How is quiet quitting affecting your business? Eight ways to combat it.
“Quiet Quitting” – to mentally check out, but still physically present, “Quiet Firing” – leaders who penalize or ignore employees in hopes they’ll leave of their own accord, and “The Great Resignation – where employees were quitting and leaving corporations in record high numbers in 2021, are all new workplace trends/buzzwords in business and in the media that have emerged since the COVID-19 pandemic.
Last year, around this same time, the workplace trend was, “The Great Resignation”. In line with the topic, iSeek Solutions hosted a live Zoom webinar event titled, ‘Retention: How to Stop the Employee Exodus’ (Keeping the people while Changing the Culture) during our WINning In Twenty-Twenty WON webinar series. During the online seminar episode Chris Craft, Entrepreneur/Leadership Speaker, asked important questions, “In today’s malleable society where many employees seem to be looking for the “perfect fit,” how can we influence the right people to stay with us for the long term? How do we foster commitment in an age where de-committal seems to be the norm?” “How can we create a culture that keeps the bottom-line profits, while encouraging employees and staff members not to run across the street for just an extra incentive?”
“If you would like something to change, then something needs to change and it has to start with a leader,” Craft stated in the ‘Retention: How to Stop the Employee Exodus’ webinar – click the link to watch the full webinar series available on our iSeek YouTube channel.
In a world and time where everyone is constantly going, hustling to get more work done, and striving to rise up the ranks, quiet quitting is a trend focused on doing sort of the opposite – only what is expected of you and nothing more.
Employee disengagement – doing the bare minimum.
In the article, What Is “Quiet Quitting”—The New Workplace Trend Taking Social Media by Storm the trend was previously called “work to rule”, and involves doing only the tasks that were strictly under the scope of the job to protest against worker issues. In 1968, employees of Air Canada carried through this tactic and strictly adhered to company guidelines to protest against a labor issue. Prior to this, they were made to use whatever means necessary to keep passengers moving at a fast pace. “Quiet quitting” is a new term, but the tactic is nothing new. Today, the trend has made a comeback because of pandemic-induced burnout and as a way to resist the hustle culture in the workplace, according to the article.
According to research conducted by the Harvard Business Review, quiet quitting has to do with those in management positions. The study found that three out of four cases of quiet quitting happened in companies with inefficient management. The same research also suggests that 62% of employees were willing to go the extra mile for managers who balanced work outcomes with employee relationships. In short, the lack of employee motivation can be a direct consequence of the behaviors of the company’s upper management.
How can your company solve the quiet quitting problem? Let’s look at an outline of the eight ways to avoid this style of quitting in the workplace and on your team from Entreprenuer.com.
- Encourage Open Communication
-Employees who can approach their managers openly are far more likely to discuss issues that matter to them, affecting their engagement at work. - Promote a healthy work-life balance
-Ensure that your team can take vacation days, sick days, or personal days as they need. - Make sure employees feel valued
-Ensure employees are given both positive and constructive feedback to keep them motivated. - Avoid overworking your team
-You should avoid scheduling too many overtime hours or putting too much pressure on employees to meet unrealistic deadlines. - Don’t buy into the hustle culture mentality
– Work towards creating a healthy workplace culture that places value on employee well-being and healthy boundaries. - Listen to your team
-You must listen to what your employees say and consider their suggestions. - Be flexible
-Being open to different arrangements can go a long way in keeping employees happy at work. - Create opportunities for growth
-Create opportunities for employees to grow and advance within the company.
Based on the above mentioned, quiet quitting is an organizational problem rather than blaming employees for their passive attitude toward their jobs. The management level should establish a sense of trust with the employees and try to understand their goals and aspirations.
Has your business/organization experienced “Quiet Quitting” or any of the buzzword trends previously mentioned? iSeek can help you mitigate the risk of having employees quietly quit on you.
Perhaps, you need an expert business health check (iBHC). Our iBHC© – Business Health Check diagnostic tool is used in associating and comparing your business purpose and desired objectives to actual outcomes.
A business health check, like a physical health exam, should be conducted regularly, no less than annually. A health check ensures the business is tracking towards its goals. It delivers insight into the overall performance of your business, uncovers opportunities for improvements, measures employee health and the end-user experience, and assesses the organization’s culture, engagement, and alignment. It’s an opportunity to make course corrections, mitigate or exploit risks, market changes, or take advantage of new and innovative solutions.
Don’t wait until the New Year or when your organization is sinking, make sure your business’ performance is on the right track as the fourth quarter of 2022 begins.
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