A guide for leaders on embracing and encouraging the viral trend
By now you’ll have seen the Quiet Quitting trend, originally starting on TikTok and now firmly in the mainstream media. Whilst it’s been extensively debated (including vast misinterpretation), if we look closer at the real meaning of ‘quiet quitting’– employees setting boundaries and reverting back to their agreed hours – it’s essentially a continuation of a long-standing trend. Pandemic burnout, work-life balance, the Corporate Villain Era – employees want their lives back. And with workers putting in 25% more hours since the pandemic and 49% reporting they’re burnt out, can we blame them?
But with a recession looming, there is a risk that Quiet Quitting will lead to the organisational version of fight or flight. Leaders will either ignore it completely and it’ll organically permeate the culture, or they’ll try and fight it – leading to introductions of harsher productivity measures and/or stricter remote working rules. With numerous reports proving that working harder and longer can have the opposite of its intended effects; we strongly caution these knee-jerk reactions.
Of course, workers who are effectively downing tools need to be re-engaged. But for those that are seeking boundaries, our motto is “If you can’t beat them, join them.” As experts in business psychology, change management and employee engagement, our recommendation for organisations – particularly those with high volumes of Gen Z employees – is to embrace, and even encourage, the trend.
Embracing employees working fewer hours; are you mad?
We hear you; business performance is a top priority, particularly as tougher economic times are upon us. In case you or your leadership team need convincing, here’s a handy list of the benefits of embracing quiet quitting:
- Productivity: Productivity can in fact increase with less time worked.
- Recruitment: Wellbeing is in the top 5 most sought after promises an employer can provide. Those that can genuinely do this will win the war on talent.
- Retention: Not only was burnout the top reason people left their jobs last year, embracing Quiet Quitting shows you understand your employees and their motivations which will drive engagement and retention.
- Innovation: As we enter tough economic times, innovation and creativity will be key. If your people are tired or burnt out, innovation will suffer
- Reputation: According to Vice’s 2022 Youth Culture report, Gen Z are more likely to be activists than any other generation, if you get this wrong, the reputational risks are huge; particularly with the increasing popularity of sites like Antiwork on Reddit and Corworker.org.
I see your point; what can I do about it?
For CEOs, HR, culture and employee engagement leads there are some tangible steps you can take to demonstrate you’re embracing this trend:
- Call it out – be bold, address it head on. Run an internal communications campaign showing you’ve acknowledged the trend and hear people. Follow up with open and honest dialogue with employees on their reflections on the trend.
- Understand who is who: Through the above, make sure you distinguish those not pulling their weight from those seeking balance and treat them differently. Before going down a path of counting hours, have open conversations and give encouraging feedback, which will prevent a culture of fear emerging.
- Harness purpose – there is a clear link between discretionary effort and purpose, if people are on the fence of quiet quitting, purpose is how to re-engage them. Evidence shows motivation to contribute is driven by purpose and appreciation, at least as much as flexibility and getting a fair deal.
- Revisit your Employee Value Proposition – as well as emphasising purpose, focus on the way the company allows for work-life balance and embraces people having lives outside of work
- Trial it – Explore what you can do to tangibly show you’re on board with this trend, even if it is just an experiment or pilot initially e.g. everyone will be locked out of their computers after a certain time, or a policy offering time off for innovation and creativity.
- Make a long-term change to your culture – this trend is here to stay and for too long organisations have been putting a band-aid on the issue with tactical initiatives and wellbeing solutions (the 2019 yoga classes eye-rolls are still doing the rounds on LinkedIn – see below). For some organisations it’ll require a holistic culture change and leadership behaviour change from a counting-hours, presenteeism and ‘input mindset’ to an ‘outcomes’ culture.
We hope this has given you pause for thought or a business case for your leaders if you’re concerned about their reactions to the Quiet Quitting trend. If you’d like any more advice, research or practical tips; please contact: [email protected].
