Quiet quitting has many major companies and HR departments worried.
Key Details
- Companies are looking for solutions to quiet quitting—a behavior exhibited by employees who are discontent at work and therefore do the minimum amount to remain employed.
- More than 50% of human-resources professionals are concerned about it.
- A recent Gallup survey estimates that 50% of the U.S. workforce qualify as quiet quitters.
- Chief workplace psychologist at Qualtrics Ben Granger spoke with Bloomberg about quiet quitting and how it is affecting employers.
- “If you get into a situation where organizations start to see this tip, and now there is massive amounts of quiet quitting happening, that is almost certainly going to lead to some massive downstream effects on the business,” says Granger.
- “Human resources companies, consultants, law firms, and even artificial-intelligence startups have jumped in to offer advice on how to prevent and combat it … Leaders at large and well-known companies in finance, tech, and health care are very concerned,” says Bloomberg.
- “Human resource professionals say leaders are concerned about whether they can rely on their employees if there’s a recession—or if they can afford to fire and replace quiet quitters in a tight labor market.”
Why it’s important
It may be necessary to shift direction in how leaders are handling burnout. Improving communication may be a necessary step to addressing the issue, although many companies are seeking other solutions as well.
“While their first reaction is often to blame quiet quitting on laziness… many come to realize that it’s actually a management problem,” says Bloomberg.
Some companies are trying to find solutions to quiet quitting—by identifying negative trends that might suggest employees are checking out; even using artificial intelligence solutions to analyze communications and search for burnout and disengagement.
“Are your employees checking out from work? Prevent quiet quitting and give your people the support they need, based on organic data. Know your organization’s daily engagement levels, burnout risk, and more,” says A.I. analytics company Erudit.
Google has responded with a method called quiet hiring, to identify employees who are willing to work above and beyond the baseline.
Backing up a bit
As we previously reported, Gen Z employees are responding to workplace burnout and poor work-life balance by “quiet quitting,” wherein they purposely put less effort into their job. They aren’t slacking or purposely trying to fail, but they are refusing to put in extra effort or work extra hours.
Gen Z is actively aware of the disconnect between where they are and where they want to be. They don’t find belonging in their company cultures and don’t believe in the work they’re doing.