What's causing Quiet Quitting?
Quiet Quitting is the First Stage of Burnout. What Can Leaders Do?
There are a couple of different ways we can frame quiet quitting: one is empowered and admirable. You’re setting boundaries, no longer working your heart out for substandard conditions, pay or treatment. You’re conserving energy for pursuits outside of work which fulfill and nourish you.
And there is absolutely nothing wrong with this. No longer giving your all to an employer that doesn’t value it completely and overtly is a solid move - you could even describe it as an act of self-love.
However, when quiet quitting goes on too long, it starts to hurt us as individuals more than the employer we’ve quietly quit from.
That’s because quiet quitting is often fuelled by resentment and anger.
And as a Buddhist saying points out, holding onto anger is like swallowing poison and expecting the other person to die.
For a while, quiet quitting can feel fun. Revengeful. However, this kind of dynamic very quickly becomes damaging to ourselves, mentally, emotionally, intellectually and spiritually.
The irony is, subsisting in a state of quiet quitting very quickly disempowers us.
We have one short life. It’s going fast. Quiet quitting is a red flag signaling something needs to change. Soon.
Quiet quitting is a warning sign we need to heed fast. Why? If we don’t, we may quickly find ourselves on the slippery slope towards burnout.
When we quietly quit, we are often starting to show signs of the three dimensions of the WHO’s definition of burnout. Namely:
You are exhausted - you don’t have the energy anymore.
You are cynical - you give zero (or close to zero) f*cks. Perhaps you even take pleasure in undermining the organization because: see previous sentence.
Your professional efficacy is reduced - you are less productive and your quality of work deteriorates.
If you’re finding yourself quietly quitting, evaluate whether there are changes you can make to your current work situation to make it better. Who can you talk to? How can you job craft? If nothing is possible within the framework of your current job, it might be time to think about quitting out loud.
As Leaders it's equally important not to bury our head in the sand when it comes to Quiet Quitting, recognising the symptoms and having the courage to address the underlying root causes benefits our business and our employees.
What can leaders do?
As Daniel Goleman pointed out recently, “Employees quit (quietly or loudly) for a reason—it’s up to leaders to create a sense of purpose”.
If you’re getting the sense that your team is quietly quitting, it’s time to first work on yourself (what we at Human Leaders call Self-Leadership) with some self-reflection.
Which signals of discontent have you missed?
What communication skills do you need to develop?
How are the levels of psychological safety in your team? (Don’t just rely on your own opinion here - ask others, inside and outside your team, for honest feedback)
Are you challenging people enough without overburdening them?
Is the level of remuneration and other benefits truly commensurate with what your team members deliver? Look at market standard, talk to team members, do some research.
As for ‘what now?’, as Adam Grant puts it,
“When they don't feel cared about, people will eventually stop caring.”
So, how can you uplevel respect, meaning and appropriate benefits for your team?
Start asking and listening to team members one-on-one on a regular basis (every two weeks or monthly works well for most).
Create a safe space to talk with your team (Human Leaders leadership circles are an ideal example of this space).
Seek feedback.
Build structural communication so that you are showing up for your team consistently before they fade out.
Discuss remuneration issues with senior leaders. If more budget cannot be allocated, look into the possibility of reducing hours for the same pay, to make pay more impactful (and open up lifestyle opportunities beyond those possible within the scope of a 40+ hour week).
Reflection: What does Quiet Quitting mean to you? Have you ever ‘quietly quit’ a job? What prompted you to do so?
