Topics: TikTok
Companies around the world are fearing the long-term effects of a new trend know as 'quiet-quitting'.
The term 'quiet-quitting' has been sweeping across social media after TikTok user Zaiad Khan explained the meaning behind the latest workplace phenomenon.
Khan, who boasts 100,000 followers, said: "I recently learned about this term 'quiet-quitting', where you're not outright quitting your job but you're quitting the idea of going above and beyond."
The video has since amassed over 3.4 million views, with the latest workplace buzzword resonating with social media users.
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Khan added: "You are still performing your duties but you are no longer subscribing to the hustle culture mentally that work has to be our life."
For many 'quiet-quitting' is a means of setting boundaries at work to maintain a healthy work-life balance.
With many people losing their jobs, companies have relied on their existing employees to take on the extra workload for the same pay.
The growing number of 'quiet-quitters' comes in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Many workers have grown to appreciate a work-life balance, following the increase in remote working and less working days, and do not want to go above and beyond for their job because of increased stress.
HuffPost founder, Arianna Huffington, shared her thoughts on LinkedIn, writing: "Quiet-quitting isn't just about quitting on a job, it's a stop toward quitting on life."
One person pointed out the irony of the term quiet-quitting 'which does not involve quitting your job'.
They said: "It just means you do the job required of you during normal working hours and then you clock out and live your life. So we've become so work and hustle culture obsessed that now doing your regular job is referred to as QUITTING?! That is nuts."
While employees are defending their choice to 'quiet-quit', companies across the world are growing increasingly concerned about the long-term effects of the phenomenon.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, US non-farm worker productivity is said to have fallen by 2.5% since the same quarter last year, the biggest drop since 1948.
Johnny C. Taylor Jr, President and CEO of Society for Human Resource Management, believes that embracing the concept of 'quiet-quitting' will not help employees in the long-term.
Taylor said to Yahoo Finance: "I understand the concept, but the words are off-putting. Anyone who tells their business leader they are quiet-quitter is likely not to have a job for very long."
Gergo Vari, CEO of Lensa, also believes that quiet-quitting is not in the best interest of employees.
A Vari spokesperson said: "Anytime that you silence your own voice in an organisation, you may be depriving yourself of the opportunity to change that organisation."
Career coach Allison Peck also weighed in on how employees should handle boundaries in the workplace and suggested, that in some cases, it may be better to find a different job.
Peck said: “Finding a new job, manager, team, or company that better aligns with you altogether can get you out of this quiet-quitting mindset. That can make you want to jump through hoops.”
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