The rebellion to hustle culture is at hand.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, work-life balance was disrupted. The workforce was stranded at their homes as “zoombies” while managing their household and rethinking prioritizations in life.
What caused “Quiet Quiting”
According to Jaya Dass, Randstad’s managing director for Singapore and Malaysia, quiet quitting is a “residual impact” of Covid-19 and the “Great Resignation”- a term coined by Anthony Klotz in May 2021. Employees started to feel empowered to take control of their work and personal lives.
In 2021, 71.6 million people left their jobs from April 2021 through April 2022, which averages 3.98 million people quitting monthly, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. As of June this year, the number of people quitting reached 4.2 million
A new Pew Research Center survey finds that low pay, a lack of opportunities for advancement and feeling disrespected at work are the top reasons why Americans quit their jobs last year.
Shifting the hustle culture
According to LinkedIn, “quiet quitting” means rejecting the notion that work has to take over one’s life. This has shifted the “hustle culture” mindset wherein people have to work over and above just to reach their dreams.
Now, millions of employees have realized they don’t have to subscribe to the toxicity of not only hustle culture, but of toxic workplace cultures.
Majorities of workers who quit a job in 2021 say low pay (63%), no opportunities for advancement (63%) and feeling disrespected at work (57%) were reasons why they quit, according to the Feb. 7-13 survey. At least a third say each of these were major reasons why they left, according to Pew Research Center.
In short, employees have realized that they can take matters into their own hands by not burning themselves out deliberately through quiet quitting.
Signs of quiet quitting
Signs of quiet quitting can take on various forms, depending on the employee’s reasons for wanting to pull back on work.
Some signs of quiet quitting include the following:
- not attending meetings;
- arriving late or leaving early or arriving and leaving on time;
- reduction in productivity;
- less contribution to team projects;
- not participating in planning or meetings; and
- lack of passion or enthusiasm.
Dealing with it
If you’re an employer who want to understand this, it may be best to look at this in a range and find the reasons as to why particular employee is noticeably quiet quitting (that is if you value your employees, to begin with):
- Recovering from burnout
Covid-19 isn’t over and there are just some employees who have probably lost more than others. The needs outside of work and hopefully lead them towards recovering from their burnout and getting clear on their needs and boundaries within the workplace. Signs include withdrawal for social gatherings in work, lack of enthusiasm etc. Some of the things employers can do are to adapt flexible working arrangements, assign goals/tasks that are not overly focused on outcomes.
- Wanting work-life balance
Employees have simply reprioritized. Most included here are still performing their duties satisfactorily but choose to not go above and beyond their jobs in ways that include refusing to answer emails during evenings or weekends, or skipping extra assignments outside of their core duties. Employers should also acknowledge that people value their work, but also want to devote their time and energy into priorities outside of their workplace. The pandemic already slapped how short life can be. Therefore, businesses also need to set work boundaries and respect those boundaries to create a positive work culture.
- Rebelling against company unjust practices
Bonnie Dilber, a recruiter at workflow automation software company Zapier said that a lot of people who are “quiet quitting” are actually working under poor leaders, which makes it hard for them to stay motivated or have any investment in going above and beyond the bare minimum. In this case, employers should also look into possible reassessment of their organization structures and personnel. There could also be unjust and exploitative practices such as unpaid overtime, promotions without salary increase etc which companies must address that pizza parties or company outings can’t solve.
Quiet quitting can cause conflicts between employer and employee and even among employees as well. However, finding the causes and unraveling the reasons for such may just pave the way for healthy discussions and reforms within companies.#
Hi, how are you? “Let’s Discuss” is a series in the Wellbeing section of the Blueprint.PH where we try to dissect emerging issues on our holistic development as hoomans. Will artificial intelligence overpower human beings? What does it mean to be a human? What will the world look like in 100 years? Let’s discuss.
