What Causes Quiet Quitting?

The term ‘quiet quitting’ has been buzzing throughout the global workforce recently, though it is hardly a new development. As more and more employees discover their worth and refuse to settle for toxic work environments and company culture, quiet quitting or silent quitting has affected many businesses.

If you’ve noticed the quiet quitting trend has impacted your company, it is important to find the right solutions that improve your work culture and help employees feel heard. The Norfus Firm specializes in workplace engagement and retention issues and can assist. In this informative blog post, we provide more insight into why workers are quietly quitting and how you can combat quiet quitting.

What Does It Mean to Quiet Quit?

Quiet quitting is part of the “Great Resignation,” a movement where employees aren’t exactly quitting their jobs per se, but they are no longer putting in the effort. Quiet quitters are setting boundaries rather than going above and beyond to get little to nothing in return. Essentially, silent quitting or quiet quitting refers to disengagement in motivation, enthusiasm, and commitment to the job while physically remaining in the role.

When an employee quiet quits, they only give the bare minimum required rather than give in to the demands of hustle culture. Naturally, this employee disengagement can impact your operations in numerous ways. It can hinder productivity as well as cause other employees to become potential quiet quitters.

Signs of Quiet Quitting

The key to avoiding these issues within your company is to address them rather than dismissing quiet quitting as a trend. HR teams must be invested in providing a positive work environment that creates job satisfaction. In order to fight this silent resignation, it is important to look for the signs that indicate a quiet quit is imminent.

Low Employee Engagement

You may notice that an employee who once went above and beyond is no longer doing so. With soft quitting, employees put in less effort and refrain from going the extra mile to avoid stress. You may notice an employee who used to work overtime and help other employees with their projects withdraw and only focus on their job.

Additionally, they may no longer speak up when they were once vocal. They may attend mandatory meetings, but they’ll skip non-mandatory meetings when they quietly quit.

Contributing the Bare Minimum

When employees quiet quit, particularly young employees, they only stick to the basics of their job description. When an employee is a self-starter, they contribute ideas and set goals to strategize for the future. Quiet quitters only do the minimum required of their job duties.

They will only work hours they are required from the starting time to ending time each day rather than put in long hours to finish a project. While no employee should be made to work more hours than usual every day, the difference with quiet quitting is that they lose their passion and stop caring about deadlines.

Not Being Involved with the Team

Along with a lack of putting in extra effort, many employees that quiet quit stop contributing to the team. A quiet quitter only participates in what is mandated and generally avoids other interactions.

Why Are Employees Quiet Quitting?

In order to know why employees quietly quit, you need to get to the root causes of quiet quitting. What leads to quiet quitting for one employee may be different for another. Preventing quiet quitting can only happen when you identify the common quiet quitting reasons that spark this behavior.

Lack of Recognition

One of the biggest reasons employees become quiet quitters is a lack of recognition for their efforts. When employees feel that they are not being acknowledged for the work they put in, they may be responding to what they perceive as quiet firing.

Since quiet firing is something many companies do either intentionally or unintentionally by not offering raises or increasing workload without increasing pay, employees respond to feeling disrespected by not caring about the job.

Low Pay

Many employees that are quiet quitting are doing so because their pay does not match the effort they put into the job. Quiet quitters realize that putting in more productivity isn’t reflected in their salaries or bonuses. When employees aren’t paid accordingly, it can hamper employee engagement.

Lack of Healthy Work Life Balance

Poor work life balance is another reason for quiet quitting. When a job is all-consuming, it eats away at the time each person needs to replenish and enjoy themselves outside of working hours. A better work life balance is needed for overall health and well-being.

Workload Overload

When employees are constantly overworked, it can cause them to burnout quickly. It’s easy for them to lose enthusiasm about specific projects, clients, or even the entire organization when they are overburdened in this way.

Job Burnout and Toll on Mental Health

The need for more balance is also seen in employee burnout and the toll it takes on mental health. When these needs aren’t being met, the work environment suffers for everyone.

Poor Communication

When management does not properly communicate with employees, it can allow resentment to fester. Misunderstanding, frustration, and feelings of neglect can often fuel quiet quitting, especially if there are toxic management practices that are being ignored.

Lack of Autonomy and Conflicts

Employees that feel like they’re constantly controlled and not free to make decisions grow more resentful by the day. It becomes even worse when they are embroiled in conflict with managers or fellow coworkers, leading to a toxic working environment. Instead of walking out, they’ll simply just show up and do only what is required until they find another opportunity.

No Opportunities to Advance

Growth opportunities and career paths should be outlined by management teams to give an incentive for employees to stay with the company. Quiet quitting happens when employees have no chance to advance. They will bide their time while they seek opportunities elsewhere.

Personal Issues

In some cases, quiet quitters may not have an issue with the company or how it is run. They may be overburdened with personal problems and have little energy to devote to excelling in their careers.

Divorce, chronic illnesses, loss of a loved one, and other personal woes may take their toll on an employee at any time. They will keep showing up on time and clocking out on time every day to bring home a paycheck while concealing their internal battles.

How Quiet Quitting Impacts Your Business

When quiet quitting happens, it can affect many areas of your business. The most noticeable impacts will be felt in productivity. Many quiet quitters will simply cease to do more than what is required. This creates a chain reaction when the work then falls on other employees, who may soon become disenchanted with their jobs by being stuck with the excess.

Employees engaged in this tactic are simply maintaining their job security until something better comes along. You will need to dig deeper to prevent quiet quitting in your workplace and revamp organizational culture to improve the employee experience.

Quiet quitters continue to show up for work to collect their pay or keep their health insurance benefits. The only solution is to make a change that makes things better or you may wind up losing more than half your team.

Strategies to Prevent Quiet Quitting

Proactive measures should be put into place to keep employees from quiet quitting. Here are a few strategies you can employ to help curb this workplace issue:

Recognize and Reward Employees

Since many employees engage in this behavior because they do not feel acknowledged, concrete ways of recognition can help spark their interest. Consider awarding raises or bonuses, or even offering words of praise to motivate employees to reach new levels of achievement.

Provide Development Opportunities

Some employees may have felt so stuck for an extended period that their future feels dim. Your employees may feel more motivated if you provide opportunities to learn and grow in their careers.

Make It Possible for Them to Balance Work and Life

Everyone needs to take care of themselves and have the freedom to enjoy life outside of work. When employees feel that work is all they get to do, they may feel despondent and resentful. Employee assistance programs can help them meet their needs and feel like they are being heard.

Get Employee Feedback

You should listen to what all employees have to say. Their feedback is powerful and valuable, allowing you to understand their concerns. When employees do not feel like anyone is listening to them, it makes them mentally check out of their role in the company. Even the best companies always have room for improvement, and they get there by listening to the people responsible for making things run.

Define Roles Clearly

As you can see, employees silently quit when they are saddled with excess work with no recognition. While most employees likely won’t balk if a teammate is sick and they must step up to help, they will slowly fade out when they are taking on tasks that aren’t part of their job without being paid extra.

Define every job position and the responsibilities of each worker. When employees must constantly take on excess work that hinders their balance of work and life, make sure they are compensated and acknowledged for it.

Improve Management and Leadership Training

Sometimes, it’s not the company that has led to the quiet quitting of an employee. Managers and leaders must be kept in check to prevent micromanaging and allow every employee the chance to flourish. Regularly check in with department heads and their employees to ensure best practices are achieved.

Seek Assistance from Organizational Consultants

In order to address these issues, you may benefit from an outside perspective that thoroughly digs deep into why your employees may be quiet quitting. A people-focused approach is required to fully examine the needs of everyone in your company and ensure that the policies are inclusive and provide incentives for growth.

It is important to remember that every organization is different, and solutions will be unique for each one. There is no one-size-fits-all approach to take and while these tips can help you get started, you’ll want to bring in experts who can fully assess the situation. Doing so will help create the human connections needed to make all employees feel like an asset. It will also help provide safe spaces where employees can trust in the company and be driven to success through progress.

The Norfus Firm solves people’s problems, including quiet quitting, through outsourced HR, executive search, talent planning, and DEI strategies. We are the ally you need in these challenging times to help you elevate your employees and your organization seamlessly. When you are ready to identify why your employees are quiet quitting, contact us to get started.