The Pros And Cons of Quiet Quitting
While browsing on YouTube, I saw a video titled, “Hate Your Job But Don’t Want To Quit? Try Being Lazy Instead.” I’ve been watching “When to Resign” types of videos beforehand so my algorithm must’ve realized that in a heartbeat, I would click this enticing 11-minute video. And well, YouTube algorithm is not wrong. In this video, I learned about this new term that seems to solve all my problems: quiet quitting.
What is quiet quitting?
According to How To Live, “quiet quitting is the counterpart to the hustle culture. While the trend to give everything for the job lasted for a long time, it has become apparent in the course of the pandemic that many people only do the minimum for their job. That is, what is contractually agreed. Overtime and sacrifice in private life are no longer tolerated.”
By doing the bare minimum, you have more time for yourself and you have more time to find a job while you’re quietly quitting.
But there are more things about quiet quitting that wasn’t included in the video. In my one-month experience of quiet quitting, I’ve listed some pros and cons which everyone should know before diving into the coasting culture.
Pros of quiet quitting:
- I clocked in and out on time
I’m used to pulling all-nighters for projects with tight deadlines from my past job so when I moved to another, extending a few hours is nothing to me. I’ve experienced the worst already anyway, right? Thus, voluntarily working overtime is a miracle I should never let go of. But boy was I so wrong.
By doing this, they expected me to answer Slack messages on weekends and outside work hours. I basically taught them to invade my work and life boundaries since I did it for them for free from the get-go.
After watching the video, I immediately turned off my notifications after my shift. By doing so, I forced them to pass the task to another employee working during those hours. I never thought it was possible until I made that happen so yay me!
2. No more pressure to do everything
Quiet quitting taught me to reject the jobs outside the agreed contract I signed up for. And again, this is something I never did because I’m used to believe that going the extra mile will eventually take me places in my career journey.
So when I learned to accept the fact that I’m not a superwoman, it took away the pressure to do all things at once. I just finish everything I can in one day and if it’s not fine with them, well, that’s their fault for not hiring more people.
But of course, I still accomplish things with stricter deadlines. The point of quiet quitting is that you work just enough to not get fired. In short, even if you hate your job, you still need to get that paycheck.
3. You use your leave credits more
When I was in my self-proclaimed “employee of the month” mode, I rarely go on vacation leaves, let alone faking a sick leave. I feel like the company won’t run without me and that no one can take the job I’m supposed to do.
But after quiet quitting, you started to care less and just enjoy the day off because at the end of the day, that’s a privilege you must use. It’s in the law so why not use it, right?
But aside from the few benefits you get for silently protesting against the hustle culture, there’s some downside to it that only a few people acknowledge.
Cons of quiet quitting:
- You feel less worthy
For a person who can’t detach self-worth from productivity, doing less work made me feel nauseous. It made me feel lazy, which is something I intended to do in the first place, and the thing is, it’s not easy to get out of this.
Once you’ve set your mind to silently quit your job, trying to do the bare minimum is also daunting. Because for me, it’s either I give 0 or 100. I can never do a 50 or a 75. So instead of doing the bare minimum to not get fired, you might land in a red zone you’re trying to avoid.
2. Your colleagues might have a harder time because of you
I’ve been surviving toxic workplaces now for four years and that will never be possible without my work friends. They’re the main reasons why I still stay because I treat them like family. Even if I hate being exploited, I can’t let go of the company culture. And by company culture, I mean the friendship we built — not the overworking aspect of it.
So if you started working less, they’ll have less outputs in a day, some clients and bosses might be mad at them because of you and even if really treat them as friends, they might hate you for making their lives harder.
3. There might be no other opportunities
The main goal of quiet quitting is to slack off before finding a better opportunity. Staying in a quiet quitting phase permanently isn’t really ideal because if your employer is a jackass, then there’s no point in staying anyway.
But I guess luck is against my favor right now because as mentioned in my previous article, I failed with my attempt to switch careers. I planned to leave the industry as a whole. I was way too tired of everything, not just my boss but marketing — as a whole.
I honestly thought I would have a shot with this new career path I planned to take until reality slapped me with the face and said, “Nope, kid! You’re stuck in here.”
So yeah, prepare yourself to say hello to another wave of self-doubt once you realize that there are only a few opportunities waiting for you and at this point, staying at this job you hate might be the best decision for you. For the meantime, at least.
Quiet quitting = setting boundaries
Quiet quitting is probably a term which most employers find scary. But honestly, this is just the younger generation’s way of protesting against hustle culture that burned them to the core. Another term for it simply called setting boundaries.
I feel like this is a long overdue movement that needs to be resolved because at the end of the day, companies can’t really run without employees. But as much as these employees want to help, they can only do so much, considering the life they have outside work.
My future plans
So, will I continue quiet quitting? Yes. Even if I have no idea what to do next, this decision is still the best. Even if I miss a few deadlines, the answer still stands. And even if I can’t please other people along the way, I’ll quietly quit until things are okay.
Why? Because if I don’t do something about it now, the cycle remains the same until there are no one else who can handle this mess.
And for my future plans, well, that’s up to the heavens to decide. Now, I’ll just do my job, work on this passion project aka the writing piece you’re reading now, and find other avenues of making me feel alive.
I’m still young.
I can do this.
I can be happier again.
I promise.
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