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Signs of Quiet Quitting in Employees and How Smart Businesses Can Prevent It
The term “quiet quitting” has gained traction just recently, within a matter of a few months. Some view it in a negative way declaring that quiet quitting applies to people who do bare minimum (just enough to not get fired), are lazy, don’t want to overwork themselves, don’t take on as many responsibilities as their peers, and the list goes on. Then, there are proponents of a more positive outlook on this trend. They say quiet quitting is about setting up healthy boundaries.
Employees who quietly quit are currently undergoing major life evaluation. They are re-evaluating their lives and are focusing on being effective workers at work during those business hours, but once their workday is over, they unplug, and want to be effective family members at home. Quiet quitters will do the job they were hired to do at 100% effort.
The pandemic brought the realization to workers that they were spending more emotional energy making sure all the aspects/needs of their work were being met. This so called “great burnout” led to Great Resignation. All of the sudden, people were prioritizing family and friends’ needs, as well as their own mental health concerns.
More and more often people have been hitting the “reset” button on the way they view their work. What can smart business owner and CEOs do to prevent quiet quitting, then?
Learn to spot the difference
There is a difference between a high performer with healthy boundaries and a disengaged employee. The high performer takes pride in their work by asking the right questions, being curious, actively looking for feedback, and working side-by-side with their colleagues. However, once their workday is over or that big project is complete, they take time to connect with family and recharge.
The disengaged worker is not happy with the work, is checked out, and does not have a positive outlook on the future. It is obvious to everyone around that this employee is doing what needs to be done to keep them from getting fired. It is imperative that an employer who wants to prevent the quiet quitting trend learns to distinguish between these two individuals.
Respect healthy boundaries of your high performers
If you have those super stars that get the job done, respect their boundaries. It is your responsibility to provide a positive workplace - no one wants to work a "dead-end" job for a long time. Honor the agreed upon salary and job description. Promote them and compensate them for the extra work and responsibilities that you ask them to do. Get rid of the “too hard to replace” mentality and recognize the workers who put in the extra time to climb the career ladder and develop professionally.
Effective training for people managers
In its report “Pause, Pivot or Plan: HR Trends of 2023” 2023 HR Trends: Pause, Pivot or Plan" Isolvedhcm.com outlines an unprecedented rate of burnout of American employees. According to the report, more than two thirds (69%) of workers experience burnout due to day-to-day and economic downturn stressors. It negatively impacts their work due to the lack of effective and proactive burnout management.
So how can first-line people managers can prevent their direct reports from experiencing the burnout on the job?
Look into burnout prevention training. A good training program would include recognition of the problem, identifying the stressors such as workload, lack of support, and role uncertainty, underlining the importance of work-life balance, and referrals to stress management services among other things.
Additionally, your people managers should be trained on conducting fruitful conversations with their employees on what’s really causing them to miss their objectives. Have the managers clearly communicate their expectations. Were the expectations made clear in the first place?
Survey your workforce on a regular basis
Surveying your employees regularly on what’s working and what’s not can prove to be an effective method to identify why employees “quiet quit” or why they experience burnout. Listen to what your workers have to say, and then implement their ideas. There is nothing more powerful to keep people engaged as showing them that they are being heard.
Use benefits as a tool of “quiet quitting” prevention
All encompassing benefits could be an effective technique in preventing employee disengagement. Each employee will have a different need for benefits, so you as an employer, should stay flexible and consider different benefits for different subsets of your employees. For example, if you own a business that cannot offer remote or hybrid perk, perhaps, think about offering more breaks during the day or one extra day off per month.
Your benefits should be inclusive, meaning that you should meet everyone where they are for whatever needs they have at that specific point of their lives and careers.
More traditional benefit offerings go a long way, as well. Healthcare, PTO, and 401(k) are perceived as a given. In addition to those, you should stay more creative by looking into homecare, childcare, pet care, as well as generous parental leave, mentorship programs, employee rewards. If you cannot afford all of the above, a true dialogue about your employees’ needs and an honest effort to meet them have a potential to transform your workplace into thriving productive environment.
Quiet quitting is here to stay and grow. Successful companies recognize this trend and start thinking seriously about what and how much they are asking workers to do not only for the workers’ benefit, but also for such of the shareholders and overall profits. In this era of work transformation, acknowledging and adapting to the silent cues of employee disengagement is not just a strategic choice—it's a necessity for sustained prosperity and growth
