Quiet Quitting: Don't Buy the Hype!
By Kim Fons
Radio hosts and bloggers are having a field day with “Quiet Quitting.” The jokes are endless and indignant managers are planning how to catch those sneaky Millennials* in the act. But in the act of what?
First of all, the term Quiet Quitting is misleading and a bit inflammatory. As it is being defined, Quiet Quitting is the act of doing your job and nothing more. Quiet Quitters are doing their job and they are not coming to work early, leaving late, or checking their email on the weekend. They are doing their job!
How many times has the topic of work-life balance come up in your organization? My guess is A LOT! Everyone wants to find a balance between doing their job and having a life. An employee who is Quiet Quitting has created boundaries between work and life.
Quiet Quitting is Work-Life Balance
Work-life balance is a key component of employee satisfaction and
workplace mental health.
So, what should good leaders do when they become aware of Quiet Quitting? The first step is to start asking questions. What is getting done? What is not getting done? What value does that “not done” thing have? What has shifted for the employee? How does our staffing align with the work that needs to be done?
Quiet Quitting could be an employee who is burned out, bored, can’t get everything done in a workday, or one who is checking out and on their way to real quitting. It could also be someone who has streamlined a process or doesn’t understand the importance of a part of the process. Quiet Quitting should be an indicator that leadership needs to get curious about staff, and workloads, and possibly look for ways to adapt.
*Millennials are the current target of choice for any disturbance in workforce norms, but I am always skeptical of overly broad generalizations. However, if an entire generation is pushing back on norms, perhaps it is time we critically evaluate what we are doing and why.
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