I spoke to a group of about 200 professional people about communication and age diversity last week. They are an energetic group to begin with, but let me tell you, this topic had them fired up. It only took a few minutes till “quiet quitting” came up and took center stage.
Part of me doesn’t want to weigh in on this, but the other part of me does, because of the intensity I witnessed in that group, intensity which tells me things have slid from opinion to emotion. The topic is definitely painful in the inter-generational space right now.
Quiet quitting is the au courant buzz phrase for lack of employee engagement, which is a perennial concern for businesses – or should be. It’s not a new phenomenon by any means. To modify something that’s usually said about mamas, if employees ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy, including customers. It’s the responsibility of management to find out why they are tuning out.
How do you find out? Ask. Design a survey. Ask individuals when it becomes obvious they are dissatisfied or bored. Better yet, ask them what makes work meaningful before it gets to that point. Create safety for them to share issues they might be having as well as good ideas. Listen to what they tell you, then follow up to create a better employee experience.
I do not buy the common narrative about quiet quitting that often frames it as a generational fault, namely of younger workers. According to a 2016 analysis published in the Journal of Business and Psychology, there is no difference in the work ethics of the different generations. I personally know younger adults who are working themselves ragged to keep up with demanding jobs or grow their own businesses.
A 2020 Gallup survey (reported here) found that only 33 percent of workers in the US were engaged. That same year, workers under 40 only accounted for 40 percent of the workforce, and they weren’t all disengaged.
Sixty-nine percent cited a lack of appreciation for their disengagement. Yet in a 2016 study IBM did, they found that it was more important for Millennials to have a boss who was ethical, fair, transparent, and consistent than one who recognized their accomplishments.
Wouldn’t that be true of all of us? If employees can’t trust their bosses, they aren’t going to contribute their best work, and they probably won’t stay all that long.
I believe a cultural shift is happening, too, that deeply affects the workforce. We’re living in a transitional time. The pandemic pulled us up short in many ways. Life was suddenly something we couldn’t take for granted, which spurred us to think about what kind of a life we live according to what we value most. Whether we needed to continue to report to work in person or go remote, we were forced to take a long hard look at how work integrates into the rest of our lives.
Consider, too, this overarching truth: Our world is facing existential challenges – climate, inequalities, loss of freedom, to name three – that we ignore at our peril. It can’t be business as usual. If employers don’t have values and a business model that contribute to sustainability and justice, they are going to have a harder and harder time finding and keeping happy, productive employees. As they should.
“If you hire people just because they can do a job, they’ll work for your money. But if you hire people who believe what you believe, they’ll work for you with blood, sweat, and tears.” – Simon Sinek
Yes, it matters that so many people are disengaged at work. But let’s have conversations about the real reasons and do something about them. Not only are character judgments not valid, they also shut down the possibility of positive relationships and actual solutions.
Coming next: Part 2, focusing on the role of communication in employee engagement.
This is such an important take on the "quiet quitting" that is such a hot topic right now. I loved your perspective on this, it is so much more three-dimensional than I've seen other places.