Quiet quitting should sound alarm bells for leaders, and they must do whatever it takes to uncover this trend in their organization and eradicate it.
According to Wikipedia (yes, Wikipedia actually includes quiet quitting in its archives), quiet quitting emerged in mid-2022 as a term and trend meaning not quitting one’s job but rather doing only what is required and nothing more. The concept is centered around loyalty to self, avoiding work burnout, and achieving a better work/life balance.
When I first heard it, I confess, I was angered. I’m in my 50s, and I’ve been employed since the age of 15. I was taught by my parents to be an exceptional employee – to work hard. While I may not have always been the best employee, I’ve almost always gone the extra mile for my co-workers and my company. I excelled under this philosophy, and I enjoy the fruits of that hard work today. Add to this my twenty-seven years in a military uniform and three combat tours – quitting is not in my vocabulary.
The World’s Broken Workplace
My anger, initially focused on the quiet quitter, quickly subsided and turned toward the leader. “Of course!” I thought. This has been going on for years. It’s called employee disengagement. When doing research for my first book on leadership in 2017, I discovered “The World’s Broken Workplace,” a LinkedIn article written by Jim Clifton, the former CEO, now Chairman of Gallup. Among other things, Gallup tracks employee disengagement, which has hovered between 65 and 70 percent each year.
What is Employee Disengagement?
Disengagement means the employee is emotionally detached from work. He or she does not share the boss’s passion for taking the organization to new heights. He or she simply draws a paycheck and does only what is required to avoid being fired. In other words, quiet quitting. Disengagement is caused by a variety of voids in the workplace, such as a lack of:
- purpose
- worth
- praise or recognition
- career progression
- effective leadership
The list goes on.
People do not leave their jobs; they leave their bosses. I’ve had the good fortune in my leadership practice to see under the hood of several businesses. The workplace is still broken. Gallup claims over 51% of employees are actively looking for another job out of dissatisfaction with their current one and, of course, we all have heard of and even experienced the Great Resignation and Work From Home (WFH) born of the pandemic.
The playing field has changed, but the constant remains: people still seek good leadership. Unfortunately, in too many companies, they are not finding it.
Bad leaders may be chosen simply through their seniority in the company or when the boss spots a top performer and believes the person’s intelligence, work ethic, and acumen must mean they can lead. Sarah, an MBA graduate is crushing it, so she is appointed as leader. While intelligent and talented, Sarah is an untrained and uneducated leader. She is a product of an American education system void of leadership training and education, and so she fails. The result of her failure, or more importantly, the failure of the person who made her a leader, is poor company performance and costly employee turnover (quiet quitting).
What Makes a Bad Apple?
Indeed, there are some bad apples – employees who have been coddled too much in their upbringing, who don’t know hard work or the “how and why” of sacrifice for the greater team and mission. Some were taught that they are entitled to more than they should, to the detriment of their organization, operating under the “it’s all about me” philosophy. They don’t understand or embrace selflessness or see themselves as a member of the greater team. All this said, it is bad practice as a leader to assume this at the start, to label entire generations and believe that everyone is like what is described above.
Generations Who Quiet Quit:
The Millennial and the Gen-Z professionals are demanding more from the workplace, and they will leave or “quiet quit” if their demands are not met. I’ve often said, “My dad had a job, my sons have a lifestyle.” My dad sold commercial insurance for 40 years – same office, same secretary, same hours. That was his Baby Boomer generation’s life, and to some extent, my X generation’s. My sons and their Millennial and Gen-Z peers will job-hop. Along with pay and benefits, they will look for DEI in action, social and environmental impact, WFH options, flexible hours, and good leadership. None of this means they won’t work hard. Under the right leadership and a healthy work environment, Millennials and Gen-Z folks can be engaged, hard-working, and selfless employees. I should know; I employ them!
Outside of Rob Campbell Leadership, I also run a small business selling and installing window fashions. My teammates genuinely care about the company. When we perform poorly, they take it personally. They will (and have) put in the work to ensure we succeed. They will come to the aid of their teammates. They are fully engaged. I often ask myself and them why this is the case. Why are they not quiet quitters? The answer is good leadership. I’m not one to brag. I believe my Millennial and Gen-Z employees came from good stock and that I was lucky to find them. But I could easily envision a scenario where they would be quiet quitters.
How I Prevent my Team from Becoming Quiet-Quitters:
- We established a shared company vision, “Serving our people, our customers, and our community.”
- We subscribe to a set of values, Humility, Selflessness, Teamwork, and Innovation. I talk about these values and champion them every single day. I measure my people against these values, and I recognize them when they espouse them.
- When I check on my people, I do so not to catch them ‘quitting’ but to see if they have what they need – to learn from them and thank them. I ask about their weekends, their kids, their hobbies, and their lives. Of course, I inspect and check on their performance, but they understand I do this only to foster learning and growth and to make us the very best in the business.
- I include their families in company events and welcome them to our office anytime.
- I counsel or appraise my teammates every 60 days. We sit one-on-one and talk about their struggles, how to overcome their obstacles, better themselves, and live our values. I sketch a career timeline for them and offer my support to help them achieve milestones, even if it means they will eventually leave me for some other opportunity.
- I have one teammate who is attending college part-time. I’ve adjusted his hours to accommodate his schedule. He knows that his education, while not exactly related to what he does in the company is very important to me and has my full support.
- I poke fun at them and let them poke fun back at me. The environment is healthy and welcoming. Our customers even take notice.
We are not perfect. My leadership is not always on the mark. I may miss a cue, get impatient, or even get a bit emotional. My teammates and I make mistakes and get complacent. We are human, after all. When we do face adversity, we address it head-on. We communicate and solve problems together. One of my teammates was late to work. I asked if he was ok instead of berating him. We did talk about the importance of punctuality, and I asked for his help to improve his tardiness. I am loyal to their time off. Weekend and evening texts or emails are the exception, not the norm. We do our best with work/life balance. There really is no such thing, but we keep our eyes on it anyway and do our best to preserve personal time, family time, and even quality breaks at work. I pay them overtime.
What Can You Do?
The first step is to form a strong relationship built on trust and mutual respect. You do this mostly through social settings where work is not the topic or even the location. It is the informal ways we interact that build trust.
Know yourself deeply and know your people and develop a leadership approach I call “leading beyond the workplace.” This is not to say pry into the personal lives of your people. It means knowing and showing genuine interest and curiosity about how they live and “fill their cups” outside of work. You can even afford them time off for such events or, at a minimum, ask about them.
Practice some or all of what I describe above to achieve a healthy work environment. This includes an inspiring vision, organizational values, and an infectiously positive and inclusive culture.
Once you can confidently say that you have made this investment, then you can have the “quiet quitter” conversation.
Here’s how to have the quiet quitter conversation…
