Quiet Quitting

Quiet Quitting is just the latest shiny object.

We have talked about Quiet Quitting in our organizations and the media for months.  There has been much speculation as to its exact nature and underlying causes.  Some say it is an evolutionary change in how we conduct our economy as profound as when Henry Ford introduced the moving assembly line.  Others believe it is a combination of factors such as changing demographics in the workforce or societal changes before Covid, which intensified over the 2+ years of the pandemic.  Regardless, expectations of today’s workforce have altered such that the hybrid workplace and forced return to a physical location have created an environment that is neither motivating nor appealing to a large percentage of the world’s workforce.

Gallup’s 2022 World Work Report

Gallup’s report found that 61% of the world’s workforce quit quietly, while another 23% quit employers.  In North America, which provided the highest responses, the percentage has dropped since 2022, as there has been a significant decline in job opportunities over the past year.  For financial security and other reasons, workers stay put and provide the minimum effort necessary to remain employed.  Surprisingly, aside from security concerns, 41% of the workers attributed their dissatisfaction with their employer not to pay and benefits or the actual job they performed but instead to the workplace environment – citing its toxicity and archaic and over-burdensome management practices and culture as the primary reason for their discontent.  Also surprising is this Quiet Quitting mentality is not relegated to the mainstream workforce but includes all levels of management up to and including the C-Suite folks.

Other Perspectives

Perhaps it is time to go back to look at the work of people like Drs. Amy C. Edmonson (The Fearless Organization: Creating psychological safety in the workplace for learning, innovation, and growth) or Duena Blomstrom (People Before Tech: The Importance of psychological safety and teamwork in the digital age).  Their carefully considered analysis and solutions to improve the workplace environment may be what the doctor ordered!