Why ‘Quiet Quitting’ Is Just Another Marketing Term To Ignore

Employers should be more understanding

It’s fair to say that if I have these types of days, so too will my team. They may have stuff going on at home or just get too caught up in the media banging on about the great resignation – but whatever it is, people are not ‘on’ 100 percent of the time.

Being understanding that we are all human is imperative to running a business, but also being an employee.

The great resignation wouldn’t have happened without media hype

The media has ‘blood on their hands’ when it comes to ‘the great resignation’, ‘interest rate rises’, ‘inflation’, ‘economic downturns’, ‘real estate prices’ and of course, ‘recession’.

We read it, we believe it. Even me. When everyone is choosing to do major layoffs, I find myself wondering whether I should be looking at cutbacks too. I wouldn’t know that 30 percent of Oracles workforce was retrenched (if that is in fact true – who knows!) if it wasn’t for reading it online.

Doing “just enough” is ok – sometimes

If it is a day or two a month, most employers understand. It’s when it goes on for weeks on end, and then it becomes a problem both culturally and from a performance perspective.

Constructive feedback can have two effects: an employee could fix the problem and improve, or they can ‘quietly quit’. The latter often relates to age of employee and emotional maturity level.

How did ‘quietly quitting’ become a thing

Its origins were first coined from TikTok by #tiktok – er @zkchillin who likes “chillin” a lot. No surprises there that “quietly quitting” received 8.2 million views on TikTok alone and made @zkchillin somewhat famous for 2 minutes. It seems people can relate to “chillin” not only in front of the television but while they are paid quite often by struggling businesses that are just trying to make payroll.

The fact that people continue to bang on about the great resignation two years later and now “quietly quitting” as if it’s a hero war cry is beyond me and most probably many other employers.

I can safely say that my employees are not “quietly quitting” and are producing some fine work at least 80 percent of the time, which is all I ask.

What signs they say broadcast that an employee is quietly quitting:

• They leave at 5pm on the dot (derrr… have you not heard of work life balance? Not sure what workplace this is a problem, but nice to know that there’s a generation of people that feel this is a bad thing).
• Declining to do tasks they are not paid for (I’m sorry, are you not paid to work 8 hours a day? Suck it up princess. A team effort is needed now more than ever before and sometimes I, the boss, makes coffee for my employees and lunch and run errands because they need a helping hand)
• Seeking revenge (that’s a personality type I don’t want to be around and most people young and old see straight through. If you ever want to seek revenge, I suggest you head to a psychologist to work out why).
• Fall asleep at the desk (big night?)

Motivating employees and understanding their predicament is all part of the parcel of running a business and being a leader. Likewise, employers are human. Sometimes they won’t get out of bed on the right side, or they are not having a great day and might not be as eloquent in communicating but cut everyone some slack. Humans have emotions and hormones. Let’s start being a little more forgiving, kinder and you know, understanding.