Quiet Quitting

Did you ask this a while ago?
Someone did, so there may be a thread on it.

Why would anyone do this? You either do the work (and in many cases, go the extra mile) or you leave and find another job.

I would never have considered it. But over the years I’ve worked alongside a few people who did. Not sure it had the fancy label then. They were known as workshy/inconsiderate/selfish by their colleagues who picked up the slack .

Yes, so have I, Grannynannywanny
It's infuriating.

I think biglouis is an advocate.
Not something I ever did, it would not feel righ.

Another word is laziness.

A fancy name for looking busy, taking the money, but sitting back letting others do the work.

If things are so bad, why don’t those folks find another job.

If you don't like your job find another, this is your life passing you by. Many moons ago I worked in a civil service job which paid well but was was so boring, i left and my life took off.

Mell967 Why are you considering doing this?

Do you not consider it to be dishonest?

I wouldn't judge someone for doing this, nor call them lazy. I worked very hard as a teacher and definitely did more than the minimum for most of my career. However my final boss was(and still is) lazy and didn't do his job. He relied on the faculty to do it for him. Eventually I realised that I was being used so I stopped helping him out. He was paid significantly more than me to do the job. I still did my job as the pupils were the important ones. He moved on to others in the department who, gradually over time, have also realised what he was up to. The year that I knew I was retiring, I wound down in what I was prepared to do for the school as a whole

eazybee

Mell967 Why are you considering doing this?

Do you not consider it to be dishonest?

Its not dishonest if you are fulfilling your job role ....the more you do the more is expected in some roles....I have had a couple jobs where I have done exactly what I was paid for and no more....because the management were not prepared to return my flexibility shown to them

Not an attitude that I admire.

Yes I began a thread on this a little time ago.

Quiet quitting is NOT skiving or being lazy. Rather it is working to your job description and doing the hours you are paid to do, but no more. The name arose on Tiktok a couple of years ago but quiet quitting has been going on under the radar for some time.

It happens mostly when employees feel disengaged, desrespected and not valued as individuals. Quiet quitting behaviours involve:

not seeking promotion or more responsibility
turning down training opportunities
not volunteering or speaking up with ideas
only working ones designated hours
not answering phone calls, emails etc outside working hours
not becoming "socially involved" with colleagues

None of these bahaviours are skiving or pushing work onto others.

I began quiet quitting when I had made up my mind to leave the job and go to university. Applying to uni is a year long process so my energies went into that.

I used to do a lot of work in my own time. I stopped doing it and worked the hours I was paid.

Germanshepherdsmum

Not an attitude that I admire.

We had a term in teaching: The handbag brigade. They came in just before the bell at 9.am and left at 3pm with only their handbag.
I can only imagine that their prep was done, when they should have been teaching.
One in particular was a support for learning teacher, who used to send her group of pupils back with their work for me to correct. She taught them, therefore her responsibility to correct. I used to send it back with pupils, with a message saying, "You must have forgotten to correct this work.".

I also taught SEN pupils and would never have considered sending work back to be corrected by their own teacher, neither would I consider to quitting quietly.

Mel1967

Quiet Quitting - ‘When an employee continues to put in the minimum amount of effort to keep their job, but don’t go the extra mile’

Does anyone do this?
It’s certainly something I’m considering 🤔

Why are you asking again you posted on this in January 24.

I would hate to work with a ‘quiet quitter’. I have always done what was necessary to fulfill my obligations to clients and colleagues. It would never occur to me to do the bare minimum. A selfish attitude.

Grandmabatty and LOUISA1523 are correct. Unless you know the circumstances of the individual person then you have no right to judge them for quiet quitting.

In my case there has been structural changes in the profession whereby it has shifted to a graduate oriented one. So those of us who had qualified under an earlier system, climed the corporate ladder and had years of experience were being less valued than young kids with a bit of paper we did not have. One can argue that this was short sightedness on the part of the employer so maybe they no longer deserved loyalty and selflessness.

In any case after working my ass off to gain several degrees I never returned to that profession but became an academic. Nor did I quiet quit in that job because I loved it.

The people I feel sorry for are those in our age group who are just "hanging on" to draw their state or occupational pensions amd have come to a point where they are physically and emotionally drained. In that position there is no incentive to do more than you have to in a job.

There is a world of difference between "putting in a minimum amount of effort to keep your job" and the kind of "quiet quitting" which biglouis describes, which I understand as setting your own personal boundaries in respect of your work life and is a desirable trait.
I see so many people of my age group who have made work a priority, (my husband was one) only to realise when they retire just how much they have missed out on

GSM and I are never going to agree about this. She has stated that as a solicitor she was self employed and had a responsibility to her clients. I also noticed that some of the people on the thread I began were teachers, worked in the NHS or similar. Of course you cant always guarantee leaving at the end of your shift in those kinds of professions.

However I believe it is important to set boundaries from the word go in a new job. Ive heard so many tales over on Mumsnet of people being telephoned while they were on holiday and asked to do things. Fortunately there were no smart phones when I was working. But even smart phones can be left at home when you go away.

I have worked with a number of these people as described by the OP.........I wouldn't call them 'quiet quitters', more suited to the description of 'lazy b*****s'! They were easy to spot, never cleaned down, never re-stocked, last in and first out!

Is this similar as 'working to rule' in Trade Union terms? It's designed then to highlight how much 'above and beyond' work is involved in keeping any thing going at all I think.

As long as you genuinely do a fair day's work then it's fine, doing the bare minimum is not fine; that's shirking I feel, and very unfair on those who feel that they have to pick up the slack.

Is this similar as 'working to rule' in Trade Union terms? It's designed then to highlight how much 'above and beyond' work is involved in keeping any thing going at all I think

This is how I think quiet quitting should be. When I stopped doing things in my own time then jobs simply took longer. Of course my boss noticed but I managed to style it out by arguing that there were many people off sick/on holiday so the less urgent tasks were having to be put on the back burner. This is how you handle it when there is more work than you can reasonably do in the hours you are paid for. You allow it to "pile up" and say well we need more staff. That then makes it a problem for the employer.

People who take on more work to cover for a colleague not doing their share are foolish and are not doing themselves any favours. They are really just concealing faults and lack of recources in a toxic organization.

No one is going to write THANK YOU on your gravestone if you die from stress and over work.

When I worked I used to try and put in the extra mile and get the job done. It’s not an attitude that I find pleasing to see people just swan in at 9am - do their job to the minimum and they are first out the door at 5pm. Each to their own.

There is such a thing as job satisfaction, which goes a long way, how can anyone working the bare minimum achieve job satisfaction? Think of all the hours we spend at work, if we are not happy doing it, why be there and waste a huge part of your only life?

It is for the employer to decide the amount of work required, not the employee. If it is considered unfair then the employee has the right to leave and find more suitable work elsewhere.
People who apply the rules of quiet quitting, are not good colleagues, a drag on the workplace, and their attitude permeates their whole life.