Is "Quiet Quitting" the Answer to Employee Burnout?

What is Quiet Quitting? Here's why this practice might not be a great idea for everyone.

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Amid the Great Resignation, a growing number of people are cutting back on work hours to enjoy more leisure time, even if it means taking a pay cut.

Backlash emerges against the viral term many say is shorthand for setting healthy boundaries.

Don’t call it “quiet quitting.”

That’s the battle cry from a growing chorus of voices on social media including r/antiwork, a subreddit for work grievances that counts more than 2 million members.

Redditors on the forum argue that calling the phenomenon any variety of “quitting” implies employees are acting badly, when in reality the viral term simply means fulfilling the job description and setting healthy boundaries. Posters on r/antiwork, which took off during the pandemic with the motto “unemployment for all, not just the rich,” blame the media for frenzied coverage of a concept that should be considered the norm, not a scandalous new trend. Others see the new catchphrase as a tool employers may use against employees for not doing more work than their contract (and level of compensation) stipulates.

Memorable expressions have cachet, though, and so the race is on to coin the winning replacement. One of the most commonly suggested: “Act your wage.” There’s also “quiet firing,” when bosses make their workers’ lives miserable but stop short of actually firing them.

The internet has been flooded with explanations and debates about so-called quiet quitting, the new buzzword for doing your job as described. Enthusiasts describe the mentality as a stealth retreat from the hustle culture that dominated the pre-pandemic era.

#QuietQuitting #AntiWork #Explained

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