Quiet Quitting - Is Tik Tok’s latest trend a problem or a solution?

We’ve talked about the Great Resignation™, we’ve talked about coasting, make way for a new buzz term in the workplace world – Quiet Quitting™.

After taking off on Tik Tok as a hack for quitting while still getting a paycheck, a closer look shows us it doesn’t REALLY mean that at all.

What Is It?

Tik Tok is full of all the things that interest Gen Z and young millennials, and that doesn’t end at silly dances and life-threatening challenges – there’s a huge amount of work-related content on the platform and the changing tides between hustle culture and “soft living” are being represented there.

When you get past the punchy videos and hashtags, Quiet Quitting is simply a catchy term for doing the work required of you in your job description, and no more. No working weekends, no burning yourself out to be the first and last in the office, basically not working for free. So, just working.

A recent article from what we could describe as a more experienced member of the workplace mocked some of these videos touting “Quiet Quitting” as a hack noting that “Scrolling through “quiet quitting” videos feels a little like watching TikTokers read my union contract as if it’s a magical text offering the key to happiness.”

However, for some people this IS a truly revolutionary concept, after years of hustle culture, tweet after tweet from the big CEOs about being the first and last in the office, and a plethora of extra-curricular activities and unpaid internships being touted as the only way to get a foot in the workplace.

However, for some people this IS a truly revolutionary concept, after years of hustle culture, tweet after tweet from the big CEOs about being the first and last in the office, and a plethora of extra-curricular activities and unpaid internships being touted as the only way to get a foot in the workplace.

Unsurprisingly, a spate of corporate leaders have already swooped in to reinforce the tenets of hustle culture. Arianna Huffington penned a lengthy LinkedIn diatribe calling the term an “invasive species” and proclaiming, “quiet quitting isn’t just about quitting on a job, it’s a step toward quitting on life.”

It Isn’t New

While the term itself is new, and utterly confusing, discontented workers have always found a way to disengage from their jobs: coasting for example. Unlike coasting, employees in this case aren’t getting by on the bare minimum, just stripping back on the above and beyond.

This particular trend has been studied under various names for decades: disengagement, neglect etc. Workers have always looked to get by on a job for many reasons such as non-transferable skills, lack of other opportunities etc.

Always going above and beyond consumes mental resources and causes stress, taking a toll of your personal life.

There’s little reward for doing so if someone feels they’re stuck.

So quiet quitting makes sense to those who feel stuck but don’t have good enough reason to resign.

There is, however, an increasing disconnect between employees and managers, with many feeling their organisation doesn’t care for their overall wellbeing. This is becoming more prominent as real wages tumble with inflation.

Quiet quitting taps into a wider shift in how employees are evaluating their careers post pandemic. Quiet quitting is therefore not so much a rebellion against work, but against long workdays, unpaid overtime, and lack of appreciation (whether in salary or recognition.)

It’s A Privilege

We know that more women report higher rates of job burnout compared to their male counterparts. Maybe because they’re burdened with extra work like organising the Secret Santa and watering the office plants…

And while women of colour are even more likely to feel burnt out, but they are also less likely to open up about their struggles at work.

Quiet quitting seems like a logical solution: cut back on the unrewarded work you’re doing. Yet women and minorities are less likely to get away with this attitude, risking opportunities to advance their careers or even losing their jobs.

Women are already 14% less likely to be promoted than men, and minorities have expressed the need to work twice as hard due to unfair performance reviews and promotions and were much more affected by layoffs at the start of the pandemic.

Quiet quitting in this case may just make these problems worse. It’s reported that POC and women who attempt to establish healthy boundaries are seen as troublemakers. Some research shows they even face harsher punishments for making the same mistakes. If your employers see you ‘slacking’ or shirking your duties, you risk being fired.

What to do instead? In these cases, employees need to advocate for themselves, but that’s a lot more complicated than doing the bare minimum and cashing in at the end of the month.

Is It A Problem?

Well, as with most things, that depends who for.

For businesses that rely on a certain form of exploitation, especially of their younger hires, it’s a huge problem. Think the finance world, where new hires were expected to work over a hundred hours a week as a baseline, and all industries where unpaid internships are the absolute norm.

The idea that you must unrelentingly love your job to the point where the little things like low pay, erratic bosses, and non-compensatory overtime shouldn’t bother you has defined toxic workplaces for a while now.

Recently, the CEO of a shaving startup said that “freshers” must not cry hoarse and be willing to work for 18 hours a day. And in a now-deleted LinkedIn post, another CEO was under fire for his toxic interviewing techniques, for example calling his potential employers late at night to check if they can work late hours, calling them early in the morning to check if they’re early risers, and asking outstation candidates to show up in the office the next day to test their “hustle.”

However, in a recent piece on Forbes, a CEO with different priorities stated that she thinks Quiet Quitting is the best thing for a business.

Happy employees are the ones who contribute the most to an organisations success, and an employee who is able to live a rewarding life outside of work and feel appreciated in the workplace for the work they’re doing is that happy employee.

How Can Businesses Avoid It?

First of all, should a business have to try and combat Quiet Quitting? We could take the view that Quiet Quitting is simply an employee doing what their job description asks of them, and therefore taking advantage of a safe environment and positive enough work culture to feel able to work in a way that doesn’t lead them to burn out and supports their work life balance.

However, Quiet Quitting as it’s described on social media is often a sign of an employee who doesn’t feel appreciated, and, consequently, who doesn’t feel engaged. As a business, you want your employees to feel appreciated and engaged, to feel part of a larger purpose and to be able to cultivate a work life balance and boundaries without feeling like they’re fighting against the company they work for.

The fact of the matter is that there has been a change in the next generations motivations for working. Our parents worked in the same company sometimes for a lifetime, because they wanted to build a certain life for themselves and have job security. However, the present generation’s motivations to get a job are not the same as their parents’ – they want to work to gain respect, for a better quality of life, and they will not compromise.

Want to know how to ensure your employees feel valued, engaged and part of something bigger?

We’re huge proponents of offering an Employee Value Proposition, or EVP.

What this gives to you as a business is a way of communicating a higher purpose to employees, uniting them under a positive culture, and easily being able to express the value that they bring to your business, along with the value that your business brings to them.

Check out our past successful Employee Value Propositions to see what we can do.