Quiet Quitting Has Always Been a Problem-It Was Just Called Something Else

Unless you’ve been living under a rock lately, you’ve likely heard the phrase “quiet quitting.” Even though the name is new, the concept is not.

Quiet quitting is another way to say low morale, poor employee engagement, or mentally checked out. And if you are seeing the trend within your organization, expect to feel the impact on your profitability.

What Is Quiet Quitting?

Instead of actually quitting, quiet quitting is when an employee dials back to the minimum of what their job requires. To some, this new term suggests a deliberate choice to send a message to leadership – a way to communicate a dislike of returning to the office full time or set boundaries between personal responsibilities and work demands.

We used to talk constantly about how Millennials didn’t have the same work ethic as the Gen Z or Baby Boomer workforce. Similarly, quiet quitting has drawn fire as a sign of laziness or disrespect. But it may just be a misunderstanding. This passive-aggressive stand-off has brought to light another growing trend…quiet firing.

What Is Quiet Firing?

Quiet firing is a leader’s apathetic answer to an employee who is no longer performing or is no longer considered a team asset. It’s not an outright firing or direct conversation about finding alternative opportunities outside the company.

A manager either takes that employee off the list of go-to people or makes expectations so difficult that it drives them to leave on their own without leadership having to fire them. It’s a career-holding pattern without a conversation about it.

Impact on Your Business is the Same

Both quiet quitting and quiet firing are contagious. Trust is already deteriorating when the essential difficult conversations about performance and expectations don’t happen. Leadership should be concerned whether managers are cutting people out of their processes or employees are squeaking by with the bare minimum. These things don’t happen in a vacuum.

Quiet quitting and even quiet firing are a sign of burnout. Life in and outside the workplace has had major swings over the past few years. Keeping an eye on motivation, productivity, interaction, and idea generation, are particularly important right now. And they are always good cues for gauging employee engagement.

If you haven’t been hit yet by quiet quitting, then you either have a great company culture with high engagement, or you’re lucky. If it’s the latter, now is the time to work on creating a foundation of trust.

If you have noticed your top performers are easing off the gas pedal recently, keep reading. It may not be a temporary or personal thing they’re working on.

How Can You Put an End to Quiet Quitting?

Unless you are prepared to fire anyone who disengages for whatever reason, you have an engagement issue that needs to be addressed at all levels.

1. Have the hard conversations. Is your employee going through something temporary, or are they no longer interested in working in their current position? There’s a big difference between the two. The first requires understanding from you to save the relationship. The second may require talking over options. They may not know what to do. Burnout can paralyze anyone. If they are taking up a seat in your organization and not finding what they want, they’re keeping you from hiring someone who wants to be there.
2. Strive for empathy. It’s easy to get angry if you see someone not doing the job you hired them for or no longer doing what they once did. It can become an emotional powder keg between those not feeling valued warring against those who see laziness. But it doesn’t have to. Ask yourself, “Where is the employee coming from? What has contributed to these feelings or the burnout?” You may both end up taking responsibility for the situation.
3. Encourage the hard questions. A manager could assume someone is disengaging, but you’ll never know unless you have a conversation about it. Some people don’t even realize it. You may think it’s burnout, but it could be the ramification of a sick relative at home or the end of a serious relationship distracting the employee. Invite them to ask themselves hard questions like, “Am I still growing in this position, or am I stagnating?” If they’re stagnating, it might be time to look elsewhere.
4. Be creative. Work on creative ways to help someone keep up productivity and recoup more personal time. Ask for their suggestions and where they feel the dissatisfaction. Help your employee start setting expectations at work and discuss outcomes so they can make better decisions regarding their future with the company. Maybe they just need to leave at 6PM every day, or perhaps giving them additional responsibility will change their view of their job. Open the conversation.
5. Get coaching. Employee engagement and building a culture of engagement do not come naturally to some. Seek the help of a coach or find training for your company on how you can improve company culture or employee engagement.

These tactics can help leaders better understand what is going on with your employees but also work if you’re noticing that you are the one who is disengaged. When a relationship isn’t working, something must change. And that change will either make it stronger or inspire you to find a better fit.

Liddell Consulting Group designed our executive coaching processes to address each leader’s specific goals. Whether your aim is to address areas that enhance your leadership skills or the success of your organization, our experts take decades of experience to help you be at your best. The results can be immediate and long-term. If you’d like to learn more. Contact us today.