Stop Worrying About Quiet Quitters
Not too long ago, I saw an article making the rounds on Twitter. It talked about how people are “quiet quitting” their jobs.
What are some examples of quiet quitting?
- Clocking out once you hit the hours you agreed to work when you were hired and not working a minute more.
- Completing work that is passable, but wouldn’t be considered extraordinary.
- Disengaging from toxic work culture.
Quiet quitting is considered a passable solution to burnout. Burnout often has intense physical and emotional consequences if ignored for too long.
If you’ve been here a while, you know which side I’m on.
And then this morning I noticed a trending article on LinkedIn that also discussed quiet quitting. LinkedIn culture already upsets me, but I like using it to find freelance opportunities. You win some, you lose some.
So what’s the issue?
My guess is that people who aren’t happy with quiet quitters are the ones managing them. But they also forget that employment is a two-way street. People can burn out if they give 100% of their effort 100% of the time. It’s also not possible to produce high quality work from the second you clock in until you clock out.
I don’t want to hear about how other people worked hard to get to where they are today. Things change. The issues younger people face aren’t always going to be the same issues their parents faced. And if you think about it, the world is still not set up for younger professionals. Millennials entered the workforce only to be treated with disdain.
So tell me, what is worse? Do you want a good employee to disengage some so they can cope now? Or do you prefer losing them and hiring somebody new because you ran them into the ground? (Only for the cycle to repeat itself in a few months.)
How do we fix this problem?
As a young Millennial, the solution is clear.
- Let people choose their location. We’ve been saying this since the start of the pandemic. Many office jobs can be done remotely. Hybrid work is a good solution for some work environments, too. If people want to go to the office every day, they can choose that option too. Stop leaving people who have been able to thrive while working from home out of the conversation.
- Listen to feedback. People don’t want ping pong tables at work. They want quality healthcare. They want to afford their rent or buy homes.
- Stop trying to make the 40 hour work week happen. It’s not necessary for most jobs and you’ll get better performance if you let people work less hours.
Your move.
