What Is “Quiet Quitting” and How Should You React?

Companies have noticed last year’s “Great Resignation” isn’t the only trend making waves in the modern workplace. As people realize how disillusioned they’ve become with their day job, they actively look for ways to stop working so hard. There’s even a term for it: “quiet quitting.” It only recently exploded in popularity thanks to social media apps like TikTok, and it’s used to describe workers who try to do the bare minimum to avoid getting fired.

From their perspective, there’s no point in going the extra mile because their employer hasn’t found the right way to motivate people. And who can blame them? Between the COVID-19 pandemic, rising inflation, and an oncoming energy crisis, they’ve got way more things to feel stressed about than ever before.

The global lockdowns gave workers an opportunity to set new expectations, but employers have failed to meet them.

Situations like this make people sober up to the unrealistic standards that exist in professional settings, and the popular answer is to opt out of trying to overachieve. Without freedom, trust, and worthwhile rewards, companies can only expect their workers’ motivation to decrease.

In this article, we’ll explore 3 simple things you can do to avoid people “quiet quitting” at your company by embracing new ideas employed some of the world’s biggest companies.

Harmony Between Work and Personal Life

Help your team improve their work-life balance so they can become a happier, healthier version of themselves. Though some people find great fulfillment in their work, it becomes a problem if their professional life overshadows their family life.

Consider introducing a flexible work schedule or let your team enjoy a long weekend by trialing a 4-day workweek. It’s an easy and effective fix. Some experts suggest that working over 35 hours a week is suboptimal and productivity only plummets after that point (there are plenty of studies to support the theory of more hours = less productivity).

Freedom as a Way To Encourage Creativity

Highly controlled environments will suffocate all creativity. We can see this taken to ridiculous extremes in companies where remote workers are forced to keep their webcam during the day, which is a prime example of what not to do.

Instead, employers need to show trust and offer both freedom and responsibility if they want employees to feel valued.

If you support your team’s working style, they’re more likely to deliver the results you’re after.

Try giving people specific tasks or having them work on a project instead of micromanaging their day; if they make the deadlines, it doesn’t really matter how they did it. It’s often better to measure employee impact rather than trying to measure their output.

The impact on our company and our product

We’ve developed SpockOffice.com, a convenient Slack app that helps small and midsize companies with leave tracking through handy features like daily attendance notifications and custom leave types.

A Well-deserved Break Can Stop Burnout

Burnout was a big problem during the first set of lockdowns, and it’s something teams need to work on preventing together. For us, the best way to deal with it is booking a relaxing vacation, so we built an app for it.

Spock is a user-friendly leave tracker that works in Slack! It only takes one click to install and requires no onboarding. Our aim is to help managers build the leave policy they need while giving employees a clear overview of how much time off they’re entitled to.

Don’t let your employees suffer through burnout—try the free 30-day trial today and create a fair, transparent system for employee leaves in your workplace.