Quiet quitting?

[KevShmev]

I saw this on linkedin and thought it was interesting.

Apparently it's the new trend, to put as little work in as possible so as to have a better work/life balance.

Striving to the achieve the latter is definitely a good thing, but I don't think going out of your way to do the bare minimum at work is the way to go.  These are the people who will do as little work as possible and then wonder why they aren't getting paid more, ya know, the "pay me what I am worth!!" people.

I have noticed the trend the last few years as well of people just up and quitting with no notice, no warning.  And I know from where I work and others that it has become pretty common now for people to schedule job interviews and then simply not show up for them. 

To quote the guy from Ferris Bueller, I weep for the future.

[XJDenton]

Counterpoint: if a company IS paying you the bare minimum they can get away with (which for a lot of companies is their objective, as minimising expenditures while maximising income is essentially the goal of a capitalist enterprise) then why should the worker do any more than what they are contractually obliged to?

[axeman90210]

I don't think notice should always be expected. If you work a job where there's no severance and the company would just let you go at any time without warning then why do you owe them notice if you're leaving? Respect for the employer-employee relationship goes both ways. When I think about my job (working for a large bank), there are guardrails around the sudden termination of my employment. If I'm being fired for cause, that can come at any time (though typically would require a specific fire-able incident), but if I'm being laid off then while there isn't notice per se (and understandably so), there is a severance package. Similarly, if I was quitting "for cause", I wouldn't feel that I owed it to the company to give them notice (though I might anyway to maintain a good relationship if it made sense to), but if I was leaving because I found a better opportunity or wanted to change career paths then I would absolutely provide it.

[WilliamMunny]

Everyone is different, as is every situation, and I do my best to avoid passing judgement on others.

That said, for me, work (and by proxy, my approach to it) is a source of personal pride. I show up, do my thing to the best of my abilities, and leave.

I've worked for great companies and I've worked in toxic environments—I would hope that every single co-worker would share the same thought: man, that Will Munny works his ass off. It's certianly what I strive for.

So, yeah, quiet quitting? Not my style, man.

[ReaPsTA]

Two pieces of advice that shouldn't have to be said - Never miss job interviews without cancelling and never quit without notice unless it's some kind of contract job where that's considered acceptable practice. While I have problems with the idea of blacklisting, this is the real world. Professional communities talk.

Also, I don't care if you work in an esoteric white collar job or you do manual labor for a living - Working hard will never hurt your chances at career success. And with the economy getting the way it is, and companies looking for ways to cut back costs (and labor is a huge cost), you aren't going to survive unless you're some kind of distinctly value added proposition to the company. If you really don't think this... I hope you have a really cushy position setup for yourself.

Like a couple people here have said, no personal pride in not working hard. You can tell yourself you're being rebellious and trying to have a work/life balance all you want... You know you're being lazy and you will feel worse about yourself.

All that said................

I don't know if the American workplace changed or if the American public did, but it's harder to ignore how much work sucks these days. It's nearly at the point where you watch something like Office Space, which was deliberately designed to be satire, and you think "this would be a relatively sane office environment."

It gets harder and harder to find people who know how to do anything. People whose job it is to make things over-complicated are constantly trying to make it even harder. No one can make a decision because no one wants to be responsible for anything. And now wanting to take responsibility for yourself and your job is seen as some kind of weird stepping outside of your boundaries. Maybe trying to juggle multiple requests from multiple people that you don't actually have time for isn't some kind of normal part of work and is in fact a sign of deep organizational dysfunction. You're told to come up with ways for the company to save money and then have to make laboriously researched reports to demonstrate what should be intuitively obvious, so no deeper questions are ever actually asked because there's no time for them. All the executives are bull-headed and none of them really understand how the business operates, so massive amounts of time are spent putting things into PowerPoints that they can understand. Oh, two VPs are having a disagreement, time to marshal their teams together to make competing sets of spreadsheets so they have ammo to argue out their points.

Okay I'll stop now but I think you get the point.

[Lonk]

Apparently it's the new trend, to put as little work in as possible so as to have a better work/life balance.

Back in my days, we called them slackers 

[cramx3]

I certainly feel like my coworker quietly quit the moment we hired him  guy doesn't even put what I would consider the minimum effort. 

I take some pride in my work so doing the bare minimum isn't really my style, but I do slack from time to time. 

I could totally see some scenarios where quietly quitting actually makes sense, but I don't generally think it's good career advice. 

[ReaPsTA]

I could totally see some scenarios where quietly quitting actually makes sense, but I don't generally think it's good career advice.

Unless you're working on a side hustle or your family needs you, I can't think of anything else.

[cramx3]

I could totally see some scenarios where quietly quitting actually makes sense, but I don't generally think it's good career advice.

Unless you're working on a side hustle or your family needs you, I can't think of anything else.

I'm thinking minimum wage jobs that treat workers poorly.  Something that isn't your career, just a job.

[ReaPsTA]

I could totally see some scenarios where quietly quitting actually makes sense, but I don't generally think it's good career advice.

Unless you're working on a side hustle or your family needs you, I can't think of anything else.

I'm thinking minimum wage jobs that treat workers poorly.  Something that isn't your career, just a job.

Been there, done that, understand it. Never a great idea in general. Terrible idea in this economy.

[YtseBitsySpider]

Not just American...this trend.

Local employers here in Ottawa, Canada paying people to show up at interview---if hired and stay a minimum time. Local employers of service type jobs out bidding each other with perks, above minimum wage and other incentives to get people to apply.

nobody wants to work

[Nick]

nobody wants to work

Man oh man am I tired of this phrase. Everyone is willing to work for a price. At times there is more labor demand than supply and so if you really want people, especially good people, time to pony up and you'll get them.

As for the greater trend, I work with one person in particular that I don't think is quitting, but shows this attitude and it's infuriating. Especially when it's this particular often non-team player who is already clearly the most selfish when it comes to making sure they get theirs that is constantly talking about how they are such a people pleaser and never care for themself.

[XJDenton]

nobody wants to work

Man oh man am I tired of this phrase. Everyone is willing to work for a price. At times there is more labor demand than supply and so if you really want people, especially good people, time to pony up and you'll get them.

This. Supply and demand works both ways. People want to work, but they also want to feel valued.

[King Postwhore]

I hear you to but let me give a perspective.  I work with people who are reclamation projects.  It's mostly their lives are messed up and now they are trying to get their life on track.  We are manual laborers.  So the starting pay, while going up. is still not the greatest.  $17.00.  They have no work skills and like Marc talks about, a career job is not on their radar. 

So, what I do is talk about reasonability, building your career.  If you show up daily, take on new responsibility, and stay at a job for a decent amount of time, you can use this job as a stepping stone.  If you jump from job to job, managers will skip by your resume. 

I've had many people tell me, I'd rather stay unemployed than work for $17.00.  We have 3% unemployment in NH.  I so see many working temp jobs instead of getting a real job.  Temp jobs pay $10 to $12.  They could jump to $17 working with us and get health benefits within a month.  Monthly safety bonuses. This year, 3 of the 4 months they received a $350.00 bonus on top of the safety bonus. 

Yet, I can't fill jobs.  I actually believe that some people overvalue their worth.  Hence the saying, "Nobody wants to work."

[ReaPsTA]

I've had many people tell me, I'd rather stay unemployed than work for $17.00.  We have 3% unemployment in NH.  I so see many working temp jobs instead of getting a real job.  Temp jobs pay $10 to $12.  They could jump to $17 working with us and get health benefits within a month.  Monthly safety bonuses. This year, 3 of the 4 months they received a $350.00 bonus on top of the safety bonus. 

Yet, I can't fill jobs.  I actually believe that some people overvalue their worth.  Hence the saying, "Nobody wants to work."

I do agree with this. And you can blame it partially on inflated egos.

But I can't give American business culture a pass on this one either. Because of resume inflation, college graduates with no useful skills are all just the best, most dynamic professionals you can possibly find who are ready to conquer the world. I don't care how much it's supposedly just "what you have to say", you become what you do. Jobs convince themselves they are only looking for the best, and applicants think they are the best. No one's expectations are met.

I don't blame people in the labor market for having too-high expectations, but they're all drinking the Kool Aid. Though they aren't the ones who mixed it.

[Lonk]

I actually believe that some people overvalue their worth.  Hence the saying, "Nobody wants to work."

This! I know of some recent graduates that overvalue their worth. For example, I know a recent graduate (BA), who has absolutely no work experience outside of 3 month internship he did before graduating. The internship place ended up liking him and offered a fulltime salaried job (IT support, mainly helpdesk type of work), starting salary of $75K/year, which he turned down because that wasn't a good salary. Now, I don't work in IT, but a $75K/year salary for an entry level job sounds good to me.

Another in a similar situation, recent grad with a BA and some retail experience. Received a job offered with a salary of $80K and turned it down because "He won't accept anything less than 90K" 

[KevShmev]

I get wanting to feel valued and not get taking advantage of, and that certainly happens a lot, but the way I see it, doing the bare minimum at work is a bad habit to get into because what happens when that person finally gets a chance at a good job?  There is a good chance that their bad work habits will continue.  It is like muscle memory.  Go in trying to do your best at every job and then it just becomes habit, and when you do get to a good place, that muscle memory of doing your best will benefit you.  No, it won't happen for everyone, but I feel that it is far less likely to happen if you "do the least" verses "doing your best."

[ProfessorPeart]

[YtseBitsySpider]

I guess I should have quantified my "nobody wants to work".

16-25 year olds sitting at home with a bunch of government money after a pandemic, having been unable to properly socialize for 2+ years......DON'T want to work service jobs.

it's very difficult to convince them that that early work experience is very vital to proving to future employers that you understand the value of ...a hard days work, a project---started and completed---working in groups---having difficult coworkers.
All of these things. I learned in the service industry and then in the construction industry. Does everyone need to follow that path that I just broadly and sweepingly described as "the way" ? No. But you have to walk some kind of path.

Or sit at home with bonus free money and do nothing.

[Stadler]

Counterpoint: if a company IS paying you the bare minimum they can get away with (which for a lot of companies is their objective, as minimising expenditures while maximising income is essentially the goal of a capitalist enterprise) then why should the worker do any more than what they are contractually obliged to?

Because base rate isn't the only benefit you get from working.

[Stadler]

nobody wants to work

Man oh man am I tired of this phrase. Everyone is willing to work for a price. At times there is more labor demand than supply and so if you really want people, especially good people, time to pony up and you'll get them.

This. Supply and demand works both ways. People want to work, but they also want to feel valued.

Base rate isn't the only benefit you get from working.

[Stadler]

I actually believe that some people overvalue their worth.  Hence the saying, "Nobody wants to work."

This! I know of some recent graduates that overvalue their worth. For example, I know a recent graduate (BA), who has absolutely no work experience outside of 3 month internship he did before graduating. The internship place ended up liking him and offered a fulltime salaried job (IT support, mainly helpdesk type of work), starting salary of $75K/year, which he turned down because that wasn't a good salary. Now, I don't work in IT, but a $75K/year salary for an entry level job sounds good to me.

Another in a similar situation, recent grad with a BA and some retail experience. Received a job offered with a salary of $80K and turned it down because "He won't accept anything less than 90K"

We get people coming in with less than a year experience and expecting to be Vice Presidents.  My response? Don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.

[ReaPsTA]

I actually believe that some people overvalue their worth.  Hence the saying, "Nobody wants to work."

This! I know of some recent graduates that overvalue their worth. For example, I know a recent graduate (BA), who has absolutely no work experience outside of 3 month internship he did before graduating. The internship place ended up liking him and offered a fulltime salaried job (IT support, mainly helpdesk type of work), starting salary of $75K/year, which he turned down because that wasn't a good salary. Now, I don't work in IT, but a $75K/year salary for an entry level job sounds good to me.

Unless this is in a major metro area (even then, it might not matter), absolute insanity.

Another in a similar situation, recent grad with a BA and some retail experience. Received a job offered with a salary of $80K and turned it down because "He won't accept anything less than 90K"

Don't know this person's field, but sounds wild to me.

[Dublagent66]

Not sure how one goes out of their way to do the bare minimum.  The bare minimum doesn't require any extra effort. 

[cramx3]

I actually believe that some people overvalue their worth.  Hence the saying, "Nobody wants to work."

This! I know of some recent graduates that overvalue their worth. For example, I know a recent graduate (BA), who has absolutely no work experience outside of 3 month internship he did before graduating. The internship place ended up liking him and offered a fulltime salaried job (IT support, mainly helpdesk type of work), starting salary of $75K/year, which he turned down because that wasn't a good salary. Now, I don't work in IT, but a $75K/year salary for an entry level job sounds good to me.

Another in a similar situation, recent grad with a BA and some retail experience. Received a job offered with a salary of $80K and turned it down because "He won't accept anything less than 90K"

What I don't understand is, wouldn't it still be better to take the job and keep looking for what you really want?  For one, just to start getting income and experience, but also because your resume will look better if you are actively employed. 

[hefdaddy42]

Not sure how one goes out of their way to do the bare minimum.  The bare minimum doesn't require any extra effort. 

That's a good point.

[King Postwhore]

My view is at the low level job.  I can't comment on college entry jobs.  Just what I deal with in my profession.  Though $75.000.00 is a fantastic starting pay.  I would convince him to take it, excel and look for opportunities to move up in the company. 

[XJDenton]

Counterpoint: if a company IS paying you the bare minimum they can get away with (which for a lot of companies is their objective, as minimising expenditures while maximising income is essentially the goal of a capitalist enterprise) then why should the worker do any more than what they are contractually obliged to?

Because base rate isn't the only benefit you get from working.

So? Pay and benefits are agreed at the signing of the contract. The contract details what work is expected of you. Either party expecting freebies is unreasonable.

[Skeever]

I certainly cut my teeth on service industry jobs first, followed by temp labor with no PTO and benefits, until finally landing a salary for myself.
Whether the next gen of workers are right or wrong for staying home turning down work while waiting for the right opportunity - honestly, not my call. Time and the market will determine that.

[TAC]

Counterpoint: if a company IS paying you the bare minimum they can get away with (which for a lot of companies is their objective, as minimising expenditures while maximising income is essentially the goal of a capitalist enterprise) then why should the worker do any more than what they are contractually obliged to?

Because base rate isn't the only benefit you get from working.

So? Pay and benefits are agreed at the signing of the contract. The contract details what work is expected of you. Either party expecting freebies is unreasonable.

A contract is its own animal. Most people do not do contracted work.

[XJDenton]

You don't sign a contract when you start working a salaried job? I certainly did.

[TAC]

You don't sign a contract when you start working a salaried job? I certainly did.

No. I'm not salaried anymore, but I was salaried from 1994 to 2013. I had no contract.

[Dublagent66]

I don't remember signing anything either, but that was more than 36 years ago.  Times are probably a lot different now, not that I would actually know how much different as far as the hiring process goes.

[King Postwhore]

You don't sign a contract when you start working a salaried job? I certainly did.

I didn't as well. Maybe that's a GB thing?

[XJDenton]

Huh. Agreeing to work for a company without signing anything seems quite odd to me. Though in that case I'd say as an employee you owe the company even less.