Have we become a ‘quiet’ workforce?

‘Quiet quitting’ and ‘quiet firing’ are new buzzwords which have recently been trending and re-defined countless times on a range of socials and news articles. In summary, it’s the idea of slowly withdrawing from overworking and similarly, employers leaving employees ultimately no choice but to quit their role.

The ‘quiet quitting’ phrase- which has caused traction by Gen Z workers- has been popularised by a TikTok video which was posted last month and now has over 3.5 million views. It has likely been fuelled by a tight employment market that’s put candidates in power for some time. "You’re not outright quitting your job, but you’re quitting the idea of going above and beyond. You're still performing your duties, but you're no longer subscribing to the hustle-culture mentality that work has to be your life; the reality is, it's not”.

Some examples of ‘quiet quitting’ can include leaving work on time, saying no to responsibilities outside your traditional job description and not replying outside of work hours. This phrase has a divided opinion, with some saying it fosters laziness, promotes employee disengagement, and destroys workplace culture, whereas others say the the trend is healthy, allows boundaries to be set and a work life balance to be prioritised.

On the contrary, ‘quiet firing’ has also become a workplace trend, where managers tactically push employees to leave their jobs. A few tell-tale signs of this can be recognised as: being micro-managed, gradually having less responsibilities and a lack of performance reviews or pay rises. Employers may resort to this if they don’t want to go through a long HR process or if their employee hasn’t explicitly done wrong (like stealing from the company etc).

Our obsession with being ‘quiet’, risks making honest conversations a thing of the past; having these chats build social skills, resilience and benefit our relationships and careers in the long run.

According to a recent LinkedIn poll, 80% of professionals have witnessed or experienced a ‘quiet fire’ or ‘quiet quit’ in their workplace… Have you? Please share your experiences below!