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

Kryptonite

I shall keep this thread for inspiration. The treatment of support staff in schools could, I am sure, start a new thread. For example, when you ask to be paid the same as a teacher for doing the SAME job, such as after school academic tutoring, you are told "No, you are not a teacher," or "This is, after all, a vocation," or "Surely the reward is in helping the students." So you do it for less money to help the struggling students, feeling torn between conscience and frustration at being exploited. If you refuse, agency staff will be employed and of course, paid more than you to do an, in many cases, inferior job. Meanwhile, the money is always found to promote senior staff so they can attend more meetings while you make them look good. So much for the caring professions. They sure don't care for their staff.

I did help as an assistant on low pay for some time. And then I chose to make big sacrifices to spend 4 years studying to become a qualified teacher. I do believe that entitled me to a higher salary afterwards.

Some of your experiences with some employers. Don’t, as Sara said, tar all employers with the same brush.

Sorry to say that it's not offensive when I look back at some of my experiences.

I agree Sara. I was an employer too and find that comment very offensive.

Lovebeigecsrdigsns
I find that to be a sweeping, and extremely insulting comment, to thousands of employers out there, who care very much for their employees, who are very aware of the need to keep things going because people depend on you.
I’ve no doubt there are unscrupulous employers out there, but don’t tar them all with the same brush.

Don't you also feel @Kryptonite that a good days work for a good days pay is no longer considered adequate? Employers want blood, don't they?

I shall keep this thread for inspiration. The treatment of support staff in schools could, I am sure, start a new thread. For example, when you ask to be paid the same as a teacher for doing the SAME job, such as after school academic tutoring, you are told "No, you are not a teacher," or "This is, after all, a vocation," or "Surely the reward is in helping the students." So you do it for less money to help the struggling students, feeling torn between conscience and frustration at being exploited. If you refuse, agency staff will be employed and of course, paid more than you to do an, in many cases, inferior job. Meanwhile, the money is always found to promote senior staff so they can attend more meetings while you make them look good. So much for the caring professions. They sure don't care for their staff.

Yes I have experienced it in teams that I've worked with. Anyone who does that puts an added burden on other members of the team, very unfairly.

I have just seen on the news that now being discuss is also “quiet firing”, they described it as an employer not wanting to outright fire an employee so instead they slowly but steadily reduce an employees workload down to nothing, while also continuously evading the employees requests to discuss and understand what’s going on and why and if they can improve somehow. All until the employee becomes so frustrated that they just quit! I’ve heard some accounts of former employees of wherever being on the receiving end of “quiet firing”, probably to do with employers not wanting to have to pay severance or something but also probably being insecure in that they are afraid of confrontation so they do everything to avoid it, though in my opinion all employers should have a strong backbone, seems like the majority do not.

What will comes next? Quiet hiring? Suddenly you get a phone call from someone demanding to know why you haven’t come in for your first shift?

I don’t think many carers would get the opportunity to “quietly quit”….

Its a way of taking power back into your own hands without burning your bridges.

Im lucky in that although there were mobiles there were no smart phones at the time when I was coming upto retirement. And not everyone had a mobile!

Even smart phones can be in another room/on charge/in a poor reception area. I became a past mistress of the art of making myself difficult for people like employers to reach.

Don't really understand these comments as I've never worked anywhere for more than a few weeks where I was not happy. If you are happy and feel at home with nice colleagues in your work place you don't mind doing a bit extra from time to time

many years ago my husband had just started a new job 2 weeks before our daughter was born 4 weeks prem, and we also had an 18 month old as well. His job started at 4am till 12 noon driving a large truck. She was ill from the day she was born and cried morning noon and night for the first 4 weeks of her life until she had her first operation. He could not sleep, I could not sleep, and he was, therefore, dangerous on the road. They paid him off rather than give him compassionate leave as he had not been there 3 months.

One boss said after 18months "it's time to put a bit more in" aka work Saturday up to 3pm unpaid! Really?! I said "thanks but no thanks my weekends are sacrosanct!"
him:"that's not what you said at interview?"
Me" you promised me £15k/ pa plus Bupa too at interview, seems we both were frugal with the truth eh?"
Him: " it will be noted"
Me: " you bet it will!" 3 months later left job for double my £11999/pa proxy job.
I saw him in a bank last month , looks much same, retired and 22years older , he stared at me staring at him , didn't know me so I said" it's rude to stare old man" he was beside himself nwith embarrassment
Me" you can get arrested for that you know!"
Him? Walked out red and shaking, great, love that he felt as threatened as I did all those years ago as a single mum........

I spent almost all my life working for local and health authorities and worked very hard. Then the section I worked for got privatised and I decided I would no longer "go the extra mile". I suspect a lot of people who work for big businesses feel the same. It feels very different working for someone else's profit than for the good of other people.

There's also a trend Mishy which has been with us for a while to employ the absolute minimum number of staff so that there is no slack, if more than two people are off sick at any one time the ones who remain are pushed beyond the limit - and then they get the blame when things go wrong, not to mention an unhealthy atmosphere where people are almost afraid of taking time off in case they are accused of not being good team members.

Isn't retirement wonderful?

For personal satisfaction I have always done the best that I can for my contracted hours, and ensured that I was up to speed with any job that I have had.
However, I would never do as much as five minutes free overtime, having seen two older close relatives who put everything into their work, to the detriment of family life, and gained nothing. Both were overlooked, and their extra efforts and hours of unpaid overtime were simply taken for granted, but when other members of staff did some extra time they were praised. A lesson learned for me.

I've lost count of the employers who say in interview "we're a a very give and take kinda company" meaning: YOU give and WE take! It was never ever the true meaning or other way round! Those who think being diligent in doing contracted Hours and duties- is not being a go- getter or not a ' team player' are usually - managers who have been promoted way above their capabilities!! I used to say to my staff, if you constantly feel you need to work through breaks/ late then you're either not organised or we need more staff! I never ever tried to bully anyone into " giving a bit more" unless voluntarily and with appropriate pay!

lovebeigecardigans1955

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.

This is my experience but a new manager came on the scene, I suspect to clear out the 'dead wood', one by one over a year the older team members were culled (it was that vicious) then came my turn I loved my job up until the bullying started and I was not going to be bullied it ended with me receiving a written apology and them leaving me to do my job and not have to undertake all the other stuff I did before (coaching, arranging conferences and training courses, writing materials for training manuals etc) all those roles went to juniors who just could not spell or string a sentance together so I coasted for about 4 years until the company folded and over 500 were made redundant such a waste of a good company who decided to employ bullies for managers. Mind you, it was the first time in over 40 years of employment that I coasted and I found it was enjoyable, wish I knew that years ago.

Quiet quitting has been around for generations but maybe not written about in The Times where I saw the article. Perhaps it says a lot about employers as well as the staff and probably a great deal about lockdown and what the fall out of that has been for employees.

Oopsadaisy1

I also think that as people are contactable 24/7 a lot of Companies expect you to answer queries via email or text all hours of the day, night, weekends and holidays. Why should you?
Work life balance has to start somewhere. I don’t see it as ‘coasting’ it’s just working the hours that you are paid for and overtime if you work extra hours.
Of course there are Management jobs that require you to work as and whenever you are needed, but the wages usually compensate you for that.
But I still think that unless it’s very urgent emails and texts from the office should wait until the next working day.

In my last job before retirement, our workload increased to a point where there was no time in the working day to check email. One day I told my supervisor I hadn't had chance to check email for 3 days! Her response - " but there may be things that are important." My response - "Tough!"
I was hourly paid, expected sometimes to stay beyond my contracted hours without getting paid or given time off in lieu. I could have refused but did it for the sake of the students I supported, for their benefit, not my bosses. However I drew the line at checking email in my own time! If it was so important come and say it to me, otherwise accept that the email message may not reach me!

Had I not been about to retire I'm not sure I could have continued to be radical about it. I felt sorry for my colleagues who didn't have the option to leave with a pension. At least 2 left via 'long term sickness due to stress'! At one point I considered leaving and working for an agency for the last year. Thank goodness I didn't as the pandemic came and I'd have had no work! As it was, the months of 'working from home' made up for all the unpaid overtime.

When I actually retired I wrote to the school governors on behalf of my former colleagues to let them know the situation. Some things changed as a result, but I'm sure not everything, and as school funding gets more limited the situation with probably deteriorate again.

Sometimes working to rule is the only way to retain your sanity and any semblance of work-life balance!

My SIL gives his all to his job, no matter what it is, and goes far beyond the call of duty. It always seems to me that inevitably his employers start to take the proverbial and he ends up feeling put upon whilst his wife plus children wait at home for him as he works longer hours than he is ever paid. He then ends up with an unhappy life all around.

My son has worked hard to be recognised for promotion or at least be in with a chance. His boss, who has encouraged him, has just moved up and he hoped to be able to apply for the job as it will probably be the last chance for a considerable while to get promotion. The next thing he knows, they are going to advertise for new people outside the organisation and won't be looking at current employees. To say he is now quite disheartened and thinking of working to rule, is an understatement.

I have and I've also done it many times in the past too!! It used to be called "work to rule" whereby employees do what they're contracted to do and no more but no less! I use it as a weapon against real nasty employers trying to stuff me to kingdom come! They can't sack you for it and it does focus their attention on your t&C's somewhat when they realise that I DONT WORK FOR NOTHING, THATS SLAVERY!! Good for them I'd say, about time greedy mean employers woke up!

Really, I think most of us feel that attitudes to work have changed greatly during our working lives.

Towards the end of mine, I felt I was being "put upon" to a certain extent. We no longer taught from textbooks that were up-to -date, so we all, if we really wanted to teach our subjects , we spent time finding materials we could use that would interest our classes and fulfill syllabus and exam requirements.

Teaching from being just that - a matter of teaching children and to a certain extend enriching them and doing our part in bringing them up, changed in the late 1980's towards being also a matter of form-filling. Endless evaluations of pupils, endless meetings with colleagues and parents.

In 2013 when I retired, I had been spending four hours a day of my own time either correcting essays and exercises or trying to find suitable teaching material.

You can only do so for a limited time, if it is not to cost you either your health, your sanity, or your marriage.

I opted for retirement to retain heath, sanity and husband.

I feel sincerely sorry for those who do not enjoy their work and find it easy to understand why they try to get by doing the basic minimum.

It is one thing to be ambitious - but something completely different never seeing the children you brought into the world except when they are asleep, or never having time to see friends, family, spring clean or do anything except work, work, work.

E-mails and mobiles - blessings or curses? For a while parents would say reprovingly, "I tried phoning/mailing and got no reply". "Indeed, you did, after school hours in my free time. That is why you got no reply".

Life is meant to be lived to the full. Not just to be a matter of work. Basically we work to earn our living. If we are fortunate we both make a comfortable living and enjoy our work.

If we are unfortunate, we earn next to nothing and end up with stress, ulcers or worse.

Should this be the way life is? I don't think so.

I worked in education and when my dad died I didn’t know we were allowed some compassionate leave. My boss “forgot” to tell me. Fortunately one of the very lowly paid admin staff put me in the picture and I took the time. It was noticeable the same boss took 2 weeks off when HIS dad passed away.