Recently, an employee took a fairly unorthodox manner to convey unhappiness with their employer, and the repercussions were felt throughout the company. Charlene May, a team lead of a known Business Process Outsourcing company in Mandaluyong, broke the busy pace of the corporate setting with her sudden and public resignation. Coworkers were taken aback when Charlene, who usually kept to herself, let off a barrage of complaints that reverberated through the open office.
Management and employees alike were surprised by the unexpected volume of her rousing address. This abrupt departure revealed not only the limits of one person but also the potential tensions that lie just below the surface of the professional environment as a whole.
Charlene’s dramatic resignation has since generated discussions on the increasing frequency with which employees are dissatisfied with their jobs and the need for employers to address employee problems before they balloon into dramatic displays like Charlene’s.
Some have argued that this occurrence is representative of a more systemic problem of unhappiness and burnout in today’s workplaces, which in turn necessitates a reexamination of management techniques and programs designed to improve workers’ mental health.
The event serves as a sharp reminder, since the office still feels the effects of the employee’s sudden departure, that a pleasant and communicative work culture is crucial to keeping talent and preserving a peaceful professional atmosphere.
This is loud quitting.
What is ‘loud quitting’?
The term “loud quitting” is used to describe the growing tendency of employees to leave their jobs in an extremely visible manner, frequently using social media or other public forums to voice their unhappiness with their current position.
On the contrary, “loud quitters” make their dissatisfaction with the workplace known as they leave. Since their demands aren’t being met, they feel bitter. Whether they are unqualified for the position or their manager has lost interest in them, employees sometimes announce their resignations loudly.
Actions taken by these workers undermine the organization, its leaders, and its mission. The silent disengagement of “quiet quitters” can have a long-term effect on a company’s culture, but the loud exits of “loud quitters” are far more urgent dangers.
Not only are they abruptly departing their employment while vocalizing their negative emotions about their former company, but they’re also tearing down people around them before they leave.
A recent social listening report from Capstone-Intel Corp. revealed that “loud quitting,” as a concept that narrates the modern way of leaving the workplace, did not arouse topic discussion in the Philippines. However, despite showing a few discussions, these were primarily negative.
Detailing these reactions, “Facebook like” led the roster of reactions with 722 (59.4 percent), followed by “Facebook haha” with 323 reactions (26.6 percent), “Facebook love” with 84 reactions (6.9 percent), “Facebook sad” with 51 reactions (4.2 percent), “Facebook wow” with 34 reactions (2.8 percent), and “Facebook angry” with two reactions (0.2 percent).
The majority of the dominant reactions, which were seen with the number of Facebook users showing “like” and “haha” reactions, indicate that although the majority of reactions are receptive to the concept of “loud quitting” in the Philippine workplace, there are still some Filipinos who still don’t take the issue seriously.
Capstone-Intel data also revealed that 76 percent of the total mentions across social and non-social media platforms are negative, while the remaining 24 percent is positive, indicating that the context of discussions for “loud quitting” was mostly about disengagement rooted in their unhappy experience in their workplace. In addition, this topic also yielded a total of 497,000 social media reach and generated 12,283 interactions.
How to prevent ‘loud quitting’ in the workplace?
Increasing the satisfaction of workers is the most effective method of reducing loud quitting. Communicate with workers, hear them out, and talk about ways to make them feel valued. Next, ensure that expectations are reasonable and that sufficient separation is in place between work and personal life.
Corporations and hiring managers need to deal with the employees, not just their skills, so it’s important to hire carefully. Not only can it help them piece together a cohesive unit, but it may also offer hiring managers an idea of how someone will perform in the workplace and how they are going to magnify their potential in the company.
