Quiet quitting involves doing the bare minimum at work and not going above and beyond one’s job requirements.
Primary Implication
Allowing quiet quitting to go unchecked always leads to decreases in sales and cost increases. Every quiet quitter hurts productivity and employee engagement. Their disengagement leads to cash flow and profitability problems. Use progressive discipline to deal fairly and decisively with these employees.
Overview
Every day, a 100% guaranteed business loss occurs wherever and whenever employees quietly quit on their managers. The financial impact of quiet quitting (QQ) is projected to cost US businesses $450 to 500 billion annually.
A recent Gallup report showed that less than 15% of employees are actively engaged at work. Research like this has led to the argument that QQ is the art of avoiding burnout by not taking work too seriously. Younger generations are said to want increased work flexibility with their interest and more gratification in what they do, and when they don’t get it, they are prone to QQ.
The risk of burnout is real, and yes, putting in minimal effort at work isn’t a new phenomenon. Yet burnout and laziness are different from QQ. Those who QQ have the skill and talents to contribute more to their employers, and thus, their customers they simply choose to hold back and underperform.
What gets missed is how each QQ is a personal choice made by the employee after it has been shaped over time by their experience with their employer through their manager. The most common costs to employers are the following:
- Lost Productivity: disengaged employees are less productive, leading to lower-quality work and missed deadlines that result in a negative impact on customers and fellow employees.
- Decreased Morale: quiet quitting is contagious, creating a negative atmosphere that lowers the morale of those who have to work with and around the quiet quitter. This leads to a contaminated work environment, higher turnover rates, and difficulty in attracting and retaining needed talent.
- Increased Costs: the loss of productivity and the need to replace employees who physically quit result in significant financial costs for the company. Beginning with recruitment, onboarding, and training new employees.
For employees, their personal cost of QQ involves:
- Stagnation: employees who QQ miss out on opportunities for growth, development, and advancement in their careers leading to more entrenched feelings of frustration and dissatisfaction as they miss out on valuable experience that could benefit them in the future.
- Disengagement: leads to decreased motivation, creativity, and overall job satisfaction that will affect well-being and mental health.
- Financial Impact: while quiet quitters often don’t lose their jobs before the damage is done to the business, their disengagement impacts their earning potential where performance evaluations and promotion opportunities exist. In businesses that do manage employee contributions their processes eventually lead to employee termination of the quiet quitter because their lack of contribution finally caught up with them.
The solution to QQ lies in fixing the employee-manager disconnect as follows
- Managers need to confirm with employees how they contribute to business results. They need to listen to what’s important to their employees in doing the work they are paid to perform and maintain an accountable work environment. They need to be timely in recognizing and rewarding employee contributions and providing opportunities for growth and development. Employees who have a sense of accomplishment in what they do are less likely to QQ. Those who don’t become bored, disruptive, and costly to have around.
- Employees who realize they don’t want to QQ can re-engage with their work by setting new goals, seeking out challenging projects, and communicating with their managers about their needs.
- Employees who just can’t keep themselves from QQ for whatever reason owe to themselves, their coworkers, and their employer to leave. Life is short so don’t waste it on a job you can’t stand or working for a manager you can’t follow.
Quiet quitting is a lose-lose situation for employees and employers. Employees who have chosen QQ owe it to their employer and coworkers to leave. They are causing more harm than good, and the bigger loser in this equation is the employee who is robbing themselves of the opportunity to be their best selves and do their best work.
The manager who allows a QQ to remain on their team is a weak manager who needs to be dealt with. Their failure to have difficult conversations with employees failing to contribute is the bigger issue to correct. In a perfect world, the right people are hired, they know what to do, enjoy doing it, and are paid a fair wage in exchange for their time, talent, and contributions.
Unfortunately, we don’t live in a perfect world. For employers, people need to be paid for their contributions. This is why businesses with smart ownership insist on a contributions management process, a continuous cycle of setting goals, providing feedback, and evaluating progress to enhance employee contributions to business results and align individual efforts with business priorities. Click here to learn more.
These same businesses also expect their managers to adhere to their progressive discipline process. They know that employees who aren’t a good fit for their culture, they do them, their customers, coworkers, and employer a disservice by keeping them on. While it’s never easy to fire someone, sometimes it’s the best thing for the employee. In the long term, they will likely thank the manager who freed them to pursue other interests while their coworkers celebrate the manager for finally taking action. Click here to learn how to help struggling employees formulate positive behavior change goals.
Dealing fairly and decisively with employees who fail to meet minimum performance standards is one of the most challenging aspects of management. Use progressive discipline, the third component of the BusinessCPR™ Contributions Management Process to either help those struggling to contribute to business results earn the money you are paying them or to move them out reasonably and decisively from your employ. Do this, and you won’t be dealing with QQ issues because you are addressing them before they create the ugly costs for you and your employee, as outlined above.
