Are “quiet quitters” the problem?

“Quiet quitters” – a term used to refer to employees who tend to “work in moderation”, limit the performance of their assigned work and can quietly quit without prior notice.

In recent weeks, there has been an avalanche of discussion about “quiet quitters”. These are people who have grown disillusioned with their workplaces and given up putting in additional effort; no monitoring their emails during the weekend or working on a pressing project during the evening. Quiet quitters have retreated into their job description, trying to preserve their sanity by limiting what they do.

The trend toward quiet quitting — that millions of people are not going above and beyond at work and just meeting their job description — could get worse.

U.S. employee engagement took another step backward during the second quarter of 2022, with the proportion of engaged workers remaining at 32% but the proportion of actively disengaged increasing to 18%. The ratio of engaged to actively disengaged employees is now 1.8 to 1, the lowest in almost a decade.

The drop in engagement began in the second half of 2021 and was concurrent with the rise in job resignations. Managers, among others, experienced the greatest drop.

The overall decline was especially related to clarity of expectations, opportunities to learn and grow, feeling cared about, and a connection to the organization’s mission or purpose — signaling a growing disconnect between employees and their employers.

The engagement and employer satisfaction among remote Gen Z and younger millennials — those below age 35.

This is a significant change from pre-pandemic years. Since the pandemic, younger workers have declined significantly in feeling cared about and having opportunities to develop — primarily from their manager.

These younger employee advantages have mostly disappeared

The percentage of engaged employees under the age of 35 dropped by six percentage points from 2019 to 2022. And during the same time, the percentage of actively disengaged employees increased by six points.

Younger workers have dropped 10 or more points in the percentage who strongly agree that someone cares about them, someone encourages their development, and they have opportunities to learn and grow.

Disturbingly, less than four in 10 young remote or hybrid employees clearly know what is expected of them at work.

Solving the Quiet Quitting Crisis

It’s clear that quiet quitting is a symptom of poor management.

First, address manager engagement. Managers must learn how to have conversations to help employees reduce disengagement and burnout. Only managers are in a position to know employees as individuals — their life situation, strengths and goals.

The best requirement and habit to develop for successful managers is having one meaningful conversation per week with each team member — 15-30 minutes.

Managers need to create accountability for individual performance, team collaboration and customer value — and employees must see how their work contributes to the organization’s larger purpose. Decisions about where people work — on-site, remote or a hybrid schedule — should keep these factors in mind. Importantly, every organization needs a culture in which people are engaged and feel they belong.