Quiet quitting, or the practice of employees’ doing just enough to get by without being fired, seemed to many American workers like a brilliant way to capitalize on a historically tight labor market. Rather than going the extra mile to receive a promotion or a raise, quiet quitters have been satisfied with coasting along and collecting a paycheck.
Employees Wise to Exercise Caution
It shouldn’t be a surprise that this seemingly too-good-to-be-true employment situation won’t be available to workers forever. Indeed, as the economy is expected to begin slowing in the near future and many companies have already announced labor cutbacks, doing the bare minimum at work is looking like an increasingly precarious strategy.
“The pendulum swung toward workers in the wake of the pandemic — with trends like ‘the great resignation’ and ‘quiet quitting’ pushing back against American hustle culture—but now, some labor experts are warning that employers are about to take the upper hand,” writes Hannah Towey in an article for Insider. “That means employees who have been putting in the bare minimum at work could be the first to get layoff notices as the economy looks increasingly headed toward a recession.”
Working Hard Still a Best Practice
That should be common sense to employees and employers alike. When resources are limited and some staff need to be let go, employers would obviously rather keep those who put in extra effort instead of those who intentionally do the bare minimum.
Just because an employee may have slipped into the quiet quitting mindset, however, doesn’t mean that person is a lost cause. It’s important for managers to provide regular and consistent feedback to employees and let them know if they feel any of them are slacking relative to their peers. Simultaneously, companies should be as transparent as possible with workers when it comes to the potential for layoffs to give employees as much opportunity as possible to rethink their decision to quietly quit.
Lin Grensing-Pophal is a Contributing Editor at HR Daily Advisor.