Quiet quitting with Dr. Christina Stamper

Why has quiet quitting become such a topic of conversation among employees and at employers in the past year? Data suggests that younger employees in particular are less engaged at work vs. in the past. Is this accurate?

Throughout various publications, there is no consistent use of the term “quiet quitting.” However, most articles describe it as employees simply doing their job as specified in the job description and not going above and beyond with a great sense of ownership in their work outcomes.

My perspective is that quiet quitting isn’t anything new. What we are seeing is an age-old debate about the role of work in one’s life. There are many possible reasons that this debate is attracting increased attention now. It could be at the forefront of the public’s consciousness because Gen Z employees are new in the workplace and speaking about the topic on social media. Also, millennials and Gen X employees are approaching mid-life and may be re-evaluating what they want out of their careers and lives. The pandemic—a once in a century occurrence (hopefully)—caused individuals to rethink their allocation of time to work and non-work activities. And labor market conditions that favor employees allow more freedom for workers to find new jobs that fit their work ideal.

There are suggestions that quiet quitting may be related to generational differences. It could be that younger workers are choosing a different approach to work in an effort to find a better balance in their lives. They strongly question the dedication of older generations to stressful work and longer work hours and may not have the professional experience to calibrate their need for work-life balance to workplace expectations and norms. It is not surprising that there is also a corresponding increase in unionization efforts in the last year at companies like Amazon, Chipotle, Apple and Starbucks, with employee representatives advocating for better work conditions and increased pay. 

The issue is really about the level of engagement that managers should encourage and expect from their employees, and how they might generate more ownership from their employees concerning the work for which they are responsible. There will always be employees who choose to do the minimum, and employees who choose to go beyond because they want to be promoted, rewarded or are just internally driven. Not surprisingly, employers will typically favor the more motivated and committed employees in many ways. Gen Z employees may not be experienced enough to recognize this, and millennials and others may have enough experience to know that sometimes hard work is not recognized as it should be.

Is quiet quitting something employers should be very concerned about? Why or why not? What does quiet quitting tell us about overall management within organizations? How should organizations respond to quiet quitting and other engagement issues?

Employers should always be concerned when employees disengage from their work responsibilities. Employee disengagement works against the company’s competitive advantage in many ways, whether it be production goals, coworker relationships, service quality, client satisfaction or other success metrics. Ideally, employers should develop a healthy, productive corporate culture that supports employee engagement. This can happen in several ways: 

• Making job tasks interesting to employees instead of designing simple, repetitive tasks.

• Allowing employees more decision power in how they accomplish their job responsibilities.

• Ensuring fair and competitive pay.

• Offering benefit packages that employees find valuable and useful.

• Facilitating positive relationships among coworkers and between employees and their supervisors.

What advice do you have for employees who are engaging in quiet quitting practices?

Make sure you are willing to live with the long-term consequences before you take action—or inaction—in the case of quiet quitting. Employers typically will reward employees who go above and beyond their job descriptions with raises, bonuses, high-status job assignments and promotions. Everyone likes to work with people who bring positive energy to their workplace. If you are disengaged, you will likely not be perceived favorably by your supervisor or coworkers, and the consequences may be isolation in relationships at work, lower-than-expected performance evaluations, and a lack of trust in your ability to get work done. More personally, if you do not enjoy the work you do, or feel you are working in an unhealthy environment, it may be time to find another career option that you find more fully engaging. 

How do you incorporate current news regarding the labor market into the classroom?

In the Introduction to Human Resource Management course, as well as the Staffing Organizations course, I facilitate a lot of discussion about labor market conditions. Students need to understand current trends in the market to comprehend the issues around recruiting and hiring, compensation and unionization efforts, to name a few. In class, we discuss the current unemployment rate, recruiting trends, the changing demographics in the labor market, as well as changing expectations of employers and job seekers regarding job offers and work expectations.

Over the past few years, the pandemic facilitated significant change in the workplace, including the labor market trends of working from home, flexible work scheduling, increased base pay, signing bonuses and other rewards for accepting offers, as well as the “great reshuffling” as workers chose to look for more rewarding and higher-paying positions. The labor market being front and center in the news has resulted in a greater acknowledgement of the important role human resources plays in corporate success, providing wonderful discussion material to help students learn about the profession.