Quiet Quitting

I do the job that I am paid to do within the hours I am contracted to work

100% agree.

I worked in a call center when I was doing my first degree. One day when I was on my way to lunch (an hour unpaid) the manager asked if I would get her a lottery ticket. I added the task on to my hour luch break. The lottery shop was in the opposite direction and there was a queue so I arrived back 20 minutes late. I did that every time she asked me to get her ticket or some little bit of shopping. I was happy to do her a small favour but on the company's time, not mine. Just establishing boundaries. Nothing was ever said but I would have been quite prepared to argue my case.

I'm with Biglouis and Louisa. I found myself in the 'hanging in' category in the final 18 months of employment, at the same time as a change of management who wanted everyone to be trained for the future and working/available evenings and weekends - well that's a waste of the organisation's resources for anyone in the imminent position of retiring and short-sighted managerial skills!
I worked above and beyond in my earlier years, putting work above family but the 'more, more, more' attitude of the last manager made me realise all my unpaid efforts had been for naught and I therefore worked to contractual hours and requirements only, not beyond that, and left employment with my sanity and health starting to mend, rather than exiting on my knees. No, quiet quitting is NOT sciving in those circumstances - it is setting reasonable boundaries.
Whilst some people live to work, others work to live and therein lives the divide.

Thirty odd years ago I had two male colleagues with very different attitudes.

One would come in at 9 and leave at 5 every day.

The other came in a bit earlier but stayed at least an hour later every night

The first one worked conscientiously all day to get everything done. It was a job with deadlines. He also had a young family.

The second spent half of the day walking around talking to all and sundry. He was divorced and lived alone.

One of the bosses took the first one to one side and questioned why he only worked his set hours. He said that they were his set hours and he wasn't paid to work unpaid overtime and, he always got his work done.

IMO it should have been the other one who was taken to task.

It's the never starters rather than the quiet quitters which are the problem.

I see nothing wrong with getting home to spend time with family/children/elderly parents at the end of your working day.

Not before the end, not without having tied up and dealt with all the loose ends, but at the end of your working, contracted day.

I do the job that I am paid to do within the hours I am contracted to work.

When I took up one job I found that the person I was working with was, in effect, a quiet quitter. I was appointed to make big changes (and given money to do so) but he was then my assistant rather than being in charge himself. I tried really hard to involve him in the changes that management had asked me to make, but he refused to participate in anything, and, as others have said, was out of the door on the dot. Eventually his health deteriorated, which I was sorry about, and he left his post. It was an interesting job, because at the same time I also had an assistant in another area of my responsibilities who couldn't accept change and had very poor health. Interesting times!

Have worked with several 'quiet quitters' over the years and they've been a major cause of friction in the workplace as others have had to finish off their work and generally clear up after them ending up taking responsibility for what should have been their work.
On the other hand I did sometimes think that if we all worked just our set hours or never took work home to complete then more staff would have to be employed which would be a win win for staff and the economy at large.

🤔 it's what you can live with I guess
I'd struggle giving more work to others if affects them
If you've a management prob can you brave it at appraisal

I don’t understand why people are loyal to companies that would fire them in a heartbeat if it was deemed better for the company.

My husband worked for one of the big banks. His contract stated "hours as required" and involved regular weekends away from home, as well as many hours travelling to cover his patch.

After a few years the bank decided that to save money they were going to sell off the office buildings. He had a call one week to go into the office on Friday and collect some furniture as he would be working from home from Monday.
I was already working at home as a registered childminder. We had our own three school age children living at home.
No spare room so he had to set up his laptop in our bedroom, not ideal at all.
Eventually he bought a large summer house and set up an office in the garden.

Fast forward a few years and the bank decided that to save yet more money they would "restructure."
This entailed my husband being "made redundant," but in reality his job was given to someone younger who was paid less and given a much smaller company car. She still had to cover the same distances though, 30,000 miles a year up and down the motorway network in a little Corsa instead of a Mondeo.
To cap it all my husband was told he had to take his replacement round to all his dealers, introduce her and show her the ropes... 🙄

I assume you left your desk/position/whatever at 4.30 rather than walking out of the door at 4.30?

I don’t understand why people are loyal to companies that would fire them in a heartbeat if it was deemed better for the company.

I had a boss complain I left at 4:30. That was literally my end time, and leaving at 4:35 meant having to wait an extra half hour for the bus. He also complained when my husband was able to drive me one morning and I was at my desk at 830am instead of early.

After that? I didn’t sit at my desk until exactly 8:30, made sure to take my full break and lunch, whereas before I had no problem starting work when I arrived, generally 20 minutes early (bus schedules again) or eating at my desk to cover for others.

If you want me to start earlier and leave later, or work through my breaks, pay me accordingly. Employers have no right to demand free labour.

I was advised before I went for my first interview for promotion that 'you have to blow your own trumpet sometimes, because no-one else will do it for you'.

Sound advice but difficult to do if you are as naturally shy, retiring and very, very modest, as I am!
(I did get the promotion.)

I’m with Big Louis on this one. I think it’s easy to misunderstand what she’s describing as slacking or shirking but that’s not it

I kept in contact with one or two of my workmates for a few years after I left. By then there had been yet another big re-organization and more penny pinching by the employer - the local authority. Several of my erstwhile colleagues had been made redundant. Others were on temporary or part time contracts. That left them aged mid 40s or 50s in a dying profession with outdated qualifications. So working their asses off and mistaken loyalty to the job simply got them the chop.

I could well have found myself in the same position. I have made some mistakes in my life which I now look back on and regret. They were mostly choices I made with my emotions. The decisions I made with my head rather than my heart I have not regretted.

Its a bl***y hard world out there and you have to put yourself first sometimes because no one else is going to do so.

Funny we’ve all worked with someone like this.

I think the ' working to rule' description was much more apt than quiet quitting.
Grannytomany describes exactly the situation many people find themselves in.

I’m with Big Louis on this one. I think it’s easy to misunderstand what she’s describing as slacking or shirking but that’s not it.

I can only think that many of you have never been in the position of constantly being taken advantage of by an employer. In my experience those who are taken advantage of are the most hard working and the most prepared to go above and beyond - until they reluctantly reach their absolute limit.

The only so called quiet quitters I have worked with were managers and senior managers who just let everyone do the work while they did the minimum required.
Funnily enough they thought they were doing a good job by encouraging the work-force to work harder for very little reward.
Not much of an incentive for those poor people at the bottom working ridiculous hours with no sick or holiday pay whilst the managers were away on fancy holidays as often as they could 'manage.'

Teaching is such an open-ended job, Most teachers know that there are always improvements or additions which might enable pupils to reach their potential or become their best selves.
I don't think quiet quitting is an option in this profession.
Perhaps that's why there is such a high burn-out rate.

I've seen both sides of this within the NHS, and it seems to me that if you are lucky enough to be in an inclusive, dynamic, transparent group of colleagues then most people are happy to go the extra mile.. however I've also seen groups where people are passive aggressive and unco-operative and it's very noticeable how people will then quiet quit..

Petra

Well said Oopsadaisy.

Oopsadaisy1 good post & sums up the discussion well

That should read

Employ an extra person…

There seems to be 2 schools of thought.

You can do your job within your working hours contract, do a good job, but go home to your family and enjoy your evenings and weekends. Of course you care about your job, but if it take extra hours then they should employ another person.

Or you can go to work early, stay late, work weekends and always answer work emails and phone calls out of hours.

No matter how much you enjoy your job, surely anyone can see which they would prefer to do. If you leave and they would need to employ extra people to do the work that you did on your own, then surely you can understand that your halo needs to be adjusted or thrown into the bin.

Better to find an exhilarating job you love so you can quit loudly.