The new buzzword in the market is “Quiet Quitting”. While there are a few definitions for the word floating around, the one commonly accepted one is people doing exactly what it says in their job description, nothing above and beyond.
There are two camps right now - one arguing for and the other arguing against it. The former group is of the view that Quiet Quitting is not bad in nature. An employee not being a workaholic or adopting hustle culture is not bad inherently, and neither is doing just the job that you are paid for. The latter group is of a completely different view in the sense that binding yourself to a strict definition can only do harm to your career and your core skills that make you who you are.
Most believe that this is just a passing trend and come next appraisal cycle or recession, this will course correct itself. While time will tell whether Quiet Quitting is here to stay or not, what we know for sure is the interesting elements of human psychology and existing gaps in the current hiring and employee management ecosystem.
Some questions that Quiet Quitting raises for companies:
Why would employees doing just the job that they were hired for cause any adverse effects.?
Does it mean the job description is not well thought through.?
According to Price’s Law, 50% of the work is done by the square root of the total employees you have. So has Quiet Quitting not been a thing always.?
Some questions for the employees:
If going above and beyond is added to your job description, would you go above and beyond.?
What attribute of your employment should your employer change, to motivate you out of Quiet Quitting.?
What are the ways you can achieve the desired change in this attribute.?