Quiet quitting: Setting boundaries or a sign of disengagement?

What is quiet quitting?

In simple terms, quiet quitting means an employee doing the job they are paid for, within their contracted hours, but nothing else. Employees do not quit their roles but reject the idea of going ‘above and beyond’ for it.  

We’ve watched quiet quitting grow from a TikTok trend to a global discussion about burnout culture, work-life balance and reward. It’s got us thinking, is there much difference between quiet quitting and disengagement?

Why has quiet quitting come about?

Quiet quitting is welcomed by some as an antidote to ‘hustle culture’, where working longer, harder and faster was glorified as the route to success, despite leading to exhaustion and burnout.

The trend is popular with Generation Z who have seen others experience burnout and want to steer well clear. By choosing to go through the motions they’re rejecting stress, prioritising themselves, and creating a more peaceful life.

In addition, during Covid-19 many people re-evaluated their priorities in order to put their health, families and personal commitments first and are reluctant to return to pre-pandemic ways of working.

However, while resetting boundaries around work is healthy, quiet quitting takes this further by encouraging people to consciously check out of work.

Is quiet quitting a problem for employers?

While quiet quitters may not be ready to hand in their notice, this trend for checking out from work should prompt organisations to take a closer look at employee engagement levels.

When we talk about employee engagement, we don’t mean that employees should work all hours of the day or put work before wellbeing. Instead, being engaged means that employees are enthusiastic about their work, proud to work for your organisation and willing to go the extra mile to help your organisation succeed.

On the other hand, disengaged employees tend to be resistant to change, cynical about messages from leadership, and reluctant to suggest new ideas or solutions.

While quiet quitters fall somewhere in the middle, mentally checking out is usually a sign of employees losing motivation and, if left unaddressed, is likely to impact business performance, innovation and staff retention.

How does quiet quitting impact individuals?

While quiet quitting is seen by some as a way of reclaiming work-life balance and prioritising commitments outside of work, it isn’t without its downsides.

Although doing the minimum to get by will reduce stress at work, it can also lead to boredom, dissatisfaction and unhappiness – none of which are good for employee wellbeing. According to Gallup, a staggering 60% of the world’s workers feel emotionally detached from their jobs and 19% are actively miserable.

Spot the signs of quiet quitting

Particularly in hybrid teams, it can be difficult to spot a ‘quietly quitting’ employee. After all, they are still starting work on time and fulfilling their duties.

Luckily, your employee survey results can help identify pockets of disengagement that might be prompting quiet quitting. (Speak to us about running a confidential employee survey.)

Usually, you might focus on your top-scoring and lowest-scoring questions to understand where to make changes and improve overall engagement. But in order to tackle the risk of employees checking out, you need to explore your middle ground data too.

What to look for in your employee survey results

When measuring employee engagement, there are certain factors that contribute to how engaged, motivated and satisfied people feel at work. At People Insight, we use the PEARL model to organise survey questions into the following themes, each proven to influence engagement:

• Purpose – What the organisation stands for and where it is going
• Enablement – Conditions that enable the individual to do their job well
• Autonomy – Influence over your own work
• Reward – Intrinsic and extrinsic rewards for your efforts
• Leadership – Leaders listen, support and enable positive change

Take a look at your scores for each theme. The middle-ground or neutral responses, on top of your overall scores and open-text comments, should show you opportunities to re-engage this group. What changes could you make to improve their experience at work?

Also look at your key driver questions. These are the areas with the biggest impact on how engaged people feel. Again, focus on pockets of lower engagement.

These may be found in particular departments or teams so apply demographic filters to look for patterns or trends in the data. For example, there may be a tendency for one demographic group to feel like their hard work is not recognised or rewarded. This resentment may prompt this group to ‘quietly quit’ since there is no incentive to go above and beyond. By addressing this issue in your post-survey action plan, you can tackle what might be causing people to check out.

What can managers do?

Discussions around quiet quitting have also brought the spotlight onto the employer-employee relationship. After all, why should an employee be expected to perform a task that falls outside of their role, or go the extra mile for a client?

Often the motivation to display this discretionary effort comes down to interactions between managers and employees.

Many people will have worked for a leader or manager who encouraged them to accomplish goals, develop new skills and challenge themselves. In this scenario, occasionally working late or accepting a task beyond your job description isn’t resented.

Equally, a lack of motivation can reflect on an employee’s relationship with their manager. Following on from the Great Resignation, quiet quitting should be an alarm bell for managers to find out what motivates people, check in about concerns or issues, and make sure to recognise their efforts

Preventing quiet quitting

Asking your employees for regular feedback can help create a more engaging and positive place to work.

Speak to us to learn how you can design and launch unlimited surveys using the People Insight Platform or ask our expert team for a hand running your next employee engagement survey.

Additional Resources:

Recognise and reduce stress at work 

How to tackle workplace isolation and improve wellbeing