Is quiet quitting the new workplace trend?

Is quiet quitting the new workplace trend?
Photo by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels.com

In the past few weeks, the term “quiet quitting” has appeared out of nowhere. Although the concept isn’t entirely new, the phrase started trending after a TikTok video, which now has 3.5 million views, went viral earlier this year. So what is quiet quitting, and why is it so popular?

Quiet quitting means doing the minimum at work for what you’re paid for and not letting work stress you out or invade the other parts of your life. The idea is to abandon hustle culture. But it doesn’t mean not doing a good job at work; it just means you aren’t going above and beyond anymore. As a quiet quitter, when you’re done with work, you’re done thinking and worrying about it so much. It’s giving Stanley Hudson from the US version of “The Office.”

The practice of quiet quitting isn’t totally new – we’ve called it “coasting” in the past or “phoning it in.” But people have been clocking in and clocking out of their jobs only for the paycheck for as long as people can remember.

That said, quiet quitting is trending in the workplace. See, COVID blurred a lot of those boundaries we used to have between our work and our everyday life as more people started working from home. And especially for those people who were just entering the workforce at that time who are now looking at a labor market where they’re unlikely to be replaced; it isn’t totally shocking that they’re less interested in climbing the corporate ladder and more interested in just scooping up that paycheck doing the bare minimum.

In fact, a Gallup poll showed that younger generations like Gen-Z and the younger half of millennials are the least likely to be engaged with their workplace, with only 31% being engaged with their work.

“I think a lot of people are fed up,” said a quiet quitter named Gemma in a BBC interview. “They’re realizing they’ve put in a lot more effort than their salary shows: no one should be driving themselves to burnout for a wage that causes personal stress or worry.”

@totalreward

“Quiet Quitting" is being defined as doing the role you’re paid for and not going over and above. Its not voluntarily signing up to extra projects and contributing to hustle culture.I think this is obsurd, is it “quitting" or is it setting boundaries?Are we expected to constantly be in an accelerated state?what are you thoughts? #quietquitting

♬ original sound – Total Reward