‘You’re not outright quitting your job, but you’re quitting the idea of going above and beyond. You’re still performing your duties, but you’re no longer subscribing to the hustle culture mentality that work has to be your life – the reality is, it’s not.’
This is quiet quitting, according to TikTokker @zkchillin, and it could be a rising trend.
What does quiet quitting look like in practice? It might be saying no to projects that aren’t part of your job description or you don’t fancy doing, leaving work on time, or refusing to answer emails and Slack messages outside of your working hours.
It could be as simple as a mindset shift, that’s not noticeable to anyone around you, but allows you to feel less mentally and emotionally invested in your job.
This might sound appealing – but experts advise proceeding with caution.
‘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 demoralising,’ Charlotte Davies, a career expert at LinkedIn, tells Metro.co.uk. ‘It’s very likely that you’ll start to retreat from work – “quiet quitting” – in an attempt to bring back some balance.
‘Of course, the best piece of advice is to avoid this happening in the first place, but we all know that’s very hard to do, particularly with the pandemic blurring the lines between career and personal lives, which still impacts how we work now.’
Quiet quitting might appear to be a way to treat burnout – and it’s true, the act of deprioritising your job and recognising that you are more than what you do can help to reduce overwhelm – but it’s worth noting that by the time you’re considering quiet quitting, it might already be too late.
It’s all too easy for burnout to creep up on you. Once that threshold has been crossed, you will need proper mental health support and time off – put simply, at this point, quiet quitting might not be enough to help you heal.
Instead, quiet quitting could be more of a preventative measure – but that requires you to really be in tune with your mental state and suss out that you want to rank other parts of your life more highly before the symptoms of excess stress really settle in. Easier said than done.
It’s also worth considering whether rather than quiet quitting, you’d be better off just… actually quitting.
Are you having issues with this job specifically, or the idea of work as a whole? If it’s the former, perhaps it’s time to consider a job change – there might be a role out there that you actually, genuinely enjoy. Or maybe there are specific things about your role that you’d like to tweak – actively pushing for these changes could you feel more empowered.
Quiet quitting is, by nature, passive. And it’s possible that by diving into the trend, you could feel even more powerless.
‘Quietly quitting is often a sign that it’s time to move on from your role,’ says 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.
‘Before deciding to quietly quit, reflect upon what isn’t fulfilling you and your reasons for making this choice – could whatever is causing your frustration be fixed by simply expressing your concerns to your manager?
‘Whether your work-life balance isn’t right, the salary isn’t meeting your needs, or there’s no support to get the promotion you want, have a conversation with your manager before deciding to disengage from your role.’
It might go without saying, but it’s important to consider that by quiet quitting, you likely are shutting yourself off from promotions and payrises.
If you’re actively looking for other jobs or genuinely aren’t bothered about progression at your company, that’s fine – but make sure that’s the case. If there’s part of you that’s desperate for a promotion, quiet quitting will feel good at first… then absolutely awful when you’re passed over for something exciting.
‘There are risks attached to taking this approach to your career,’ says Paul Farrer, the founder and chairman of Aspire. ‘Inevitably, your progression within that company will become limited – particularly if your colleagues are going above and beyond to exceed employer expectations.
‘You also run the risk of having little to show to your next employer when interviewing for your next role.’
If your take on quiet quitting involves still doing all your required tasks, you won’t be in line for a sacking, but if your judgement of the ‘bare minimum’ is off, you could be in trouble.
That’s especially true if your company might be looking to make redundancies. If they need to make tough decisions, the people who are clearly not putting in much effort will likely be first on the chopping block.
Paul says: ‘As long as you are available in your contracted hours there’s no reason for you to fear losing your job.
‘That said, quiet quitting isn’t likely to put you first in line for a promotion or pay rise any time soon.’
‘Actively disengaging from your job won’t solve the problem – and could backfire,’ Jill notes. ‘What you see as “quietly quitting” may well be “loudly saying I don’t want to be here” to your manager and co-workers.
‘Once a person has mentally checked out of a job, it is difficult to hide your lack of engagement with the job and company.
‘And if this your lack of enthusiasm is sensed, you’re less likely to be considered for promotion or other opportunities that could arise.
‘It is also difficult to judge just how much to reduce your efforts to achieve what is contractually required.’
Be warned, too, that you might also notice some real backlash to dramatically changing the effort you put in.
If you’ve always gone above and beyond, staying late, taking on every project, and doing whatever you can to do a ‘good job’, suddenly setting a boundary is likely to provoke some surprise from your managers and colleagues. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it – but be prepared for some not so positive reactions, and consider how you will respond if you’re asked what’s going on.
It might also be harder than you think to take on quiet quitting. If you’re someone with people-pleasing tendencies, it’s going to be hard to un-learn certain behaviours.
Quiet quitting could be a useful tool for a short period of time, especially if it’s coupled with looking for another role.
Once you start a new job, it’s much easier to set boundaries from the get-go – thus removing the need to quiet quit.
The risks to quiet quitting come if it’s employed as a long-term strategy, with no other actions to try to change the reality of your situation. If you want to stay in this job but experience less stress, you may need to talk to your manager to make changes. If you want to leave this job and start another one, you need to take actions to make that happen.
Jill tells us: ‘Quiet quitting isn’t new. Many of us will have subconsciously practised it after deciding it’s time to move on from our current role or when working the last few weeks of notice.
‘A downside is that if you’re putting in the minimum effort there’s little opportunity to learn new skills or broaden your experience. Your experience could stagnate while your peers move on, making it tricky to find another job.
‘Future hiring managers may also question your lack of career progression, and with little engagement in your role, you may struggle to give examples of achievements in interviews.
‘And if you are doing just what is needed to get by, it’s easy to lose pride in your work and achievements.
‘Quiet quitting is not recommended as a long-term strategy, but it can be used as a mechanism to create the space you need to work out the next step in your career. Think of it as a transition period.
‘And with the taboo around job-hopping beginning to break, there’s no need to be in a role you don’t like long-term.’
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