Why Are Employees “Quiet Quitting”?

A portion of workers love their jobs and the fulfillment it brings, but more and more are simply going through the motions and ensuring their work gets done.   

Are these employees quitting? No, but “quiet quitting” has become a rising trend as employee satisfaction continues to dwindle. 

Quiet quitting usually occurs when an employee feels less driven and engaged at their jobs, or is more willing to say no to certain projects. Doing so allows these workers to disconnect from their roles they may not be happy with, but also continues to pay the bills. 

While this separation can make it easy for employees to get through the day, some experts warn that quiet quitting can impact other areas of a worker’s life. 

“If you are getting to the point in your career where you feel that you’re putting work above everything else – at the expense of other important parts of your life – it can be incredibly demoralizing,” said Charlotte Davies, a career expert at LinkedIn. 

“It’s very likely that you’ll start to retreat from work – ‘quiet quitting’ – in an attempt to bring back some balance.” 

Deprioritizing work can help alleviate the pressures that often come with balancing a career and home, but doing so may also indicate a worker is already experiencing burnout.   

Once a worker is experiencing the weight of burnout, quiet quitting is not enough to combat this issue. Instead, this method of detachment should be used as a preventative to burnout, but that inevitably requires a deeper understanding of one’s mental state. 

However, some experts believe that quiet quitting is more indicative of bigger changes needed. 

“Quietly quitting is often a sign that it’s time to move on from your role,” said Jill Cotton, career trends expert at Glassdoor. “If you’re reducing your effort to the bare minimum needed to complete tasks, your heart is probably no longer in the job or the company.”