The term “The Great Resignation” has been around a few years, but ‘Quiet Quitting’ appeared recently and is suddenly everywhere.
What is ‘Quiet Quitting’, well the name is somewhat misleading, as employees are still doing exactly what is says in their job description and what is required of them… but that is all that they are doing. The term is becoming more common as a result of employees being asked to do more and more for less and less over the last few years.
It is not Laziness
It is easy to point the finger at the employees in this scenario, especially younger people are often branded as lazy and having no work ethic, but burn-out is a real and pressing issue facing a lot of employers. There are reasons for burn-out that should be immediately obvious: pandemic, social unrest, unpredictable economy.
But there are also reasons that originated well before the chaos of the past few years. People are tired of being stifled by leaders who don’t trust or value them. If there’s no freedom to take a risk without fear of being punished for a bad result, then why take a risk? If there’s no acknowledgement of their capacity and no opportunity to contribute their full value, then why would they want to do more?
You only need to look at average salary nationwide vs cost of living in the last couple of decades to see that more needs to be done to support employees of businesses regardless of the size.
How do you stop it?
Acknowledge the last few years.
It’s been a wild ride! Since the pandemic hit in 2019, the world has been very different and everyone has had their own troubles. Proceeding like nothing has happened and hoping your employees do the same is not the way to go.
Ask questions. Listen to answers. And give people what they need to feel back to their best. This will be different for everyone, one rule won’t fit all, and it is important for a business to be dynamic and flexible to get the best from their workforce.
Look at your policy, and enforce it.
The vast majority of modern businesses will say that employees are not expected to be available outside of work hours, but research has shown that employees who are, get treated favourably by managers on both personal and financial levels. It is important that everyone in a position of management in a company buys into the culture and allows people separation between work and life.
Managing employee happiness has changed more in the last 3 years than in the previous 20, so it is important to be open to new methods and accepting of change within an organisation. Happy and motivated employees only benefit the business that they work for, looking at the biggest companies in the world for inspiration, the likes of Google, Apple and Facebook are investing more than ever in employee perks and bonuses.
