What is ‘quiet quitting’? How leaders and managers can navigate the ‘quiet quitting’ phenomenon
Self-preservation is everything, but for teams and managers… watch out.
Are you overwhelmed or resentful about how many work commitments you have right now? Do you feel unappreciated? Practice the life-changing art of quiet quitting.
N.B. while this can benefit the individual, it’s something managers and leaders should be working to avoid so that they can retain their best-performing colleagues in the long run. We explain how below.
So what is it? Therapist, Nedra Glover Tawwab, breaks it down beautifully: ‘quietly quitting going above and beyond for people who don’t appreciate what you have to offer’.
In the workplace, it’s regularly documented that women, non-binary people and people from the global majority tend to take on the invisible labour of taking on extra responsibilities outside of their role, with no recognition or reward. This can include but is not limited to:
Leading on diversity and inclusion initiatives
‘Office housework’ such as organising team events and away days
Mentoring and training new colleagues
Consistently carrying out tasks for a role more senior than their own with no tangible prospect of promotion
This is something we’ve been following over the years, and it’s clear that Millennials and Gen-Z workers are opting out of this excessive labour burden. From Amina Adewusi, the Black engineer that opted out of diversity work, to women taking on an estimated extra 200 hours (25 working days) of work per year — quiet quitting is a stress-free way to devolve yourself of unnecessary responsibility.
Sometimes the most effective, kind and pain-free thing to do is to take a step back. Protect your peace. For decades, underrepresented communities have been doing excess work, and it stops today.
Are you a leader or manager? Here's how to navigate the 'quiet quitting phenomenon'
As we’ve said, while this benefits the individual, quiet quitting is a huge risk for leaders and managers of teams. Instead of panicking or defaulting to ‘cracking down’ on quiet quitters, let us explain how to constructively reduce the rate of ‘quiet quitters’ in your team.
Start with why & create space for constant dialogue — quiet quitting happens because team members feel underappreciated, overwhelmed and unrewarded. In your 1-2-1 meetings, reviews and during exit interviews, create a safe space to receive direct feedback about how your team members are feeling at work
Review the reward & recognition process — how is volunteering for ‘extracurricular’ tasks at work reflected in how you reward and compensate your staff? Many companies have included this type of work as a means of celebrating and rewarding team members
Be open to flexing job titles and roles — it’s a positive thing that your team members are performing in their main role, and have valuable contributions to make elsewhere, how can you redesign the scope of their role to actively reflect this?
Escalate when needed — Sometimes taking on extra responsibility consistently comes down to a staffing and capacity issue, gather data to share with your seniors to get buy-in for another team member. The cost of hiring another person is always lower than having to consistently replace team attrition or performance manage a team member who is physically present, but not truly present
Did you know 💡 Companies that create safe spaces for team members to raise their concerns and their desires are more likely to retain their top, diverse talent?
At Hustle Crew we’ve helped dozens of companies achieve this and would love to help you too. Get in touch here.
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