Articles : What is Quiet Quitting? The New Trend That’s Been Taking Over TikTok

You’ve probably heard of the “Great Resignation,” but now there is a new trend going around on TikTok called “Quiet Quitting.” Ever heard of it? If not – let’s talk about it in this article.

Quiet quitting has nothing to do with actually quitting your job, it is defined as “quitting” doing work that is outside of the scope of your job description. So in other words, it’s like placing boundaries around the expectations employers have for you as an employee.

You can take a look at these TikTok videos as some examples:





Take some time to Google the term – you are sure to find a lot of videos and articles surrounding it – and a lot of mixed opinions too! Let’s break it down.

What Are the Signs of Quiet Quitting Among Your Employees?
There are many signs including, but not limited to:

• Finishing work on time
• Not answering emails or phone calls after working hours
• Taking more or longer breaks when needed throughout the day
• Not being in a rush to complete certain tasks if they are not urgent enough
• Refusing to do work that is outside of your job description
• Not pushing or asking to do more work

Are There Pros to This?
There can be. The pandemic brought about many changes, including the way people think about their work-life balance and quiet quitting is definitely a result of employees thinking more about how they work during the day whether at home or in the office.

For employees, the idea of quiet quitting is not a bad one and it’s good to get workers thinking about whether or not they have been over-extending themselves to the point of burnout – which we all know by now that overworking yourself doesn’t lead to better results at work, but less. You can read more about burnout here.

For employers, if you see some signs of quiet quitting in and around the office, it could be a sign to better check up on your staff’s mental health and wellbeing before it gets any worse (like employees leaving). So quiet quitting can be sort of like a wake-up call to consider current policies and procedures in place that aren’t helping your employees.

Why Could it be Bad?
The name “quiet quitting” doesn’t really define the essence of what the point of this concept really is – it’s more about placing boundaries and learning to create a better work-life balance and “quitting” doesn’t necessarily define that. So there is a risk of it being misdefined by employees. As an employer questions like how far is too far when refusing work? What if there is a staff shortage and another employee’s help is needed? What if there is a rush job and some employees are needed to stay late? Questions like this can start to surface.

Then there is the question of will this create employees who no longer have the mentality of moving up in the company? If employees are choosing to not go above and beyond or take an extra step, does that give them a disadvantage for a promotion? How do employers start to measure that when we live in a society that places more praise on those that “hustle” in their work life.

Conclusion
It’s definitely an area and term that needs to be examined more, as there does seem to be a bit of a grey area in some regard. The promotion of creating healthy work boundaries is great, but the question is how employers incorporate this moving forward for their employees. Is it just a matter of creating better policies and procedures in the workplace or is this the start of how the new generation of workers is going to restructure the workforce – changing what it means to be a good employee and how one would earn a promotion?

What are your thoughts? Let us know by emailing info@torontojobs.ca. 
 

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