The internet has been raging over this “new trend” called quiet quitting. But is it actually new?
Not really.
The idea of employees going through the motions or working to rule is not a new one, but the sudden popularity of a new term for it indicates a gap for businesses between what they think is going on with their employees and what's actually happening.
Before we explore a possible remedy for quiet quitting, let’s learn more about what it is and why it's happening.
Quiet quitting is when an employee starts to pull back and does the bare legal minimum to keep a job that no longer motivates or fulfils them.
“They’re simply establishing better work-life boundaries by doing what’s necessary to stay employed but not breaking their backs to surpass expectations,” explains Global News.
The concept is also referred to as ‘’work-to-rule’ or ‘lying flat.’
It’s the opposite of another concept: quiet firing. Quiet firing happens when employers demoralize workers enough that they decide to leave on their own, according to Global News.
Here are some examples of what quiet firing might look like:
And the list goes on...
We sifted through quite a few articles about quiet quitting published recently in a search to find out what’s driving it.
Here’s a list of just some of the reasons people are quietly quitting today:
Quiet quitting can show up in a variety of ways. Some signs of quiet quitting may include:
These behaviors can have a ripple effect throughout an organization and one quiet quitter can easily become many if not addressed by the organization.
First, organizations need to accept the reality that quiet quitting is happening and no company is immune to it - even companies with consistently high employee engagement scores.
Then, they need to take action to address and prevent it, starting by collecting meaningful feedback from their employees.
“One key reason why companies have been caught off guard by the 'great resignation' and 'quiet quitting' trends is because employee engagement surveys are not well-suited for addressing individual motivations or at identifying real issues that are undermining individual motivation,” said Mike Klein, an internal communication expert who works heavily with qualitative research.
"'An employee engagement survey is great if you want to be able to pat yourself on the back for having 82% “engagement." But it’s lousy at helping you predict when and why 18, 25, or 50% of your employees would choose to leave. Adding some open-ended questions – looking at how employees see company priorities and their own priorities – would add some needed insights before people quietly retreat.
'"Baselining the extent to which employees are engaging with internal communication channels can provide additional valid insights as well." The solution starts with measurement and measurement starts with conducting better surveys.
As the voice of the company, the Internal communications team can have a significant impact on quiet quitting. Communicating effectively between leadership and the workforce influences so many aspects of the employee experience.
Effective internal comms can:
These are just a few ways internal comms can help, but as mentioned earlier, if there’s one place to start it’s with measurement. Before you can develop an internal comms strategy to curb quiet quitting before it spreads like wildfire across the organization, you need to better understand your workforce and your employee engagement score is just not going to cut it. Conducting better employee surveys is absolutely crucial.
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