What is Quiet Quitting and How is it Affecting Workplaces?
There have been many headlines over the last few months about the emergence of a phenomenon called “quiet quitting” in the workplace. This is used to imply that the employee has gotten bored in the job they are in and that they are just doing the bare minimum that they can get away with to avoid being fired. In actual fact it is much more akin to an older phrase that has been used in the UK for decades.
Quiet Quitting is a Rebranding of “Work to Rule”
We are often given to believe that quiet quitting is doing the bare minimum that you can get away with at work, but it actually isn’t. The definition of quiet quitting is usually closer to what used to be called “work to rule”. That is, doing your job by the strict confines of your contract and not doing anything that is unpaid or outside the scope of your employment. It means foregoing the extras that most employers expect by default, so no late working to finish a project, and a strict adherence to finishing at 5pm on the dot.
Quiet quitting will often degrade efficiency as it is clear that taking your full lunch hour rather than eating at your desk while working on something will mean that you are getting less work done than you otherwise would. That is why work to rule is often used in industrial disputes between trades unions and companies as a step short of actual strike action.
The unions understand that when people withdraw their labour beyond the strict confines of their contract, that they are making a move that can be seen by some employers as being hostile to their interests.
With this in mind, people who are quiet quitting tend to be those who have reached a point where they are either in open dispute with their employer or they are at least considering the possibility of moving on to a new job somewhere else.
The Pros and Cons of Quiet Quitting in the Workplace
If you are someone who is considering whether to adopt quiet quitting in your own work life, there are some pros and cons that you will need to consider before taking what is actually quite a drastic step into unknown territory.
Pros of Quiet Quitting
Better Work-Life Balance - People who are giving too much to their work, starting too early and staying too late may find that they actually manage to achieve a better work-life balance through quiet quitting. By sticking rigidly to their set working hours, it means that they have a firmer shut off at the end of the working day and more separation from their home life. This will allow their home life to actively thrive.
More Efficiency While at Work - Somewhat counter-intuitively, people who have less time to manage a finite amount of tasks can often get them done in the same or less time than someone given a lot more time to accomplish the tasks. This can actually mean that quiet quitting can be a net benefit to both the employer and the employee. It doesn’t always work out like this but it is a possibility.
Setting of Healthy Boundaries - People who take part in quiet quitting often look at it as setting out healthy boundaries in the same way that they would in any other aspect of their lives. If the norm is that people are expected to work more than their contracted hours, they reason, then the system of work in this country is broken and they should set boundaries for what is acceptable from their work.
There is definitely a case to be made that if working to rule or quiet quitting can have a negative impact on a company, they should pay their employees for all of the hours that they work, not just those they are officially contracted to. The push back from the employers would be that if people are unable to complete their jobs within their working hours, that is a matter of competence, which has nothing to do with them and everything with the employee affected.
Cons of Quiet Quitting
Loss of Promotion Chances at Work - If someone has reached the point when they are considering quiet quitting, there is a real possibility that there is little to no chance of promotion at work. When people reach the point where they feel like this at work, they will often have been passed over for promotion at work one too many times, causing them to question their commitment to the company. The reasoning goes that why should they commit so much time and energy to a company that will never recognise their talents in the way that it should, either financially or in career progression.
Trouble with Management - One of the major problems for people who are tempted to quiet quit is that their employers are unlikely to see it in a positive light. If they explain that this is what they are doing, they will probably have to have an “interesting” discussion with Human Resources about the motivations for this and the effect that it could have on the quality of their work. It is possible that HR will look at suggesting they aren’t capable of doing the job within the hours that have been set and begin to go down a competency route to getting rid of them.
Only Quiet Quit If You Are Actually Quitting
People who decide that quiet quitting is for them are usually people who have fallen out of love with the work they do, whether it is down to personality clashes with management or an unfair lack of career advancement. Quiet quitting tends to be an emboldening step toward actually quitting and moving on to another job elsewhere. People who are quiet quitting should always have their next career move planned and be looking to jump ship as soon as they are able for something better. That kind of disillusionment doesn’t lead to a happy life either at work or at home and can make the workplace more toxic for all concerned.
Read some of our inspiring career stories?
