Going Loud About Quiet Quitting

It’s interesting to observe how employee attitudes towards work per se, changed post-pandemic. The concept of “Quiet Quitting” was not spoken in the Talent/HR parlance even a few years ago. Why now?... Is the question baffling the Talent community globally.

In an ultra-competitive job market, employers generally assumed with pay, employees will deliver, and that too beyond expectations to retain one’s job from going to the competition. And that was a given.

The pandemic saw a shift in mindset. Perhaps, it’s safe to say that people developed a new respect for life and evaluated how they spent their time, including time at work. In large cities across the globe, everyone witnessed the loss, of loved ones, colleagues, and acquaintances, and this loss may have aided the evolution of how employees view work and the time they invest in work. It does not come as a surprise that concepts like “quiet quitting” have emerged following the great resignation in developed nations. There is a palpable shift in employees’ need to secure a career, a shift that oscillates between living to do a job and doing a job to live.

For the uninitiated, what is #QuietQuitting?

Simply put, Quiet Quitting is a term to describe a work ethic that involves doing, only what was told to do, or what is required to be done, and not delivering beyond the bare requirement by an employee. In many parts of Europe, companies are seeing a growing trend where employees are voluntarily choosing a pay cut to achieve optimum work-life balance, even at the expense of forgoing past luxuries. And according to them, the tradeoffs are acceptable, as long as they get to spend quality time at home and personal lives.

A survey done by FlexJobs, an online job portal, done in July, showed nearly two-thirds of respondents are willing to forgo loss of pay for a chance at better work-life balance.

The research also claims the proportion of engaged employees in the US workforce dropped to a six-year low of 32%, while the proportion of actively disengaged workers – what the study calls "loud quitters" – hit a six-year high of 18%.

According to Harter, the reason could be attributed to:

• Employees have become less clear about what they expect from work
• Employees feel less cared about by their employers, and hence are less connected to the company's purpose

This begs the question; how will employers address this situation? With the impending recession, and volatile market conditions, employee attrition and or employees’ quiet quitting approach is not something organizations are willing to take for granted.

What can Organizations do to keep employees motivated?

Understanding the Employees’ POV: Adopting a more empathetic outlook can go a long way in securing employee loyalty and motivation. The stats clearly show money can no longer buy an employee’s commitment to a job, so Organizations, big and small, need to provide something more to provide a comfortable, conducive working environment.

Making a 4 day a week work week a reality.

Microsoft's Japan offices recently trialed it and saw a 40% increase in productivity. It's also proved successful in countries like New Zealand and Sweden.

The benefits include:

Cost Savings: For employees who are willing to go to great lengths for an improved work-life balance, having a 3-day weekend is a welcome change and Organizations can also get to cut operational and infrastructure costs.

Visible increase in employee productivity: Happy employees tend to focus better and are motivated to go the extra mile when it comes to deliverables. A positive disposition is the best way to get people on board with organizational values and culture.

A New Zealand-based firm, Perpetual Guardian, experimented with the 4-day work week and discovered that 78% of employees could more effectively achieve work-life balance.

Better Employee Retention: The millennials are comfortable with flexible working schedules and an organization that provides this opportunity will reap the benefit of lower attrition levels and high employee retention. Considering the high cost of identifying, acquiring, and training a brand-new employee, retaining an existing, more experienced employee is any day a better deal for an organization.

Research shows that 63% of businesses found it easier to attract and keep quality staff with a four-day working week. 

Achieving Work-life Balance in Manufacturing industries.

As per Mercer Talent Trends Study in 2018, 51% of manufacturing employees want their companies to offer flexible work options. Even in industries that are widely known for high-volume staffing requirements, like manufacturing, Warehouse & distribution, workers have been citing Flexi-Work Hours as important criteria for work-life balance.

Remote working is not a practical option for manufacturing industries. So what could they do to alleviate work-life balance for workers on the shop floor?                                                                                                             

Flex-Hours

Flex-hours refer to an arrangement that allows employees to choose a work schedule that will strike a fine balance between the stakeholders and their workforces. Employees may choose a different work schedule to meet their personal or family needs. Alternatively, employers may initiate various schedules to meet customer footfall/demand.

Shift Swapping

Working in shifts is not new to industries like retail and even healthcare sectors, where medical professionals, nurses, and doctors are known to work in shifts. Even in call centers, which serve international time zones, working in shifts is the norm. This model can be successfully implemented in a manufacturing setting as well. Employees are allowed to swap shifts with colleagues. Some organizations allow employees to swap split shifts, switching for limited hours out of an eight-nine-hour shift. This supports employees to meet family emergencies, medical appointments, parent-teacher meetings, etc.

PTO (Paid Time Off) Policy

A paid time off (PTO) policy clubs together vacation days, sick days, and personal leaves into a single bank of days which employees can use at their convenience to take paid time off work.

Floating Holidays

Floating Holidays offer employees the liberty to choose their vacation days outside the normally designated holidays of the plant. Floating holidays give employees the chance to enjoy their chosen day off without affecting overall work commitment.

Part-Time Work

Part-time is a common policy adopted by manufacturing companies, especially for workers on the assembly line, but can be offered to employees in other departments too.

Whatever program an organization decides to adopt, the responsibilities, deliverables, and deadlines should be formally articulated by the management and agreed upon by both the management and the employee. Supportive organizational culture, clarity in internal communication, teamwork, and collaborative work culture will ensure high success rates in employee retention.

Adopting Remote Working as a Frequent/permanent Option

Post-pandemic work from home has shown employees a new way of working without having to miss out on quality time spent with family. Remote working also helps employees in managing travel costs better, focus on health, and devote time to hobbies and entertainment.

Remote working has also shown a marked reduction in absenteeism and improved productivity levels. With improved workplace technology coming into vogue, remote working is no longer an exceptional concept.

According to FlexJobs, among performance-based remote work statistics in 2020, 94% of surveyed employers report that company productivity has been the same (67%) or higher (27%) since employees started working from home during the pandemic.

According to Nicholas Bloom, a Stanford University economics professor, who has been researching working from home for almost 20 years “working from home is here to stay, with hybrid arrangements fast becoming the dominant strain.” Bloom believes, “By 2022, the typical firm will have everyone in the office three days a week, typically Tuesday to Thursday, and working from home Monday and Friday.”

Value Workspace Mental Health

Burnout after logging in excessive hours for work, adversely impacted millions of employees worldwide. No wonder we are “Quiet Quitting”. Experts in the field of psychology & mental health claim that quiet quitting is the result of Covid 19’s work-life balance.

Several studies have found that work-life balance is linked to mental health in a variety of jobs. A survey done by Glassdoor in the UK, in 2021, of 2,017 workers, found that over half felt they had poor work-life balance and were either actively engaging in or exploring Quiet quitting tactics in a desperate bid to restore work-life balance.

Moreover, The American Psychiatric Association Foundation’s Center for Workplace Mental Health reports that the cost of depression alone to the U.S. economy is more than $210 billion annually in absenteeism and lost productivity. 

Organizations need to be mindful of providing a safe and nurturing environment for employees to thrive if they want their employees to outperform expectations.

Training managers to promote health and well-being amongst team members. The organization’s leadership must take employee mental health seriously. Managers and supervisors who are directly interacting with teams, are the best to implement mental health best practices. Training managers and supervisors on how to support team members and recognizing signs of stress and mental health issues can motivate people to improve productivity.

More and more organizations are hiring a younger and more diverse labor force. Old school management methods may be on their way to becoming obsolete shortly. Managers need to take cognizance of a resource’s contribution and facilitate a conducive work environment that stems from collaboration, acknowledgment, and improved frequency of positive reinforcement.

Diversity & Inclusivity

A diverse team brings more varied experience and cultural stimulation that can motivate employees to learn more and enjoy a collaborative work atmosphere. Although D&I may not be directly linked to reduced incidences of quiet quitting, having a diverse team to work with can bring in a healthy work culture that can influence positively on an employee’s frame of mind.

In the end, Quiet-Quitting is not a disappearing phenomenon, and organizations need to address contemporary issues that impact employee well-being and promote work-life balance if business growth is important to them. The word ‘organization’ comes from ‘organized people, “people” being the operative keyword. Ignoring its people may have negative consequences in the long run for any organization.