How 'Quiet Quitting' Became The Next Phase Of The Great Resignation

This is an example of

quitting

silently, a trend that has been dominating social media and especially Tik Tok. In July, Zaid Khan, a 24-year-old engineer from New York, posted a video about how to quit smoking silently and it went viral. Since then, the trend has spread like wildfire with hashtags like

quiet

quitting

, quitting, and

quiet

ing. Does anyone want to work more? Then the mainstream media started covering it. Do you like to work overtime? No, thanks. Late night emails, ignore them. Quitting smoking silently is a very bad idea. If you're a silent quitter, you're not working for me.

The world is changing. And the way of working is changing. Even people say I'm not going back to the office. And if I do, I'll definitely quit until I find a job that's much more flexible. Covid was the definitive reset. Covid was that moment when people start to ask themselves a more important question: what do I want from my life? Do I want to continue working the way I do? Or do I want something different? Do I want to continue working? Which is fantastic. But do I also want to be able to enjoy my family? Do I also want to be able to enjoy my life?

So I think all these things come in stages. And I think quitting smoking is simply the trend that emerged as a result of the ultimate reset, which is Covid. About 40% of workers now say they plan to change jobs this year. The pandemic also triggered the

great

resignation

. ...to hold people back, but they're really running scared. Millions of Americans quit their jobs in 2021. Some in search of better opportunities. Some for a break in their career. The pace of job attrition continued well into 2022. This chart tracks job openings and job turnover in the US economy. JOLT for short.

We believe that quitting silently is part of the big story of quitting. So it fits into the overall story of having had a high level of

resignation

s over the last year, year and a half, and certainly a very tight labor market. And in that kind of labor market, it makes a lot of sense that workers aren't willing to work as hard as they have in the past because it's so easy to get alternative employment. So the question is what is silent quitting smoking? Quietly quitting refers to a situation where employees choose not to necessarily go beyond what they are asked to do.

It doesn't mean they aren't doing their job. They just don't go any further. In my time it was called sliding. For me. The last time I quietly quit was five years ago, I used to be in tech sales. What I did was work less. I was no longer working 40 hours. I was no longer giving in to the drama. He was no longer giving in to work gossip. He didn't respond to emails, texts, or sloppy messages. You know, direct messages after work days and on weekends were free. They were mine. Although it is millennials and generation Z who are actively talked about on social media.

There has been a lot of attrition among members of Generation X, which I have been a part of for the better part of two or three years. The anti-work movement is not a new trend. In 2021, the “lying down” or “tang ping” movement took off in China, with many seeing it as an anti-labor phenomenon. This is a labor protest movement in China against the country's unforgiving work culture. Some argue that quitting silently is similar to the motion of going to bed. In America, quietly quitting could also be a reaction against hustle culture, the 24/7 Startup Grind, popularized by figures like Gary Vee and others.

Honestly, I think it's almost a direct resistance and disruption of hustle culture, and I think it's exciting that more people are doing it. When it comes to hustle culture and quietly quitting. We're seeing Gen Zers especially who are really focused on ensuring that they have that work-life balance, and a really mission-driven purpose when it comes to work. And we also see this among Millennials. People are being more honest about the fact that they simply don't want to put in the 40+ hours of work they normally would because they're tired. There has been a tsunami of job resignations.

In 2021, the Big Resigners have dominated the economic news cycle or need to remain in their roles. Thus, in the second quarter of the same year, United States productivity data recorded the largest annual drop in its history. And some economists blame workers who leave their jobs or don't put in the effort at their current jobs for the impact on productivity. Silent abandonment is likely part of the reason for the slowdown in labor productivity. It's hard to say exactly from aggregate data why labor productivity has slowed so much over the course of the pandemic, but it's certainly one reason why it would be expected to weigh on labor productivity right now.

Employee engagement also appears to be declining. A recent Gallup poll showed that employee engagement in the US fell for the first time in a decade, dropping from 36% of employees engaged in 2020 to 34% in 2021. Lack of engagement, not being engaged, It is affecting productivity. Mentally, they just aren't there. And they're not really giving it their all anymore, and they're just trying to blend in and they're disengaged, that's largely due to impact productivities. I think quitting silently is part of the

great

renunciation. People are so exhausted that we just went through and are still going through a pandemic. We are recognizing that life can be so fleeting and so short, and we want to spend it doing something we love.

And that doesn't mean the job has to be our dream job. I think the myth of the dream job is dying slowly or quickly. People who turn off their laptop at 5, they want that balance in life, they want to go to the football game, just from 9 to 5, they don't work for me, I can tell you that. Labor demand remains red hot in 2022, despite the imminent risk of a recession. The economic downturn could make the shift away from silence a short-lived trend. Well, if the job market changed, one would imagine that quietly quitting smoking would cease to be a phenomenon.

While the risk of you quietly dropping out is that the economy slows down and then you could find yourself in a situation where you're in a job that you haven't given your best effort, and that puts you in a tough spot. disadvantage in terms of advancing that work. If others have tried harder, they are more likely to have greater job security than they would otherwise. Certainly, as the labor market slows, and if we enter a recession, these workers could be at a disadvantage. In addition to speaking to thousands of employees per year, I spoke to thousands of leaders per year, from your supervisor to your C-suite CEOs.

And I will tell you that this trend bothers you, because it speaks of two things. First, we have employees who are doing their jobs, but they don't go any further. Two, what have we as an organization done to these employees that makes them feel like they can't do their best? We are evolving as a culture, we are evolving as people, and the workplace is evolving. And we have to be okay with that. Because to me it's the same concept as people who say that just because I didn't have it, it means you shouldn't have it either.

You should have to work hard. I just want to be careful in saying that silent quitting is, you know, Generation Z and Generation Y. I think it may be happening everywhere. And the more we are engaged and connected and share our purpose, the less of a problem disengagement will be and then, hopefully, the term silent resignation will start to fade into the background and we will see both employees being productive and well engaged and employers alike. They are very committed. successful.