Are you quietly quitting? And is it a precursor to Burnout?

Are you ‘quietly quitting’? And is it a precursor to Burnout?

You may well have heard the phrase ‘quiet quitting’ recently – it’s certainly all over LinkedIn and apparently TikTok too.

A quick Google shows that it’s about ‘doing your job and no more’, and that it started as a trend on TikTok in China, in response to employers demanding more and more from their people.

So what’s the problem with that, you may ask? Why should you do more than you’re paid for? If you employ a window cleaner, do you expect them to do more than clean your windows? Or do you pay them for 2 hours but expect them to work for 3 hours?

For many people this way of working isn’t a bad thing at all. I’ve had some employees who worked their ‘9-5’ and did an excellent job in that time, always achieving their goals.

To my mind, there are two ways quiet quitting can be detrimental to our health and our career, and both of them can lead to Burnout (a psychological and physical response to prolonged stress at work).

When quiet quitting is a response to unreasonable demands

• ?Maybe your manager just keeps piling on the work, with no regard for how or when we can fit it in.
• Maybe people have left the team and not been replaced but their work is still there and you’re told you need to ‘help pick up the slack’.
• Maybe your manager loves their job so much they’re willing to put in a lot of extra hours and expect you to do the same even though you have other priorities that also need your time (including yourself).
• Maybe you have been putting in a lot of discretionary effort but it’s never appreciated and you’re feeling undervalued.
• Maybe you’ve been told you’re ‘high potential’ and you feel pressure to always ‘outperform’. You put your hand up for new projects and more responsibility. It can feel exciting at first but over time it’s not usually sustainable.

When quiet quitting is in response to being unfulfilled in your work

• Maybe you're starting to think you’re in the wrong job and need a complete change of direction to feel more motivated and fulfilled.
• Maybe you're in the right job but the wrong company – you love what you do but a misalignment with purpose and values is having a negative impact on how you feel about your work.
• Maybe you’re in the right company but the wrong job – you love the culture but you're work is not motivating or fulfilling and you need a challenge.
• Maybe you’ve been told you’re ‘high-potential’ but the thought of progressing up the ladder doing this for the rest of your career is really unappealing.

?If any of these ring a bell you may feel that you have no control over the situation and that ‘quiet quitting’ is the only option available to you.

In fact, quiet quitting may well be a precursor (conscious or unconscious) to actually quitting your role.

All of these are ‘push factors’ that can lead you to conclude you just need to get away from your role / employer before it pushes you over the edge. They can damage your career confidence, deplete you of energy and make it hard to be your best self when looking for another role.

But you don’t know how to figure out your next move and meanwhile you’re ‘scaling back’ on your commitment and enthusiasm for your current role. If you’re used to putting in discretionary effort you may start to feel guilty for this change and it’s highly likely to be noticed by your team, colleagues and leaders.

Now you’re feeling more and more stressed at work and you need to pull back as a preservation response. You need to take some time out as you’re starting to dread Monday mornings, those update meetings with your manager, and any talk of your development as a high-potential leader.

How can you take control of your career?

Quiet quitting is passive. You’re withdrawing your energy, enthusiasm and effort probably without saying or doing anything else. It can help in the short-term, in any of the above scenarios. Longer-term it’s likely to be detrimental to your career and your health. It can lead to feelings of powerlessness and even resentment. It can lead to you being overlooked for opportunities and to feeling more bored and resentful.

So how can you be more active?

Being a passenger in your career will get you somewhere – but will it be where you want to go? It may just take you round in circles!

Becoming the driver in your career enables you to set your direction – where you’re going, how and when you’re going to get there.

Usually just making the decision to take control is empowering and motivating.

So you’ve made the decision to take control of your career? What’s next?

Understanding why you’re quietly quitting is essential to making a change – or at least, the right change (you don’t want to find yourself in the same situation in your next role).

What’s missing for you in this role? What’s essential for you to feel happy in your work? How do you regain joy in your life as well as your career? Because there’s no doubt, if you’re heading towards Burnout it affects you outside of work too.

Understanding what you need and what’s missing enables you to close the gap between the two. You can drive yourself in the right direction to get to your destination.

Once burnout has been recognised and acknowledged, it can turn into a liberating opportunity:

• Reassessing what's important to you.
• Re-evaluating your achievements and your goals.
• Repositioning yourself in your career - whether that's back in the workplace or on another path.

Our After Burnout programme is a personalised 1:1 coaching programme that focuses on your emotional & psychological health alongside your leaderships strengths & career.

It's available for organisations to sponsor their employees who want to return to their workplace or role after time out for burnout or extended illness.

It's also available for leaders to invest in themselves if they're really not sure what's next for them.

12 sessions in total. 6 with Andrea, focusing on emotions & work/life balance. 6 with Karen, focusing on your leadership career development or pivot.

To find out more, please book a Discovery Call with?Karen Felton MCIPD?or myself?Andrea Urquhart?via?https://lnkd.in/ewvNpEGa