Quiet quitting has recently become popular with workers who are only in a job for the paycheck and are not really emotionally or intellectually involved. It’s about doing the minimum, rather than “going the extra mile.” Employees do not quit their jobs, but instead reduce the amount of work they do. It has become a buzzword that is making headlines and going viral on TikTok and Twitter. The hashtag #quietquitting has been viewed nearly 400 million times on TikTok

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What are the signs of quiet quitting?

• You can recognize that one of the team members is quiet quitting by the following signs:
• Doing only the bare minimum
• Isolating other members of the team
• withdrawal from non-emergency conversations, activities or tasks
• Present at meetings but not speaking or taking action
• Teammates report increased workload due to the colleague in question doing less

Is quiet quitting a new trend?

Unless what the Gen Z influencers on TikTok say, quiet quitting is nothing new. According to Gallup (a U.S.-based consulting firm), the percentage of workers who consider themselves quitters today has remained steady between 13 and 18 percent over the past 20 years

What is the cause of quiet quitting?

As usual, there are several possible explanations. Some argue that employers keep tightening and automating their requirements. So when unemployment goes down, more workers think, “If they fire me, no problem. It’s easy to find another job.”

Another possible explanation for dropping out is that many people feel that the dream of a gated house, a nice car and raising two children in a middle-class lifestyle is no longer attainable. Despite wage increases, higher inflation and housing prices are causing more and more people to struggle to pay rent or buy a home. Putting in the extra effort is not paying off enough

Employees do not put forth 100 percent effort when they feel a lack of motivation and purpose in what they do. In today’s business world, employers are becoming increasingly aware of how much meaning and a clear mission and vision affect the performance of their people. According to an analysis by LinkedIn, the short tenure rate, or STR, which looks at positions held for less than a year, has increased across all industries in recent years. Employees are leaving positions faster than in previous years, and organizations continue to struggle to retain employees in today’s competitive environment

And there are numerous other factors that can contribute to quiet quitting.

• • Employees feel undervalued

• • Work-life balance has become a more important priority.

• • Employees feel they are not getting fair compensation

• • The work culture is toxic

• • Employees don’t feel heard

• • Tasks are overwhelming or not aligned with what they were hired for.

• • They experience burnout

Don’t judge immediately and search some further

At first glance, the profile of all “quiet quitters” looks the same. But it is important for employers to be careful in assessing motives. A disgruntled employee, overlooked for a promotion or pay raise, may operate from passive aggression and deliberately withdraw out of anger

And sometimes a committed employee does the bare minimum to maintain work-life balance. They do their job and achieve their goals but do not go beyond what is expected because they prioritize their mental and physical health over their work. Often driven by the previous generation where work so consumed life, and being miserable was the order of the day

How involved are employees at all?

A recent survey of 1,989 British workers who claim to work full-time found that in reality they do only two hours and 23 minutes of productive work a day. The rest of the day is spent on activities such as visiting websites and talking to friends. And a recently published Gallup survey found that more than 50 percent of workers admit to doing only the bare minimum

The relationship between quiet quitting and onboarding

More and more companies are realizing that onboarding is the key to employee engagement. When new employees feel they have a good onboarding experience that creates a sense of belonging, they are more likely to make a long-term commitment to the company. Good onboarding can improve employee retention by 82%. Onboarding is the chance to make a good first impression and the link between happy employees and employees who do just enough to make ends meet. Check out our page onboarding program or at onboarding and preboarding and see the statistics that substantiate the importance of an onboarding program