‘Quiet quitting’ ... have you heard of it?

I am so in agreement with poppyred, nice to know that someone felt the same

It's not quitting (wtongly phrased I feel), nor is it not putting in effort. It is doing what you are paid to do and not doing additional unpaid work. I don't expect to go into the supermarket, pay for my groceries and expecting more than I have paid for.
I've been down the route of putting work before family for the majority of my working life for the same employer and my own health, suffered for it and no acknowledgement for it.
I took early retirement because although I was working part time in my last couple of years there, with the accordingly reduced wage, I was still expected to continue with a full time workload, be available full time, put aside caring for my vulnerable mother in favour of attending meetings on days I wasn't contracted to work (oh really?!) and was condemned for not taking the work mobile phone home to be instantly available, or indeed for answering it while I was driving (illegal!). In my last year at work my new (and dictatorial) manager was setting me up to be sacked, hence my taking early retirement. She clearly couldn't deal with losing control over me, and sent me a summons to attend for a grievance she had against me, well after I had left! What a waste of taxpayers' money.
Apparently she is no longer in that post....

Quiet Quitting isnt 'Coasting'
During lock down when we were working from home - I still am.
Employers figured that - well you are there you can just do it. Some employers expected you to be continually plugged into work. There was no work/life balance for some at all. Some people were living and working in the same room. I consider myself lucky because I have an office at home that I can just shut the door on at the end of the day.
My company made a suggestion of no meetings over the lunch time period, but not many adhered to that. You were there, therefore you could work. Not many people got any recognition of thanks for working long and tiring hours with the expectation that the more you do the more they wanted.
So people said, hold on a minute, this is not sustainable - so they quietly quit all the additinal work that was forced upon them.
Its nothing to do with being lazy or having no ambition but more to do with trying to burn yourself out.

Their is nothing new in this. I have worked with many people who do just enough. Sometimes senior staff have relied on their juniors to do all the work while they take the plaudits.

Work to rule under another name.

My grandmother used to say (of housework because she never had an employed job) that "the more you do, the more you can do" and "It will still be there when you are gone."

She was a very wise woman and lived to be 96.

.

I would not equate "quiet quitting" with not doing your share. Rather with not doing more than your share. In every workplace there are those who get through the jobs quickly and efficiently and those who spend a lot of time by the water cooler chatting. Yet both groups may, on paper, be present for the hours they were paid.

I was one of the former, and usually got through my work much quicker than colleagues. Once I decided to apply for university and "quietly quit" I dropped to the lower speed and made sure that I kept pace with, but did not exceed, the work rate of my colleagues.

If course it was noticed!

One day my boss took me on one side and remarked that of late I had seemed "less productive" than hitherto. I asked for an example. He told me "Well this year you took 10 days to do X but last year you took only 7."

My response was that the timeframe in which I had completed the work was on a par with that of people in a similar position to myself. So why had he singled out my performants? If he preferred we could contiue the conversation formally with my union rep present!

The conversation ended abruptly. My boss knew when he was snookered. A few weeks later I handed in my resignation with the explanation that I was "returning to higher education to improve my qualifications."

I often wonder what he made of that.

I've worked with a few people who only did the absolute minimum but no more - I found them to be rather uncooperative and unhelpful but not bad enough to sack do you know what I mean? A shortage of staff (or relatives higher up in the company) meant they were able to cling on anyway.

Whereas conscientious types (willing workhorses) who were always on time, rarely off sick, and went the extra mile were rewarded with - yet more work. The lazy man was never asked. I think Alexander Solzenhitsyn wrote something along those lines and it's as true now as it was when it was first written. Pardon my cynicism.

I’d never heard of it either, until it was mentioned on TV this morning, when it was referred as ‘acting your wage’.

Ha I didn’t know there was a name for it. I’ve been disinterested in my job for the last few years, even more so now I have less than a year to go until retirement.

Admin takes up a good deal of the time, now.
I had to be seen to arrange activities, design posters to let people head office know, engage on social media--so head office could see in-- type up agendas for meetings and display them, take minutes, and then type them up again...
I also had to type out invites for families, two compulsory cooking sessions a week, two art sessions, arrange and sort out spiritual wellness and church to come in and visit, all on minimum wage. 75 residents.

I have been retired for many years and imagine the workplace is quite different now. I agree with Urmstongran it does depend a great deal on the job you do. I worked with adults with learning disabilities and couldn't imagine not doing that extra work to support them. I could happily leave the admin though.

people get fired at our place if they don't meet their targets and tbh I resent having to carry someone who isn't putting in any effort anyway

Well, their client was a grumpy old sod, anyway, so that is some consolation.
He had thrown out everyone else, so they had searched for someone he would accept into his home (me) and then I left.

I'm glad they are the sort of company to put so much effort into caring for someone, it is how it should be.

You are very understanding MissAdventure, and probably what you say is true, but I would have thought something could have been worked out.

Well, it was a small, but growing, family run company.
I suppose they have to be seen to be providing safe, secure, long term support for their service users, or their business will sink.
I don't hold it against them, but obviously their employees will sometimes need a helping hand sometimes, and ultimately these situations will arise at times.

I did realise I was going to leave them in the lurch, but my girl was taken to hospital that day, and never came out again.

MissAdventure
That’s really sad, whatever has happened to compassion?

We have some good friends who went bankrupt, they employed 200 people.
They worked tirelessly trying to find positions for their staff, and out of the whole sorry business, it was the feeling that they had let their staff down, which hit them hardest.

When my daughter was dying, I had just begun a new job with a lovely company.
I spoke to the manager, and she was very kind, but told me I needed to give one months notice.

Minimum wage, looking after and supporting someone else to live independently whilst my own family were in the midst of a terrible trauma.

I pored through my contract, and found that my first 3 months were probationary, so in effect, either the company or me could end my role without notice.

That is how jobs are, now.

I’ve never heard of this expression. I agree that it would be easier in some jobs than others. I certainly encountered doing the bare minimum and clock watching when I worked in a local authority legal department. People who operated in that way wouldn’t survive in private practice. I’ve always had a strong work ethic and couldn’t respect someone who did the bare minimum in order to draw their salary. I suspect there are a great many of them.

I think a lot of people have just woken up to the fact that work was taking over many peoples lives and many employers were totally exploiting staff. WFH has reminded people that quality time with family and friends and a sense of engagement with their community will make them far happier than keeping on the bosses good side all the time, or bragging about the long hours they work.
A quiet and long overdue revolution.

Some interesting points of view. Thank you for contributing to the discussion.

There isn't a person in the world who is not replaceable at work; why would you make yourself replaceable to your family and friends? Some people duck family events ‘due to work commitments’. Many of my cohort have themselves worked up about the quiet-quit attitude, but none of the interviewees are saying they aren't working--they say they're doing the job they're paid for.

If companies want highly engaged overworked employees, they need to pay for it. This generation is smarter than we were perhaps? Many of us had a drawer full of ‘thank you’s’ at work.

I imagine working within a large organisation facilitates those easier who want to be ‘quiet quitters’. Small businesses, not so much.

Your company values your employees Sarah1954 which is why you have a loyal workforce. Kudos to you.
?

But not all employers do. I find it morally reprehensible that some expect their employees to put up with shabby T&C - they would be horrified if their own family members had to endure. Owners of care homes comes to mind as an example. They make for a very lucrative business whilst their employees are run ragged.

‘Quiet quitters’ do just the necessary to avoid criticism. Easier in some jobs than others I expect.

That is an example of a good employer getting the best from their staff, and is eveyones ideal, I would think, but those kinds of jobs are becoming rarer and rarer.

It's a competitive world these days, and people end up as no more than faceless numbers.

We employ ten full time staff

Apart from one, who literally works by the book, they are all hard working and flexible.

We have a really high regard for them all and genuinely appreciate what they do, and tell them so.

If someone has to pop out, appointments etc , that’s fine.we currently employ someone whose mother has dementia, and she often has to pop out.

Our longest serving member of staff has been with us for twenty five years, he came as a Saturday boy when he was at school, and all of them have been here quite a while.

We never expect them to do anything we wouldn’t do ourselves, and with it being a small company, although we all have our rolls, we need to be flexible.

I would be really annoyed I thought any of them were Quiet Quitting, If you don’t like your job, if you feel undervalued or underpaid, go and find another one.