Quiet Quitting: Is It On The Employee or The Company?

 Quiet quitting.

Have you heard the term?

It’s this idea that employees are not quite walking away from their role, but instead walking away from the idea of having to give anything and everything to it.  They’re doing their day-to-day work, but have let go of this idea that hustle is the only way.

No more “taking on extra work” just to look good.

No more “taking on extra responsibility” without pay associated with it.

Some are looking at it and saying, “Good for these people. They’re learning to set boundaries for themselves.”

And we agree that boundaries / expectations are an important thing to establish in a workplace.

But the thing into which we would want to dive deeper is why there’s a culture where an employee has to do this quietly? We’d want to know:

1.)  Why is there a culture that the person feels as though they need to create their own boundary and hide it instead of working together with their supervisor to set it?

2.) What part of the company culture needs addressed that employees think that overachieving / hustling is the only way to succeed?

3.) Are your employees encouraged to develop personal and/or business development plans for themselves? Or even better - do leaders create time to work on these TOGETHER with those whom they lead?

4.) Why are people feeling burned out / pressured at their job?

5.) What type of health and wellness programs are set up in the company to show its employees that they value this (and them)?

6.) Is there a communication issue?

What are your thoughts? 

Why do you think quiet quitting has become a “thing” and what do you think is the best way to address it both for the employee seeking a more centered career experience and for the business who wants to create a culture that employees don't feel like they have to hide it?