Is it a good idea to “quietly quit”? Here’s what workplace experts say

Maggie Perkins said she began “quietly quitting” her teaching job in 2018, even before it became a TikTok trend.

“There was no reason for me to demote myself because, as a teacher, there are no opportunities for promotion. If you’re the person who wins the teacher of the year award, [you’ll] makes the same salary as someone who isn’t,” the 30yearold mother told CNBC.

To be clear, there is no single definition of the term silent abandonment. For some, it means setting boundaries and not taking on extra work; for others, it just means not going any further. Most, however, agree that it doesn’t mean you quit your job.

Four years later, after quitting smoking Starting to make waves on TikTok, Perkins also made a video on how to make it as a teacher. It includes doing your job only during contracted hours, not taking on extra work to burn you out or take advantage of you, he said in his video.

“I didn’t volunteer for committees. I didn’t stay up late and do more. I just taught my classes and was a good teacher,” she told CNBC Make It in a virtual interview.

While the term silent abandonment may be new, the concept is not.

Michael Timmes, senior specialist at Insperity, an HR consulting firm, said there have always been employees who react to burnout by “doing the bare minimum.”

“Today, this is being driven by Generation Z, although it is evident across all generations. It has gained traction through social media platforms,” ​​he added.

For Jaya Dass, Randstad’s managing director for Singapore and Malaysia, quitting quietly is a “residual impact” of Covid19 and the Great Resignation, where employees felt be able to take control of your work and personal life.

“What used to be a passive aggressive challenge of worklife balance is becoming a very direct request,” he said.

“It’s no longer a request, it’s a demand.”

Kelsey Wat, a career coach, agreed, saying that quietly quitting is now a way for workers to “get stuck” in companies that see them as “just another cog in the machine.”

The problem with the Great Resignation is that it assumes everyone has somewhere else to go, Dass added. But for people who feel they have no alternative jobs to go to and the need to keep working, quitting has quietly become the next available option.

“If no one is asking you to leave, why don’t you default to less and leave? You’re buying time where you are,” Jass added.

“It could come from that general sense of hopelessness … with what’s going on with inflation or the cost of living, a lot of things that people haven’t recovered from.”

Is it beneficial to quit smoking quietly and what do hiring managers think about quitters?

However, quitting smoking quietly in theory and in practice may look different for each individual.

Experts said the concept is troubling because it can go beyond achieving a better worklife balance.

“Quitting quietly removes any emotional investment you might have from your work, which is sad given that most of us spend a lot of our time at work,” Wat said.

“Most of us want to be proud of the work we do and the contributions we make. We want to see our impact and feel good. Quitting quietly doesn’t allow that.”

She added that it is possible to maintain healthy boundaries and maintain an emotional investment in work.

Timmes agreed, saying there’s a difference between better worklife balance and “being completely disengaged.”

“An employee who shows up every day, goes through the motions, turns down certain projects due to lack of interest, and has no desire to advance in their current career or develop skills is very different from a case of worklife balance and familiar”.

He added that quietly quitting could be a positive trend if workers focused on maximizing their hours at the office. “The only problem: The trend doesn’t reflect that mindset right now,” Timmes said.

There are also bad qualities that can be adopted to quit smoking quietly, such as lack of motivation, underdevelopment of skills, lack of flexibility and inability to work in a team.

“From an office perspective, quietly quitting can cause conflict among employees, as some employees will feel that others are not carrying their weight,” he added.

“In general, this can be counterproductive for the employee and can also create a wave of inadequate and underdeveloped employees.”

Kevin O’Leary, investor and star of ABC’s “Shark Tank,” also said that quietly quitting smoking is “a very bad idea.”

“The people who go above and beyond to try to solve problems for the organization, their teams, their managers, their bosses, are the ones who are successful in life,” O’Leary said.

However, Perkins insisted that quietly quitting doesn’t mean slacking off at work, although he acknowledged that some people may.

“I value my work and I put in the hours, but I just want to be respectful of my time and energy,” he added.

Perkins has since left teaching and is now a fulltime academic consultant and tutor. Now she says she’s willing to go the extra mile for her current role.

“This is because it’s a company that has shown me that I’m valued and I get very respectful feedback from my boss, it’s a healthy work environment,” he explained.

“If my boss had been really negative about me in the past, I would have said no.”

Perkins said he used to quit smoking “out of necessity.”

“I had my first daughter [in 2018] … If I was late picking her up from daycare, I would be fined a dollar a minute, and so if I didn’t leave work as soon as my students left the building, I would have to pay a fee.”

Quitting quietly can be beneficial in terms of giving employees more time to pursue passion projects, Timmes noted.

“The employee may be able to think more outside the box, feel more refreshed and be more efficient in the hours they are working.”

Wat added that quietly quitting can give employees shortterm relief from an “overly resultsfocused” work environment.

“I can see how quitting for a season can help them refocus on their needs outside of work and hopefully lead them to recover from their burnout and clarify their needs and boundaries within the workplace. work to move forward,” he added.

“At the end of the day, quitting quietly is about combating the longheld belief that the only way to get ahead professionally is to work way beyond your limits and adopt a ‘yes man’ mentality.”