Behaviors in the workplace are beginning to change, and managers need to take these changes into consideration. With wages stagnating and inflation continuing to climb, employees who feel stuck in their career advancement are beginning to disengage from their jobs.
“Quiet quitting”, from the original expression, does not consist in quitting one’s job completely. It’s about doing what you need to do at work to get your job done, get paid, and go home, no more, no less. As the term gains popularity in the media and on social media, many people realize that they are silently quitting their jobs and may have already done so some time ago.
But those who quietly disengage from their work can be misunderstood. They are not unaware of their professional responsibilities: they abandon the idea of surpassing themselves at work. For example, e-mails sent in the evening will remain unanswered until the next day, and the idea of having a drink with colleagues after work also becomes less tempting: these employees are more focused on enriching their lives. personal.
A feeling of insecurity
Paola Martinez, vice president of people operations at Jobsity in the United States, attributes this trend to a few variables, starting with the job insecurity that the Covid-19 pandemic has brought in 2020. Professionals have not did not feel protected by their employers and sought better opportunities in 2021.
At that time, people were able to spend more time with their friends and family, in particular thanks to teleworking which eliminates travel times. Then, when remote working became popular, professionals redefined their workday and reconsidered the importance of their jobs in their lives. These variables could mark the beginning of this movement of professional disengagement.
Applying “quiet quitting means stopping making extra efforts”, explains Paola Martinez to ZDNet. “You sort of wallow in yourself, and you just exist. You don’t take on challenges and you don’t look for opportunities to grow in your work. »
Work should no longer dominate the life of the worker
In the TikTok video that popularized the term “quiet quitting,” the creator rejects the idea that work should dominate your life. Workers in the tech industry are familiar with the culture of overwork, which is pervasive in their field. Jobs in tech start-ups are taxing due to low starting salary, long working hours, job insecurity, and the need to perform tasks that are not part of your usual duties .
After an explosion in skilled tech job openings, big tech companies like Google and Microsoft have started to put the brakes on hiring.
Tech workers from other sectors were expected to “rescue” the companies they worked for when the pandemic turned much of our lives into a digital environment. Feeling burnt out and overworked, tech workers may have started to decelerate long before it became a trend.
Listening is key
So what does quiet quitting look like in the workplace, and who is involved? Paola Martinez says that this phenomenon is not exclusive to one generation, contrary to the belief that only millennials and Generation Z would be tempted. Silent disengagement also has no impact on a specific professional area, and managers everywhere should pay attention to the behaviors of their employees.
“Companies must listen,” insists Paola Martinez. “We need to know the people we work with to be able to detect these changes. It’s not that big of a change, you just see the person slowly fading away. But you have to see it and understand [pourquoi]. »
It’s not up to employees to resist the urge to be less engaged in their work. It’s up to their employers to create a better work environment to encourage them to start challenging themselves again. Paola Martinez suggests that although it has become more common to talk about burnout in the workplace, it is still rare for employers to get to the root of the problem and offer solutions.
It could be beneficial for managers to encourage employees to turn to occupational medicine, in particular to fight against professional exhaustion (or burn-out), and to enable them to better control their workload.
But if quiet quitting becomes the new norm in the workplace, managers may have to accept the limitations of their employees. When employees are happy and fulfilled in their personal lives, it carries over to their work.
“In order to be successful, personal goals must match company goals,” says Paola Martinez. “We need to make this match happen. »
Source: ZDNet.com