Quiet Quitting - What's Behind The Mask?

Quiet Quitting - The Cost & the Solution

There is a new term we are hearing - Quiet Quitting. What is this and what can be done about it?

Quiet quitting is not really new. In the past, we have called it disengaged employees, people not doing their fair share, and other terms. The fact that this has become such a buzz word recently shows that our world is waking up to some hard realities in the workplace. In practice, it is doing the minimum to get by.

Here are some questions to think about:

• Did quiet quitting start because of the impact of the pandemic?
• Is quiet quitting a result of the massive increase in remote workers?
• Do employees feel they have a good work/life balance?
• Has the pace of change reached a point where people just cannot adapt anymore, so they are checking out?
• Is quiet quitting a result of poor leadership?  

These are valid questions.

The cost - the last numbers I have seen say the cost of quiet quitting (disengagement) is about $500 Billion a year in the United States alone. Can you imagine what you could do if you could reclaim even a small portion of that?

For a moment, think of a time when you decided to quit something. What were you thinking? What were you feeling?

Story

For me, I remember a time when I decided to quit something I loved. I played golf on the High School team and truly enjoyed that experience. As I went on to college, the game became more competitive and many other pressures came into play. Over time, I lost my love for the game because it was so fraught with politics, a need to win all the time, and the truth is, the leadership was poor. Something that I enjoyed became something I felt obligated to do. That is when the passion and energy for the game faded away. I eventually quit the game for almost ten years. There is a happy ending to the story. I now play every week with a group of friends and I am enjoying the game and the community I have with my friends.

A lesson I learned from this...No matter how passionate you are about something, that passion and energy can diminish if it is not protected. What do I mean by protecting our passion and energy for something? There are some key elements to protecting and even enhancing the focus and energy you have (or the people you work with have) for an effort:

1. Leadership matters - first you have to lead yourself well. Don't allow external forces to steal your passion. If you are a leader of others in the workplace, practice empathy at a higher level. Make sure that you display passion and energy for the effort.
2. Build your internal resources so that you have the motivation and energy needed.
3. Eliminate the distractions and sources of frustration as much as possible.
4. Emotional state of mind. This is huge. Emotional drivers are behind every decision, every action, every behavior. Reflect on what emotional drivers are present for you, or for someone else who may be in that quiet quitting mode.

Our brains work in a very specific way. We have a thought...our brain immediately attaches meaning to that thought...then emotions are generated...these emotional drivers then influence our decisions, behavior, and actions. Why is this important? Because what comes out of this process is our self-talk. Self-talk is a very powerful influence on us. Think of it this way...if my self talk is, "I hate this job, I am only doing it for the paycheck, every morning is a challenge to get up and do the same stuff again." How do you think that self-talk would impact your focus, and energy for the job? Contrast that with, "I love what I do, I love the people I work with, what I do makes a difference, I have a real positive impact on everyone around me." Obviously this is much more positive. BUT, it is also going to be much more productive!

Back to this "quiet quitting" dilemma. Why are we seeing such an increase in people checking out...doing the least possible to get by? The obvious answer is that they are not engaged. I know, Captain Obvious here! But it is still true. What is important is to identify WHY they are not engaged. What is the root cause of their disengagement?

Behind the mask

What is going on for people "behind the mask?" Meaning, what we can't easily see. Is there data that will help us to better identify the factors that drive the quiet quitting movement? Yes, actually there is, let's look at that data:

• Emotional distress has increased 300% in the past 2 years (Six Seconds - State of the Heart)
• Unhappiness has increased drastically (Gallup - Blind Spot: The Global Rise of Unhappiness)
• In the United States, 66% of people identify as being lonely (Mental Health study)
• 50% of workers in the United States experience "a lot of stress" every day (Gallup - State of the Global Workplace Survey 2022)
• Navigate emotions scores (a competency of emotional intelligence) have dropped to all time lows (Six Seconds - State of the Heart 2021)

Let me add to this some of my observations:

• Covid has introduced a new level of uncertainty and anxiety into our lives. Almost everyone knows someone who has been seriously impacted during the pandemic.
• The move to more remote work has been a plus in many ways, but has brought unexpected challenges. The daily conversations around the office have disappeared.
• Collaboration, risk tolerance, and innovation have taken the greatest negative hit (Six Seconds - State of the Heart 2021). These are critical success factors for people and for organizations.
• Worker shortages have increase the demand on employees and leaders.
• Important initiatives like hiring, on-boarding, training, planning, and teamwork have become more difficult.
• The economy, politics, and the pace of change have all added to the complexity of the world we live and work in.

That is what we are competing with in the effort to reduce quiet quitting.

The Solution

For me to say there is an easy answer to this would be ridiculous. But there are proven ways to move the trend away from quiet quitting to more engaged and energized individuals, teams, and organizations. It starts with assessing what is working, what is not, and what good looks like going forward.

Quiet quitting is primarily driven by emotional drivers generated by the way a person sees their circumstances. People live in their perceptions...their perception is their reality. This is then reinforced every day as they live their life. To change their level of engagement and move them away from quiet quitting status, their perception and the emotions generated in them must change. But how does that happen?

Here are three key things you can do to overcome the quiet quitting challenge:

1. Connection. One of the primary drivers of quiet quitting is people feeling disconnected. This is more than just communication. It is engaging people at higher levels by including them in important efforts, giving them a clear understanding of their impact, genuinely connect with them and create ways teams can connect with each other, introduce elements of fun and enjoyment into the work. If you are in a hybrid or remote team environment, ramp up the connection time with people. People have a natural need for community (not to be confused with sociability). They want to feel a part of something bigger than themselves. To be able to invest themselves in their work...then see the return on that investment!
2. Trust building. It is more important than ever to build trust. With all of the challenges listed above, it is more difficult than ever to build trust...but it is one of the most important success factors. When people trust, either another person or in the value of the effort, they will naturally engage and invest themselves at higher levels. How do you build trust? Be credible, be reliable, and connect well with others. This is a proven method for trust building.
3. Invest in people.  It is a fact that organizations that invest in their people (beyond compensation and benefits) have greater engagement and success. Specifically, invest in equipping and growing people. This is NOT a half day workshop once a year or a required in-house training program. This is about creating a culture of development (An Everyone Culture: Becoming a Deliberately Developmental Organization - Kegan & Lahey). People are the most impactful asset any organization has...plus the fact that treating people with respect is the right thing to do. Does your organization invest in their peoples' future...or do they simply use people as a means to get something done?

This is really common sense. If you want to avoid quiet quitting, then invest more in your people. If you find yourself too busy to do that, you are already on the road to decline and trouble.

 Story

Let me finish with a true story. Burnout is real and can have devastating consequences. One of my clients experienced this not long ago with a senior leader. In hindsight, the signs of burnout were there for this senior leader but in the busyness were missed or ignored. The outcomes were serious. The individual stole from the company, became addicted to drugs, lost their job, lost their relationships. Just about the most serious outcomes you can imagine.

What does this have to do with quiet quitting? Quiet quitting could very well be the entry point to burnout and everything that comes with it. None of us want to see someone we know go down that path...and that includes ourselves!

Copyright © 2022 EQFIT® - Author: Steven Goodner All rights reserved. No portion of this material may be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher, except as permitted by U.S. copyright law. For permissions contact: [email protected]