You may have already come across the term: Quiet quitting. It's a phenomenon that's currently spreading around the world, and in short, it means that more and more employees are choosing not to do more work than they're paid for. Understand the new phenomenon here.
Quiet quitting may sound like a way of leaving your job - in a quiet, discreet way. But in fact, the term refers to a current rebellion against a way of working and being at work.
It's about making a mental decision that work is not your whole life, and therefore you only do exactly what you are employed to do - no more and no less. For example, you don't check your emails after working hours, you don't turn up before working hours begin and don't leave after they end. Or you demand your right to eat lunch in the canteen and not at your desk. And when the screen is closed and you leave the workplace, you don't disturb your work in any way until you come back in.
There doesn't have to be any dissatisfaction with work or controversy with the boss to make the decision to “quietly quit”. Instead, the trend should be seen as a silent rebellion against the work identity that many have strived for, especially before corona, where the norm was that everyone prioritised the workplace community above leisure, family life and personal life. Now, people are choosing to assert that they have a life outside of work. And it has to be done quietly so as not to disturb the other employees who have the Real priorities according to the boss and company expectations.
This is not a big, dramatic and visible rebellion, but a quiet movement that has taken hold in the labour market over the past few years - all originating from an American TikTok account.
From TikTok video to work trends in a post-corona era
The concept of Quiet Quitting originated on Tik Tok in August 2022, when American Zayad Khan posted a video with the message ”work doesn't have to be your life”. In other words, the idea of doing more than is absolutely necessary should be abandoned.
The wave came in the wake of the Corona pandemic, when many employees for the first time experienced changes in the daily routine of getting up, dropping off children, working, picking up children, cooking, going to bed and getting up. Corona turned that cycle upside down. You realised that you could work in many different ways and that the pattern you had never questioned might not be right for you.
This prompted us to rethink whether work needed to take up so much space? And whether the work/life balance could be fine-tuned.
A condition for the future of work or a flash in the pan?
There's no telling if this phenomenon is just a passing trend or if we'll continue to see a movement where employees reduce work engagement and increase other activities.
On the one hand, we see that many companies are opening up to more homeworking after COVID-19, primarily to give employees a better work-life balance and to retain them at a time when many are questioning whether they are spending their (working) time in the right way.
Other companies are instead opting to go back to the pre-corona way of working, requiring full attendance at the workplace without the option to work from home. For example, Goldman Sachs recently announced that ”they are officially back to normal”, requiring employees to physically report to the office every day of the week. This suggests that they believe that productivity decreases if employees work from home and that physical presence is best for business growth.
Is it really about motivation?
Quiet quitting can be caused by a number of factors, and lack of motivation can be one of them. To get the best from their employees, employers should create a positive workplace that offers opportunities for personal and professional development, good management, and an appropriate workload.
At the same time, it's also important to remember that employees are also responsible for their own motivation. They can take the initiative to look for development opportunities, communicate with their managers about their career goals and working conditions, and self-reflect on what their lack of motivation is and how it can be regained.
Ultimately, it's a shared responsibility to create a work environment where employees thrive and are motivated to perform at their best. This can be achieved through a combination of efforts from both employers and employees.
Source: Danishindustry.com, Danskhr.dk
