I wrote a few days ago about this post pandemic phenomenon of quiet quitting and quiet firing. Workers doing the bare minimum at their jobs. Employers not actually firing, but making life so unpleasant that they quit.
The Wall Street Journal has an interesting story about just how pervasive quiet quitting has become. It comes from Gallup polling and research.
“Quiet quitters make up at least 50% of the U.S. workforce, probably more.” 50 percent! That stuns me.
Gallup goes on. “The trend toward quiet quitting, the idea spreading virally on social media that millions of people are not going above and beyond at work and just meeting their job description, could get worse. This is a problem because most jobs today require some level of extra effort to collaborate with coworkers and customer needs.”
What’s going on here? Why this disengagement among workers?
Gallup says it’s related to clarity of expectations, opportunities to learn and grow, feeling cared about, and a connection to the organization’s mission or purpose. That, says Gallup, signals a growing disconnect between employees and their employers.
These quiet quitters are already looking for another job, the survey finds. And yes, it’s the younger employees who feel the most disengaged.
Okay, how to fix this? Gallup says it’s a symptom of poor management. Address manager engagement. Find ways to reduce employee disengagement and burnout.
Axios has an interesting perspective on this. Workers appear unwilling to weather a potential downturn in the same way they did in the last one in 2020… by clicking in at all hours to get the job done.
A couple of thoughts here. I have worked with a lot of quiet quitters along the way. We used to call them lazy.
Back then, nobody would admit to it. Today, workers are answering polls about it.
I was in a store yesterday. Needed some help. Once I found someone and asked my question, I got a shrug. That was it. I left. Found what I needed on Amazon.
So, this is where we are. Quiet quitting and quiet firing.