As an employee interred deeply in the corporate world, I have a lot of opinions about what I see and experience. Though it’s died down quite a bit, some things still bother me about the term Quiet Quitting. Fair warning, this is a rant.
The media and employers should stop describing quiet quitting as though it were employee negligence. It isn’t some shady undercover plan to get hired and then do ‘less than’ to get an unearned and undeserved paycheck. It’s the result of learning the hard way that doing too much doesn’t work in corporate today, at least not for the employee.
If it’s …
- too much to pay employees what they’re worth
- too much to respect work-life boundaries
- too much to say ‘thank you, great job’
- too much to listen with interest instead of waiting to shut down a ‘less than’ idea
- too much to acknowledge ideas that aren’t yours then later claim them
- too much to see your employees as human first
… then, yes, you’ve earned employees who’ve learned that it’s …
- too much to work beyond the scheduled work week
- too much to share ideas just to have them stolen
- too much to be loyal
- too much to do the expected extra – get there early and stay late
… all for absolutely nothing in return.
We, as employees, understand that we earn what we get.
So don’t be upset when you get what you’ve earned.
Quiet quitting means someone gets paid to do a job – no more, no less.
And they do it – no more and no less.
Anything extra is a bonus.
If you’re not handing out bonuses to more than the Exec team, then everybody is even.
Quiet quitting is simply an employee taking back
- their time
- their space
- their sanity
to keep moving in an unforgiving, thankless position. It isn’t cheating the employer.
It is no longer cheating yourself.
It isn’t about trying to get over on the job by doing less. It’s not letting the job get over on you.
It doesn’t make sense to expect the same level of devotion to a job that so many employers don’t typically show to the people who work for them. During the onset of the pandemic, the employees were the first thing to go to save the bottom line.
People realize that they have to put themselves first, just like corporations always do.
All that extra energy should go toward family, friends, personal care, and especially, a side hustle!
Rant over.
I can’t be the only one that feels this way.
Nixx N Dents 