isn’t Actually New
However, quiet quitting isn’t actually new. According to Business Insider Magazine, “the idea is older than these young generations and echoes the ‘work to rule’ tactic that unions have used, in which workers do what they are contractually obligated to and nothing more.”
Included in the article was the story of Maggie Perkins, a former teacher who loved the profession, quit at the age of 30. As a teacher in private and public schools in Georgia and Florida, Perkins said she spent “hundreds if not thousands” of her own dollars a year on classroom supplies, dealt with harassment from parents, and developed “horrible” migraines. “It’s like a frog in boiling water,” she said. “It eventually becomes unsustainable. And either you burn out, or you have to make a choice.” And, she prefers the term “Quiet Working”, “because many teachers genuinely engage in their jobs and don’t want to quit.”
So, how about you? Where are you on your work journey? Are you mostly satisfied, mostly frustrated or ‘out of there!’
Back to TeamStage for a moment.
Looking at these stats, it’s easy to us to come up with ideas, thoughts and frustrations leading us to ponder our work/life balance too.
How to Stop Your Employees from Quiet Quitting
There are many things employers can do to slow the growth of quiet quitting including:
- Providing a healthy work environment
- Continuous DEI initiatives
- Sharing of information, ideas and knowledge
- Rewards and recognition
- Flexibility-remote, 4-day work week
- Scope for growth and development
- A clear company vision that has a positive impact on community and beyond
- Healthy relationship with manager
- Competitive compensation
The bottom line:
There is always going to be a struggle to attract and retain talent. That’s not new. What is new however, is an organization’s efforts to look at employees as individuals first and staff second, as I have mentioned in past articles. Managers and leadership must focus on training individuals who have direct reports to be understanding of this new world and inhabit a workplace where employees have the advantage, a say in their job roles and flexibility.
Doing this will slow quiet quitting, increase productivity and even help retain important staff.
