It is about setting clear work-life boundaries
Quiet quitting, is a new workplace trend on TikTok, with workers seeking to establish a clear work-life boundaries to drastically reduce stress but without really being struck off the company payroll or quitting, as the name suggests. This new fad of quiet quitting has sparked over 3.9 million video views on the ever popular TikTok as well as articles in The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal, and other prominent websites. Hundreds of such quiet quitters are vocal about how they are working harder, to maintain a healthy work-life balance, but unsure on surpassing expectations beyond job descriptions, while staying at current jobs. People prefer not to go above and beyond their duties for their employers anymore thereby sacrificing their mental and physical well-being. They are comfortable in doing what they are paid for.
What people say about quiet quitting?
Quiet Quitting videos tagged, range from discussing workplace ruminations or logging off your computer at 5 pm sharp and spending more time with one’s family, to others who state that the meaning of quiet quitting is simply just working. But that is just “working” isn’t it, doing your job to the best of our abilities, but with healthy boundaries? a full-time software developer asked. Quiet quitting simply states that if somebody asks you to do something that’s not in your contract, you just do not do it, one TikTok user said in their video describing how quiet quitting is applied to those in the profession of teaching. A TikToker addict said in a video that quiet quitting includes not undertaking jobs of two or more people. Critics of the trend call it a recipe for disaster, while others wish it had a different name as you’re not quitting, but taking care of yourself.
Who takes part in quiet quitting?
While plenty of those speaking about quiet quitting on TikTok and similar platforms are mostly from the younger lot, polling suggests that people of all age brackets seem to have similar attitudes towards being engaged at work. A Gallup poll in 2022 found only 32% of polled employees were now engaged, as compared to the bigger 36% in 2020. The decreasing shift between 2020 and 2021 marked the first annual engagement decline over a decade, as per Gallup. Gen Z, Gen X, older millennials and even baby boomers were polled, and all those generations indicated being engaged between 31% and 33%. The poll recorded employees who worked remotely or with hybrid schedules, had higher engagement levels, at 37%, compared to those working in offices or on-site, at only 29%.
How do employers respond to this phenomena?
Jim Harter, who is Gallup’s chief scientist of workplace well-being , mentions that it all needs to start at the very top to combat this trend of quiet quitting. Managers are extremely important. It is important to have the right conversations at the correct time so people know what is expected of them and their roles, and how their work connects onto something bigger. Natalie Flores, a worker who says she participates in quiet quitting, says it’s about knowing your worth. Quietly quitting is acting one’s wages worth and knowing that everyone’s time is valuable.