One of the main tenets of the Future of Work is employee engagement. It sets the tone for how to motivate, influence, and inspire workers to embrace their work and the culture of the enterprise. Since 2022 when the workplace began to normalize after two tumultuous years of the pandemic, employee engagement has become a cornerstone to achieving a productive and competitive organization.
What is the result when a lack of employee engagement exists? Two employee behaviors — “quiet quitting” and “loud quitting” — become prevalent. Current workforce statistics indicate that disengagement is more prominent than management probably realizes.
Quiet Quitting Proliferates
In early 2022, a term emerged describing workers who are disengaged from the workplace and generally apply the minimal amount of work necessary to complete their job — quiet quitters. When compared to the overall workforce, quiet quitters represent the majority of workers today, with most struggling with stress and burnout.
According to Gallup’s State of the Workplace 2023 report, 52% of US/Canadian workplace employees fall within the “disengaged” (quiet quitter) category. It also represents the largest group that HR and business managers can actively engage with positive results by listening to employee concerns and issues.
What changes are quiet quitters most looking for to thrive in the workplace?
- (41%) Engagement/Culture — Providing a sense of purpose and an empathetic environment can go a long way with quiet quitters who feel ignored and undervalued.
- (28%) Pay and Benefits — Enterprises are often trying to achieve more with less and workers want compensation for the stress experienced and extra hours required to achieve business objectives.
- (16%) Well-being — Stress levels remain at all-time highs and organizations that actively work toward reducing stress and anxiety by offering mental health programs and wellness initiatives are positive steps toward better engagement and a healthy work climate.
Loud Quitting a Silent Toxin
On the opposite end of the disengaged spectrum are employees who identify as loud quitters —who account for approximately 17% of the US/Canadian workforce according to Gallup. Where quiet quitters are often looking for better engagement to change their outlook on work, loud quitters are “employees (who) take actions that directly harm the organization, undercutting its goals and opposing its leaders,” says Gallup.
Trust has been irrevocably broken between these employees and their business managers and leadership team, leading to purposeful actions to disrupt productivity. Loud quitting is a far more concerning issue because of the negative intent involved. As enterprises strive toward greater competitiveness through digital transformation and other significant initiatives, loud quitters are the arch nemesis of change management.
True Cost of Disengagement
According to the Gallup report, disengaged employees — the combination of quiet quitting and loud quitting — cost the global economy $8.8 trillion or 9% of global GDP. What this indicates is that 1) quiet and loud quitting must be addressed as a serious workplace issue, 2) HR and management need to elevate employee engagement as a workplace imperative or risk further erosion in productivity, and 3) evaluate the hiring process to ensure the enterprise is attracting candidates with the appropriate skillsets and desire to bring their best to the workplace.
Workplace Behavioral Definitions
The following are terms and buzzwords describing employee and enterprise behaviors that can have negative consequences on workplace productivity.
Quiet Quitting:
An informal term for the practice of reducing the amount of effort one devotes to one’s job, such as by stopping the completion of any tasks not explicitly stated in the job description. The term implies that this is done secretly or without notifying one’s boss or manager. Quiet quitting doesn’t actually refer to quitting a job. The term is used in varying ways that refer to different methods of reducing productivity or the amount of work one performs.
Loud Quitting:
“Loud quitting” is a workplace trend that involves an employee making a scene or openly expressing perceived negative aspects of their working experience before or during resignation. This phenomenon grew out of The Great Resignation, similar to quiet quitting.
Quiet Hiring:
An informal term for the practice in which an employer fills workforce gaps in ways other than hiring new full-time employees, such as by training and/or shifting existing employees into different roles or using independent contractors to cover certain roles and responsibilities. The term implies that this is done secretly or simply without being explicit about the intent behind such changes. The practice is often interpreted as a way for the employer to reduce or avoid costs.
Quiet Firing:
An informal term for the practice in which employers make workplace conditions worse for employees with the intent of driving some of them to quit. The term implies that this is done secretly or at least subtly enough to make it appear unintentional. The practice is thought to be done to avoid the financial and legal costs that an employer can incur when firing an employee.
Bare Minimum Monday:
“Bare minimum Mondays” are workplace trends where employees do the least possible work on Mondays to avoid burnout during the remaining workdays. Examples of these practices include attending only important meetings, starting Monday with a self-care routine, and taking a break from checking emails.
Calibrated Contributing:
Jim Detert, Ph.D., John L. Colley Professor of Business Administration at the University of Virginia, coined the term “calibrated contributing” as a more accurate definition for employees described as “quiet quitters.” According to Detert, “Calibrated contributing starts from the premise that what we’re seeing might be a very rational response to one’s work situation. If managers can acknowledge that calibrated contributing is, in many cases, rational behavior in response to the terms of employment they’re offering, then they can start to own the responsibility to do something productive about it.”
