It appears to be the new workplace trend. Everyone, it seems, is suddenly talking about quiet quitting.
Quiet quitting is the idea that workers shouldn’t worry about going above and beyond, shouldn’t work overtime or additional hours, or push to get something done if that means doing more than what’s in the job description or outside of regular work hours, and instead workers should do what it takes to meet expectations — and that’s it.
What does quiet quitting look like? It could mean turning off notifications and putting your phone on 'do not disturb' after 5pm, ignoring calls or emails and leaving the office as soon as your rostered day is done.
In 2022 there has been an explosion of interest in the term, with articles and think-pieces going through the pros and cons of employees deciding to just not do more than what is needed to get the job done.
It seems from internet sleuthing that the trend can be traced back to articles first published in March this year about “coasting culture”, discussing the idea that rather than joining the great resignation where workers chuck their demanding jobs, you can instead choose to just do enough to get by and keep getting paid.
While coasting can easily be dismissed as employee laziness,” a BBC story said, “it often arises out of deeper underlying issues at a company: from a missed promotion, to feeling their contribution isn’t being met with adequate reward.”
And there is data to show that coasting resonates with employees - a CNBC survey found 39% of those surveyed described themselves as coasting. A Gallup survey published in January reported that US employees' engagement dropped for the first time in a decade, and about half of workers said they were neither engaged, nor disengaged at work.
But some aren’t calling it quiet quitting at all.
“Act your wage” is often being used as a counterpoint slogan to quiet quitting, particularly in lower waged sectors.
One meme swapped out quiet quitting for “inflation adjusted effort”, giving a nod to the spiralling cost of living and wages not keeping pace.
And for many unionists, there is absolutely nothing new about it except the terminology.
Work to rule looks a lot like quiet quitting. Work to rule means working exactly to the rule book; you do the minimum outlined in your contract, and that’s it. It’s considered a step along the path which could lead to more aggressive worker action including strikes.
Coasting, or quiet quitting, can be a reaction to stress and workplace burnout and this seems to be gaining traction as the backdrop for these worker movements.
A recently released survey by the Employers and Manufacturers Association (EMA) and insurer NIB shows why these ideas are catching on.
This survey of 1200 New Zealand workers found 85% of employees suffered tiredness, 63% felt anxious and 69% had difficulty concentrating.
One-in-four employees intended to change jobs in the next 12 months and of those thinking about a career change, 78% said they were looking for flexible working, 74% for career development, 74% for regular performance feedback, and 69% for wellbeing initiatives.
EMA chief executive Brett O’Riley said the survey found the number one cause of workplace stress is understaffing, which often leads to poor work-life balance and places pressure on employees to work longer hours.
He said employees intending to change jobs in the next 12 months should sound a clear warning bell that businesses need to pay more attention to their employees’ wellbeing.
The workplace health and safety regulator, Worksafe, found in its New Zealand Psychosocial Survey that the speed and intensity of work, the need to conceal feelings from other people at work, and workload were the most common sources of psychosocial risk for workers.
It found demands at work are the most common psychosocial risk across the New Zealand workforce.
And a Microsoft report, the New Future of Work Report 2022, found work is changing faster than it has in a generation, thanks to the pandemic.
This report found people are recognising wellbeing as an important component of workplace experiences post-pandemic, and workers are also increasingly recognising the relationship between their workplace experiences and their wellbeing.
A study of 31,000 people from 31 countries published by Microsoft in 2022 found 53% of those surveyed said they are more likely to prioritise their health and wellbeing over work than before the pandemic.
People report a greater need for prioritising health, wellbeing, and family over work compared to pre-pandemic times and they wish to better integrate those needs through how and where they work.
And in Microsoft's Work Trend Index study, 47% of people said they are more likely to put family and personal life over work than they were before the pandemic.
It also found burnout has been on the rise during the pandemic, and workplace was the top stressor for American adults, costing the US economy an estimated $300 billion annually.
I think the term quiet quitting, and coasting, are an extension of the idea popularised by Chinese workers in 2021 called tang ping, or “lying flat” culture.
It is a rejection of hustle culture. A rejection of the idea that work should be the most important thing in our lives, a rejection of spending most of the days of our lives working as hard as we can. It is about embracing life outside of work.
It’s also about realising work will go on, with or without you.
Here’s a tweet from a stressed worker. “Every job where I haven’t quit has exploited me … Every single job I’ve had started to replace me within 48 hours of my quitting. You are a resource. A cog. A widget that makes more widgets.”
Mark Bolino, director of management and international business at the University of Oklahoma, explained it like this.
“The pandemic has forced people to think about life, work and family differently. Much of the workforce has also reassessed how their careers fit into their lives.”
And if your career isn’t fitting into your life as well as you think it should, quiet quitting starts to look appealing.
Of course, the Chinese workers who brought tang ping to the fore now have a new catchphrase I expect will be spun into an English interpretation soon enough.
Now, it is not about lying flat. It’s about giving up, and both facing and accepting that you won’t meet the expectations of your parents, let alone those of Chinese President Xi who recently told graduates to “prevent the situation in which one is unfit for a higher position but unwilling to take a lower one”.
Or, take a job, any job. Please.
With young Chinese facing horrific employment prospects they have adopted the phrase “bai lan” or “let it rot”.
Perhaps lying flat wasn’t so bad after all.
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