For the past several years, we’ve had to work through a lethal pandemic, a lousy economy, the gradual collapse of democracy, and the decimation of our civil liberties. What is transpiring is that overworked, exhausted, burnt-out working-class people are taking back their diminishing agency jobs and operating conditions that are unfavourable for them. The latest of these types of acts of resistance is so-called “quiet quitting”- the freshly coined phrase for when workers only decide to do the job, they’re being paid to do without participating in extracurriculars or taking on any extra duties at work. Every prominent HR consultant in Mumbai is familiar with this term by now. Acquiring popularity in response to pandemic-induced burnout, quiet quitting is having a juncture, especially among young individuals who, in many ways, have suffered through the worst of these surreal times.
Quiet quitting is the latest workplace buzzword. Although it sounds like some employees are resigning, it represents a rebellion against the hustle culture of going beyond what a job requires. While not an unprecedented concept, the term ‘quiet quitting’ has recently acquired popularity in the media as some employees reject the hustle culture at their workplace and set job boundaries. Not only are people resigning from positions, but they also want to limit their workloads. Primary HR services in Mumbai are inquiring candidates about quietly quitting — the new way of doing a designated job’s bare minimum before they land them a job.
What is quiet quitting?
Quiet quitting refers to performing the bare minimum requirements of one’s selected job and putting in no more effort, time, or enthusiasm than is necessary. As such, it is a misnomer since the worker doesn’t leave their position and continues to collect a salary.
Quiet quitting doesn’t imply that an employee has left their job but instead has limited their daily tasks to those strictly within their job description to avoid exhaustive long working hours. They want to perform the bare minimum to get their desired job done and set precise boundaries to improve their work-life balance. These employees are still successfully fulfilling their job duties but not subscribing to the ‘work is life’ culture to guide their careers and stand out to their official superiors. They religiously stick to what is in their official job description, and when they go home after work, they leave work behind them in the office and focus on non-work duties and activities.
However, entirely quitting could signify that an employee is not content in their position or is experiencing significant burnout. Quiet quitting is a way for the employee to deal with exhaustion to help alleviate some work stress. It may also mean they are ready to change positions or look for another job.
Is quiet quitting for real?
Employees who settle to ‘quiet quit’ are frequently disillusioned with the workplace. Hence, they disengage and extricate themself from their work and stop giving their 110% to the job. If this practice is addressed, it can positively impact other employees and the overall workplace culture. These impacts include decreased employee productivity and morale, mainly because employees who feel disengaged might produce work of inferior quality. A subordinate or inadequate engagement rate within the workplace often results in a leveraged turnover rate, as no employee wants to work in a hostile environment. This raises a costly issue for an organization as it is expensive and time-consuming for the entire organization to go through the hiring and training process for new employees.
Quiet quitting might or might not be a recent phenomenon or a bona fide trend. But it has called attention to what appears to be widespread dissatisfaction among a major chunk of employees that employers might need to address. Every employee has the right to decide: Are they only willing to do the bare minimum work necessary, or do they believe in the organization and its mission enough to desire to do more? To such employees, contract staffing services come in handy. For quiet quitters, only the bare minimum is favorable; and so is valid with contract employees. When an employee is based on contract staffing, they need to have the load over their head to impress their fellow superiors to have a beneficial future in the organization. Hence, a bare minimum is enough for contractual employees. One of the finest contract staffing companies in India, Prompts Personnel, takes care of the organization’s contract staffing services, so they don’t have to worry about quiet quitters anymore.
Every HR professional must have the time and scope available to support the management and people of the organization to do their best work. Prompt Personnel, one of the leading HR consultants in India, provides small to medium-sized businesses with effortless and effective HR management software that takes care of many operational and administrative tasks—freeing up time to dedicate to the people’s side of the business.