Why employers will reject "Quiet Quitting" in 2023 and will find ways to keep the drive alive

A post-Covid work culture of time off and working from home eventually spawned the term "quiet quitting" and, along with it, a collection of in-your-face transformations where work ethic, pace and performance are reaching new lows. These new workforce traits have included quitting the "hustle culture" and no longer going above and beyond for your employer. This culture, previously recognized as "doggin' it," has taken center stage in organizations and has even become the latest "trend" among all levels of employees everywhere.?

?This year we see the power struggle between employers and the quiet quitters reaching a breaking point. Here's why:

?The numbers don't support the quiet quitting phenomenon.

?Since the pandemic in 2020, many organizations have been struggling to bring revenues back to pre-pandemic levels. The causes of the failed revenue rebounds vary and include everything from supply chain issues to increasing costs to workforce issues. Ford Motor Company is an excellent example of these problems. Enter rising costs, a crippling microchip issue, a market rapidly moving towards EV technology, and you guessed it – quiet quitters. Ford has responded to their challenges with cost-cutting initiatives and workforce reductions. They are brilliantly regaining control. This will allow them to regroup and redeploy resources more aligned with their revenues and new technological requirements.?

A finance degree is not necessary to conclude that declining vehicle sales in the US will not support a workforce that has elected to do 20-30% less while demanding the same percentage as a pay increase. Employers cannot shoulder the increased financial burden of the "quiet quitters" and simultaneously keep the doors open. Most employees understand these concepts since many are soliciting pay increases due to their own personal climbing inflation-driven costs. They want to make more money since life is costing them more money. To head in the right direction, we should turn the phrase "make more money" here into "earn more money." Then we might get somewhere.

The pendulum has swung from employers "doing whatever it takes" to bring workers back after the pandemic to "we have so many roadblocks to pre-pandemic revenue levels we need to right size and re-think what we are doing." This means more employers will implement what Ford did in October 2022. The poorest performing employees will be packaged out or offered an opportunity to improve their performance, and if they fail, they will leave with nothing. It's not personal; it's how companies like Ford will stay alive this year to thrive again.?

?The new normal requires a "go above and beyond" approach.

?Since 2020, employers have faced unprecedented challenges navigating the road to pre-pandemic revenue levels and facing problems they have never previously navigated. Successful corporate crisis management as part of a pandemic recovery plan demands top-tier problem-solving skills and an employee engagement level of 100%. The quiet quitting culture is breeding the opposite because it rejects the idea of employees becoming fully immersed in their work, even taking it home with them sometimes. The employee rejection of the "hustle culture" and anaphylactic reaction to stress and pressure are pushing employers further away from a pandemic recovery.

?It's a culture cancer.

?Tolerating poor performance, a lack of accountability and ownership ultimately leads to unmet goals or a failed mission, as described in the book "Extreme Ownership," a book written by two decorated and highly respected Navy SEALs - Jocko Willink and Leif Babin. Once a culture sets in where doing the bare minimum trumps ownership and performance, a culture of missed metrics and organizational fatigue sets in. This creates problems and divides a team. As a result, employers will meet fewer obligations, and eventually, those same quiet quitters will find themselves without employment altogether.?

Employers that can revive an ownership culture, share results with their employees and create a sense of purpose and incentive based on these results will come out on top and avoid the consequences of kowtowing to a destructive cultural shift.

Employee purpose will reign long term. If it doesn't, the need for employment will.

"Quiet quitting" will satisfy most employees for the short term only. It is within human nature to seek purpose in the work environment and to follow a highly engaged leader who lights up and makes their employees feel lit up when it comes to achieving clearly defined objectives or solving challenging problems. The concept of "mission before self" is perhaps best articulated by Willink and Babin, but it's not new. While there has been a level of atrophy that has set in among employees during the first year of the pandemic, many are waking up and becoming re-engaged.?

Many who aren't re-engaged have begun "rage applying" to other jobs at the start of the year. They seek higher compensation, certain work conditions and more time to play. However, to land these positions, they ought to consider what kind of reference their employer or colleagues will give them in a 360 reference check if they spent the last two years "quietly quitting."