The phenomenon of “quiet quitting’ has taken social media platform TikTok by storm — with many workers calling it “acting your wage.”
Quiet quitting doesn’t mean workers are silently walking off the job.Instead, it describes workers who intentionally decide they will no longer do work they feel is above and beyond what they are getting paid to do.
For employers, it’s yet another challenge to navigate at a time of elevated turnover, rising wages and an intense hiring climate.
Workplace experts say the catchy label is just the latest term for a trend that has long bedeviled business owners and managers — a lack of employee engagement.And, if companies aren’t careful, quiet quitting could be extremely costly by reducing productivity, decreasing overall engagement and burning out the star employees who are picking up the slack.
“Quiet quitting is just a generational twist on an old problem.Social media has just taken it from HR and business journals to every person’s screens,” said [Ira Wolfe](bizjournals/search/results?q=Ira Wolfe) , workforce thought leader and president at Poised for the Future Co .
He said an older term for the trend is “presenteeism” and has been documented for decades.Essentially it’s a measurement of employee engagement and productivity.Now, with workers in high demand and many businesses struggling to hire, companies are instead trying to squeeze more work out of fewer employees.
Employees are pushing back, and quiet quitting is a consequence — one further elevated by the ease of sharing on social media.
As many as 79% of American workers are experiencing burnout while only 9% are engaged and thriving, according to Gallup surveys.
“Employers who don’t respond effectively are screwed.Employees in this labor market are in the driver’s seat.But that doesn’t mean employers must be held hostage,” Wolfe said.“Quiet quitting can be mitigated by treating people fairly.A culture that emphasizes profitability at the expense of employee well-being will experience lower productivity, higher turnover, higher absenteeism and more quiet quitting.”
So what should business owners do? Compensate employees fairly and recognize their contributions.Quiet quitting is a symptom of neglect and manager and owners can work with their employees to help them feel more connected, Wolfe said.
[Bill Catlette](bizjournals/search/results?q=Bill Catlette) , executive coach and managing partner at Contented Cow Partners, said quiet quitting has emerged as the balance of power has shifted to workers.
“Fueled by a strong job market, those who’ve wanted to change jobs have enjoyed good opportunity to do so.
Still others, preferring instead to remain in their job but reallocate the effort:pay ratio, have effectively quit working (powered back a notch) while still showing up and getting paid,” Catlette said.
Employers should be paying careful attention to their workforce data, as well as doing employee engagement surveys, to identify those who are at risk of quiet quitting.
“The fact that the labor supply is tight in no way signals that business leaders should lower their standards for acceptable conduct or output.Too often, this plays out with marginal workers being kept on the payroll as more engaged workers are expected to pick up their slack.
That doesn’t end well, as, soon enough, the better workers back off the throttle themselves,” Catlette said.
[Michelle Hague](bizjournals/search/results?q=Michelle Hague) , human resources manager at Solar Panels Network USA, said employers need to look at why their workers feel overworked or undervalued.Offering flexible work arrangements or raises may help retain those workers.
Companies might also want to make changes to company policies or how managers interact with employees to help them feel more engaged while promoting work-life balance, she said.
[Jeff Haughton](bizjournals/search/results?q=Jeff Haughton) , senior vice president for incentives, corporate development and strategy at Blackhawk Network, had some tips for employers, including:
– Creating or refreshing your reward program.
Research has found many employees will leave their current jobs for an employer that does a better job of giving recognition and rewarding them.Receiving a reward or recognition would increase 83% of respondents’ productivity and loyalty to the company, according to a survey done by the company.
– Offering the right rewards and perks.Remote and hybrid work options, four-day workweeks, flexible hours, and even gas stipends are less expensive but impactful ways to retain and engage employees by showing you care and value their contributions to your business.
– Rewarding your employees often.Nearly 75% of recent survey respondents reported that they want to be rewarded at least quarterly by their employer.
Nearly half want to be rewarded at least monthly; more than 20% want to be rewarded weekly or daily.
– Let people recognize each other for a job well done.
More than three-quarters of survey respondents (77%) feel that it’s important to recognize others for their positive contributions at work, and 82% respondents would be interested in leveraging an employee recognition platform where they could send and receive recognition to or from anyone in their company.
– Making sure salaries are competitive.Concerns over inflation, gas prices and skyrocketing cost of living are driving a desire for higher salaries among working Americans.To offset these concerns, more than half of working respondents are supplementing their incomes and nearly 40% are seeking new employment opportunities that offer higher pay and/or flexibility in their work arrangement.
The quiet quitting trend comes as companies are still starving for workers, and it seems the prospects of a recession have not had much — if any — impact on the overall job market.
The latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics found that while overall job openings fell to about 10.7 million, companies have largely not increased their layoffs of employees, despite big headlines from tech companies and signs that the heavily venture-driven industry is softening.The quit rate held steady at about 2.8%, or about 4.2 million workers, still far above historic averages, and layoffs remained at about 0.9%, the same rate it has held at for several months now.
Additionally, economists say workforce dynamics — including continued broad-based hiring activity across a range of sectors — suggest employees will continue to hold leverage in the job market for months to come ..
