Quiet Quitting

What is Quiet Quitting?

This term has gained popularity after it went viral on the social media site, TikTok.

In simple terms ‘Quiet Quitting’ refers to doing the absolute minimum amount of work that needs to be done and not accepting to do anything extra if it is not compensated for.

Extra work could simply be sudden requests to work on last-minute changes that require working beyond normal working hours. It could also mean doing things like organizing cultural events at companies, running marathons or doing volunteering work to help the company score ESG points.

Nothing really New

I am a bit perplexed by this term, because as a concept at least this is nothing new. Workplaces have always had terms like ‘Coasting’, or ‘Retired in Place’ as words used for people who have decided to not exceed expectations and doing the bare minimum to stay employed. As a cultural phenomenon it is related to ‘Laying Flat’

Post Great-Resignation

I believe Quiet Quitting is a phase that all employees are going through post ‘Great-Resignation’ phase. The pandemic has allowed employees to introspect and re-evaluate their priorities. Workers who are slowly getting back to work after the pandemic disruption might simply be applying those learnings.

People not Resources

This phenomenon could also be a response to the way employers treat their workforce. When employers see employees as mere ‘resources’ and treat the relationship as merely transactional, why should employees do otherwise.

Although this is nothing new, like I said before, the pandemic highlighted the transactional nature of Employer – Employee Relationship.

The onus is on the Employers to show meaningful investment in the professional growth of their Employees.

‘The Pandemic showed the truly transactional nature of Employer-Employee Relationship’

Down-side of Quiet Quitting

If you are in an early stage of your career , Quiet Quitting could jeopardize your career growth. You might have to pay for it over the long term.

Most employees work in teams. Although Quiet Quitting could be a sort of passive aggressive rebellion against the company itself, it is more impactful to the team you are part of in a negative way.

An Alternative Approach

Nothing is more stressful than doing the work that you don’t love and absolutely detest. An alternative is to actively seek out more engaging and meaningful work, even if it means accepting lower pay. Of course the economic realities of the day means that it is not really feasible to do so for everyone.

Depending on your life-stage and the nature of the job itself, Quiet Quitting need not be a negative thing.

Take Lighthouse keepers for instance. It is a hard and a very lonely job. There is no hustle in the nature of the job. There is no exceeding expectations. Just meeting expectations is a job well done. It takes a special kind of person to do such a job and there is nothing wrong in ‘Quiet Quitting’ or Coasting as a Lighthouse keeper.

Quiet Quitting and FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early)

Quiet Quitting has a lot of negative connotation because of the word ‘Quit’ in it. But, it is conceptually more similar to Coast FIRE. I think Coast FIRE is a more responsible (to yourself) way to Quiet Quit. This allows you to both achieve economic independence and also enjoy the kind of work that you do.

In conclusion, Quiet Quitting is a collective reaction of the employees to the realization of the transactional nature of work. It is a coping mechanism for employees, especially in roles that regularly require them to go above and beyond with little in return.

However, it may not be healthy, especially for a younger professional. Pursuing Coast FIRE is probably a healthier alternative. And, finally, ‘Quiet Quitting’ is not necessarily bad, in fact there are jobs worth considering that only ask for the bare minimum and nothing more.