As employers continue to deal with the fallout of the Great Resignation, a new challenge looms on the horizon before them: “quiet quitting.” First made famous in a July 2022 post on TikTok, the term quiet quitting does not refer to employees actually quitting their jobs. Rather, it generally describes maintaining work-life boundaries to reduce burnout. It applies to employees who are doing only what is necessary to get their jobs done. They are not insubordinate, yet they don’t step up to take on extra projects. They aren’t volunteering for tasks, nor do they reach out to help their coworkers or others in the workplace. They put in limited extra effort, which results in decreased engagement (now at its lowest point in nearly ten years).
How can organizations engage the quiet quitters in their workforce?
Start at the top
Are leaders engaged? Employees cannot be engaged if their managers and leaders are not. First, HR professionals must collaborate and partner with business leaders to keep them engaged. As those leaders struggle to address staff disengagement and record turnover, HR should work with them to provide support and recognition and to focus on improving the health of the business and the health of its leaders.
Build rapport to open the lines of communication
No one is happy at work all of the time—and companies can’t expect them to be. Creating trusting relationships that allow for open and honest communication without retribution will result in open dialogue that makes it possible to deal with the “not-so-good” times more effectively. When leaders foster open lines of communication and authentic caring relationships with their staff, trust increases and employees feel more comfortable talking with managers about their concerns. This gives leaders a chance to address issues before the employee feels that their only course of action is to leave. Strategies to build rapport with employees include:
- Take the time to listen to their concerns.
- Show empathy and help team members solve the problems they are experiencing.
- Follow up and be consistent. Have meaningful conversations either as part of a regular schedule (e.g., one-on-one cadence, monthly check-in) or even through informal chats.
These activities will open up communication and offer opportunities to address work-life balance, establish work boundaries, and encourage employee health and wellness. The worst thing leaders can do is to be apathetic about their employee’s concerns and not provide support for potential resolution.
Respect employees’ time away from work
The desire for work-life balance is one of the top reasons people choose both to join a company and to stay there. Employees require time off to recharge, and this time away from work must be left uninterrupted and “work free.”
- Leaders can explain their own work style and assure employees that they do not have to do the same. For example, a leader who likes to work late into the evening should be sure their staff knows that a response is not necessary or expected to late-night emails.
- Before staff take time off, leaders should touch base with them to ensure that backups are in place. Discuss how emergencies should be handled, and let the employee determine how and when they could be interrupted if it were deemed absolutely necessary.
- Leaders should review their own deadlines and needs well before the end of each day to avoid having to reach out after work hours with urgent requests.
- Leaders should work together with their staff to determine how urgent needs should be handled.
Ask first and provide realistic expectations.
Employees may be willing to work some extra hours as needed, but those who are asked to do so too often may end up quiet quitting. When there’s a need for extra effort, let them know what the need is and how long it will last, provide realistic expectations of the request, and ask for their participation—and make sure these requests do not happen all of the time. When a coworker or other manager requests work with an unreasonable deadline or something outside of normal work hours, leaders should advocate for their employees. In all cases leaders should consider offering compensation (if appropriate) or some kind of recognition to reward staff for work outside of their normal job duties.
Assess and address talent needs (and wants)
The use of performance evaluations, development tools, succession plans, and cross-training measures can ensure that companies are evaluating their employee’s interests and engaging them in the things that make them “tick.” These tools and conversations not only help fill business needs while driving employees to activities that they are interested in, but can also help to engage quiet quitters. These tools allow for honest feedback on career progression and the skills necessary for continued promotion within the company, thereby leading to increased engagement and retention.
Foster a flexible and caring culture
HR and business leaders need to foster and encourage a culture open to flexibility, diverse viewpoints, and giving grace to others. In addition, the organization must create an environment in which employees are comfortable to express concerns and dissatisfaction as well as have the skills to manage the potential resulting conflict. To engage the quiet quitters, leaders must be aware, stay aware, and take action as necessary.
Employees want to be engaged. Sometimes disengagement results in doing the bare minimum until a new opportunity comes along inside the company, and sometimes it results in the active pursuit of another external position. It is important to realize that quiet quitting does not really start quietly. Employees’ concerns about workload, job duties, and even lack of recognition are typically mentioned to team leads, supervisors, or managers in the workplace long before they become serious issues. These unaddressed concerns then evolve to drive quiet quitting.
When leaders take the time to be engaged and listen to employees’ concerns and issues, they help decrease the number of employees in their workplace who are quietly quitting and instead drive a more engaged workplace. Regardless of the outcome, this movement is requiring an evolution in the role of human resources and our leaders in the organization more than ever.