Ever heard of the term “quiet quitting” (neither had I) it may sound like the act of someone silently resigning, but it refers to the rejection of the “hustle culture” – the expectation to go “above and beyond” in your job, rather than simply just performing the requirements of the job.
So naturally I put my obsession with “cop shows” to the test and “investigated” immediately! Since the pandemic, people’s relationships with work have been widely studied (and even more so when relating it to the job market) and in a recent survey that highlighted this “phenomenon” and its link to a noticeable decline in employees job satisfaction. People are asking themselves “what should work mean for me”? “How can I find a role that is more aligned with my values”?
Going above and beyond instead of 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 a worker has 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 by-product 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 its Generation Z workers — those aged up to 24 years old — who seem the keenest to embrace it, but I have noticed a similar “trend” in people’s responses (of all ages) who are in discussion with me on finding another role and what they’re looking for.
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. 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?
Deloitte Global’s “2022 Gen Z and Millennials” survey found that these generations are striving for balance and advocating for change like never before. The report revealed that good work-life balance, 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 labour.”
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.
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, the report found there is a 21% global employee engagement rate. However, 50% of workers experience daily stress and 41% experience daily worry, only 9% surveyed are engaged or enthusiastic about work.
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.
What is Gen Z saying?
Gen Z is less afraid to speak up and be vocal about this, Generation X and Millennials are realizing that our overworking is not leading us down the same fruitful path as it did for older generations.
Gen Z have this fire under their bellies that something needs to change. Twenty-four-year-old Rebecca who works at an environmental consultancy reported to the survey 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.”
“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.
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.
More boomers every day our stepping out of the workforce, 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.
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.
This is where the cultural fit really plays a part on a person’s longevity to find people that are a good cultural fit who are motivated to learn, and an organisation can do this 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.
Human Resource departments can 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. Enabling managers to focus on building more personal relationships and empathy with their teams should help to avoid widespread issues of employee disengagement.