All you need to know about quiet quitting: what it is and how to do it
I’ve written blogs about how laziness is a myth, how rest is a human right, and how it’s okay (even good) to do the bare minimum, but now I want to talk about quiet quitting. More importantly, I want to focus on how hustle culture has taught us how we need to constantly go above and beyond rather than literally just doing our job.
What is quiet quitting?
“Quiet quitting is 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.”
You know what?
I love this concept.
Quiet quitting is this entire mindset that rather than constantly going above and beyond, employees are expected to do exactly what is stated in their job description.
Do you know what I find really interesting about quiet quitting?
It’s a lot easier said than done.
People who are chronic people pleasers are likely to have internalized views of capitalism that are going to make them feel guilty about quiet quitting.
Why though?
Quiet quitting isn’t bad at all—it’s just doing your job.
Doing the work that you were hired to do.
Why do we need quiet quitting?
We aren’t robots who should be expected to neglect all personal feelings and commitments to pour our lives into our work.
Constantly going above and beyond at work is absolutely soul-sucking.
Quiet quitting allows employees to feel empowered to just do this job.
I know I keep saying, “just do their job.” But that’s what people are doing when they quiet quit. They’re doing their job.
We’ve been fed this narrative that we should constantly be the best, go above and beyond, try harder, stay longer, do more…etc. But, what happens when we just do our job?
Quiet quitting allows people to set boundaries with their work, it empowers people to have work-life balance.
It’s an opportunity for people to get fairly compensated for the work that they do.
Quiet quitting isn’t quitting—it’s quitting all the extra work that you’re not compensated for.
We need quiet quitting to encourage and empower people to prioritize their mental and physical well-being over their jobs. We need quiet quitting for people to recognize that they’re doing way more than what’s expected of them. We need quiet quitting to encourage people to quietly quit going above and beyond!
Why does quiet quitting get criticized?
The media has taken Quiet quitting and made some bold remarks. It has received some criticism from people saying that it’s passive-aggressive and unhelpful.
Maybe I can see the passive aggressiveness, but have you ever tried to approach a manager about being overworked?
You’ll very rarely get a kind and loving response that takes your overall well-being into impact. Instead, you’re likely to hear something about how everyone goes above and beyond, and that’s just part of the job, and just because it’s not in your job description doesn’t mean it’s not part of the expectation because job descriptions evolve.
I think that the real reason quiet quitting gets a bad reputation is because of our internalized capitalistic mindsets.
Rather than empowering people to work within their means, we set up opportunities for people to get burnt out.
When employers are no longer going above and beyond to do everything, employees are going to be forced to hire more people (costing them more money…but also creating more jobs).
Employers shouldn’t be expected to fill the needs of their business or organization if the needs are outside of their scope. People don’t like the idea of quiet quitting because it puts the ball in the employees’ hands.
What’s an employer going to say?
Employer: “Oh hey employee, I noticed that you’re not doing that part of your job that’s not on your job description that you were doing before. Why is that?”
Employee: “Oh hey employer, it’s because it’s not part of my job description and it was leading to burnout.”
An employer can’t hold an employee to an expectation out of their job description. That’s why job descriptions exist.
Are there benefits to employers when employees quiet quit?
I think most people would say “no” but I want to challenge this.
If you’re an employer and you’re doing ten tasks, and four of those are outside of your job description, you’re going to be able to pour more energy into the six tasks that are actually in your job description if you drop the other four.
When employers recognize just how much extra their employees are doing, they’re going to notice that there are spots that need to be filled.
They should also notice that the actual job description is going well.
NOTE: Quiet quitting is about quitting the extras—not everything. You can do the bare minimum at your job and still do a good job. As an evaluator, I often say to my clients that getting “satisfactory” should be the goal because it means you met all the requirements and/or expectations.
How could you benefit from quiet quitting?
So, I’m not sure where you’re at.
But I want to ask you a few questions:
Are you burnt out from your job?
Are you constantly exhausted from work?
Do you find your workplace to-do list overwhelming?
Do you feel like you’re constantly going above and beyond and not getting compensated?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, I want you to consider how less on your to-do list could benefit you.
How would your life change if you only did the work that your job description includes? Would you have a better work-life balance? Would you feel less stressed? Would you sleep better at night?
Seriously consider this.
I’m asking you, simply, to do… less.
You don’t need to feel guilty for quiet quitting.
You’re allowed to do only what you signed up for.
Now, I encourage you to go quit quietly.
