Quiet Quit Conundrum.

• Author: Drower, Ethan

IT SEEMS LIKE just yesterday "The Great Resignation" was the biggest phenomenon being experienced and discussed across virtually every industry. Now, however, there is another trend occurring in the workplace that is swiftly gaining traction with employees: quiet quitting. Countless news outlets are abuzz with this topic, and many business owners are trying to figure out how to prevent it from happening in their enterprise.

First off, quiet quitting always has been in the workforce--it just was not a popular topic until a TikToker posted a video about it that went viral in July. In the video, he says that when you quiet quit, you do not quit your job outright; you just quit the idea of going above and beyond at work, as your life is not defined by your work output. So, basically, when employees quiet quit, they perform the duties they are being paid to do but do not take on additional projects or responsibilities, strive to overachieve, or allow their work to cause them undue stress in their personal lives.

It is easy to tell if employees have quiet quit. Do they log off their computers or leave the office at the exact same time every day? Do they refuse to work more than the eight hours a day they were hired to do, even if projects are not yet complete? Do you ever ask them to take on additional tasks and they flat out tell you "no" without explaining why? Do they show no interest in team bonding activities outside of work hours? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then those employees likely have quiet quit.

While quiet quitting always has been apparent in the workforce, I definitely believe that it has increased since the pandemic began. This is because COVID-19 forced employees to stay at home for long periods of time, which gave them a lot more time to reevaluate their lives and what they consider to be most important for their overall fulfillment. They also have seen their peers join the Great Resignation that stemmed from the pandemic, which showed them that they, too, are not stuck in the companies they work for.

Employees are in the driver's seat and know companies are desperate to prevent the high turnover that is seen in virtually every industry. So, these employees know they can work the minimum they are expected to work without being fired.

Gen Z and millennials definitely are more susceptible to quiet quit than older generations since they are much more connected on social media networks, where they are influenced...