Is your work environment a place where you would want to go the extra mile?

Jack Zenger and Joseph Folkman, asked the above question in a survey to analyse the concept of ‘Quiet Quitting’.

What is “Quiet Quitting”?

Almost all of us have at some point in our careers felt – ‘enough is enough‘. I’m not going to give anything more than what is asked for, or I’ve committed myself to.

That is “Quiet Quitting”. It is not quitting the job per se but becoming less enthusiastic about it. 

It is a conscious decision a person makes to draw limitations on how much one needs to contribute at work. And sometimes it is also about doing only the minimum work necessary to keep their job. Often it entails not signing up for ambitious projects. 

According to a Resume Builder survey in August, 

1. One in 10 employees says they are currently putting in less effort than they did six months ago.
2. Additionally, 5% out of 1,000 people surveyed say they do less than what’s required of them.

However, how healthy is this approach in the interest of a team and its productivity? If more than 25% of the members of a team have opted to exercise their right to do only the minimum number of tasks assigned to them, what would it mean for the productivity of the team and the organization as a whole?

As per Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace report, the quiet quitting cost the global economy $7.8 trillion in lost productivity. 

Quiet Quitting may seem a tempting choice for an employee in the short term, but the long-term impacts are not good for him too. 

Should one always be giving more than what is asked for?

This is a debatable topic and according to me very personal and situation-specific.

A person decides this way, mostly because he feels undervalued and unappreciated. At times the reasons are more subtle like to strike a better work-life balance.  

Whatever the employee rationale is, it indirectly points to a reskilling at the leadership level. 

The HBR mentions the role of leaders in tackling this quiet quitting mindset. The 3 main approaches suggested by them are: 

1) Building Trust in the team by investing time to foster positive relationships – Such conversations help to reduce disengagement and burnout.

2) Demonstrating trustable behaviour by consistently delivering what was promised

3) Skilling oneself towards expertise – Expertise provides clarity and insight making it easy for the team members to trust you.

And if somebody still wants to quietly quit, guide them to be efficient and maximise their working hours. 

 On a lighter note, tell them to talk to the bosses and not TikTok.

Preethi Sankar

Preethi Sankar is part of the Content Team. Preethi brings with her rich experience of over 16 years of soft skill training experience having worked with several renowned names in Information Technology, Automobile, Telecom, BFSI space across India. The mantra of her life ‘Who looks outside dreams; who looks inside, awakes’ by Carl Jung.