Why quiet quitting is more than leaving a job

"Quiet quitting" isn't sneaking out of your place of work (after pay day of course), giving your boss the finger with a two word Slack message, never to be seen again.

Oh no.

This is 2022 so it has to be more complex than that. It's a thing. It is more than just leaving a job. In fact it's not leaving a job at all.

It is questioning a system of working which has existed for decades.

Quiet quitting

The notion of quiet quitting, gained traction following a?video ?posted on TikTok in late July. This short clip which has reached an audience of millions, shows a young man is sitting in a New York City subway station talking about quiet quitting thus “You are still performing your duties but you’re no longer subscribing to the hustle culture mentality that work has to be your life.” ?

The term is now being widely coined by Gen Z, the newest cohort in the workplace. This is a generation accused of being too "woke to work," over indulging in avocado toast and having the temerity to want to do something meaningful.

They are drawing lines in the sand around the historical unwritten rules around the corporate culture?of sacrifice and overwork.

Other buzz words

Two other buzz words filtered into my feed at the same time. "Organisational citizenship behaviours" and "goal contagion." These words were like manna from heaven to my eyes, recovering from the latest outbreak of L.I.C.E (LinkedIn Circle of Emoting.) As I drowned in acres of crying selfies I wondered if the three terms could be connected. It was a welcome relief after a week of dodging emotional outbursts.

One thing that occurred to ask myself is this the latest leadership cop out?

Organisational Citizenship Behaviour

Quiet quitters are basically turning their back on (received as quitting) the concept of "Organisational Citizenship Behaviour " first defined by Dennis Organ ?in 1988. They are challenging a system.

This is a term used to describe all positive and constructive employee actions and behaviours that employees do voluntarily to support their colleagues and the mission of the organisation.

OCB is NOT part of a formal job description and contract of employment. It is the piece of corporate culture which is so deeply embedded it influences our personal and professional goals, so they align with those of the organisation. One citizenship behaviour in particular suggests we need to go "the extra mile" or "above and beyond" whatever they may mean.

These are amorphous, undefined expressions used in male coded organisations to measure added value and therefore potential, which define some corporate cultures. They make it difficult for employees to know what is expected of them and how employers measure success. It is used specifically to apply unspoken pressure to work harder and give more (and more) and leads to the embedding of the corporate hustle culture of sacrifice. And burnout.

Saying no

Businesses have always thrived and profited from employees being willing to do more than they are paid for, motivated by the unspoken promise of later rewards. I have written multiple times about Goldman Sachs 100 hour weeks for analysts.

Today, a willingness to do what is in your job description and what you are paid for has somehow become synonymous with "lack of motivation," and poor employee engagement. A job description is not the full job at all, but the bare minimum. Employees who are willing to do their job and fulfil their employment contracts and no more, are setting boundaries around the extras they will commit to. They are not actually quitting.

This is perceived as a troubling sign from senior (read older) managers in major consultancies such as Korn Ferry . “Organizations are dependent on employees doing more than a minimum.”

Somewhat confusingly doing your job is now considered in some circles to be "coasting."

Meaningful work

Research consistently shows the high level of un-engaged employees over many years. In a buoyant job market it was easy to quit quietly and go onto the next job. In fact it was the best way to increase salary. Moving pays. Loyalty doesn't. It simply doesn't pay to stay.

To woke to work?

It's a cheap shot to suggest that Gen Z-ers are "too woke to work" and their viewpoint is a result of too many carbon negative coffees or hours on Instagram. If derision was a weapon, a whole generation would need medical treatment.

Older Gen Zs are now in their early to mid-20s. They came onto the job market during the COVID pandemic when global navel gazing around professional purpose was trending for everyone. Most research suggests that people of all demographics are leaving jobs because of lack of career opportunities and other more intangible workplace issues around, respect, recognition and belonging. (Pew )

Whole Foods CEO John Mackey says he believes it's a privilege, not a given right, to be able to?do meaningful work in a career. An entire demographic disagrees and are voting with their feet.

To be feel motivated employees have to be have something visible and tangible to strive for or be strongly committed to the purpose of their organisation. Millennials are the first generation to be worse off than their parents. In the U.K. in 1997, the?median house price ?was 3.5 times median earnings; in 2021, it was 9.1 times. On top of that average income fell ?this year at the fastest rate since 2001. Possibilities which previous generations took as being rites and rights of passage, are now beyond the reach of many.

Gender trap

And of course going above and beyond is a massive gender trap as women become sucked in to "invisible" work or "office housework " which is not related to KPIs and will not add to promotion prospects.

Research from McKinsey suggests that women are even more burned out than they were a year ago, and this is escalating faster for them than men. A third of women have considered downshifting their careers or leaving the workforce this year, compared to 25% who said this early in the pandemic. 40% of women are considering leaving their jobs.

Caring companies?

As we read about redundancies carried out in the most callous way, it is hardly surprising that everyone is demotivated, not just those at the bottom of the corporate ladder. Terminating employees by email or one-way Zoom calls, and your CEO then posting a selfie of HIS tears, are not strategies featured in any leadership motivation TED Talk I've ever seen.

To add insult to injury we have massive pay inequality which is getting worse. From 1979–2020 period:

• Wages for the top 1.0% and top 0.1% increased significantly by 179.3% and 389.1%, respectively.
• Wages for the bottom 90% grew just 28.2%.

Gen Z are being derided for doing their contracted jobs.

Goal contagion

So surely the solution is to craft job descriptions that accurately reflect the real scope of the job and remove the unwritten elements which are still used to measure success. Leaders should set salary levels accordingly and upskill their managers wherever they work so they can motivate their teams. They should reward loyalty and create a culture which inspires people to stay.

Expecting employees to do more and more should not be a replacement for leaders managing their own boundaries or a resource management policy. That's why it's called Human Resources. Who is responsible for a junior employer being so bored they watch Netflix in the office?

Now we come to the third buzz word, goal contagion. This suggests that "individuals may automatically adopt and pursue a goal that is implied by another person's behavior." It's the you can't be what you can't see theory. This could also be behind senior leaders pushing for a return to the office. Driving buy-in to a corporate culture is much easier in-person as studies on goal contagion indicate.

However, the same studies also suggest that "people do not automatically adopt goals when the observed goal pursuit is conducted in an unacceptable manner, because the goal will then be perceived as unattractive."

In you-and-me speak this means it has to be a good goal in the eyes of the employees.

However, what we are seeing is yet another anomaly. The execs who actually want people in the office are less likely to be physically there themselves.

Infographic Future Forum Pulse

So maybe Gen Z are simply manifesting what other demographics think and feel on this scale because they can and are part of a wider YOLO movement than existed previously. Instead of putting them down, it could well be better to take a moment for leaders to do some inward reflection ask themselves what they could do differently.

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My goal is to increase the number of gender balanced, diverse and inclusive workplaces where everyone feels secure and reaches their potential.

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