For my first potential editorial topic I would like to discuss quiet quitting. This has been something that I have been seeing repeatedly in the news and on social media but have never really dug into detail about what it is and how it is affecting the workforce.
Quiet quitting doesn’t actually involve quitting a job, merely not taking on additional responsibilities or doing more than what’s required from an employee. Quiet quitting could decrease the chance of becoming burnt out on one’s work. After reading and researching this topic, I think I would take the stance of quiet quitting being a positive trend for workers and professionals. It shifts the priority away from businesses and the work itself and places it back on the employee. It could also lead to more content employees who feel they have a good work-life balance, and lead to less turnover within companies.
I read several articles relating to quiet quitting and what it means for the U.S. at this time. The New York Time’s article “Who is Quiet Quitting For?” discusses several definitions of the term quiet quitting, ranging from only doing your job and having no extra responsibilities without additional compensation to being mentally checked out of work. The article also discusses what employees think of the term and how it impacts them and their work. Some thought it was a much-needed change in mentality and others thought people who were quietly quitting were being selfish and neglecting their coworkers who needed them.
In “Quiet Quitting is About Bad Bosses, Not Bad Employees”, the authors state that quiet quitting isn’t a new trend that gained in popularity over the recent years, but a pattern of behavior that has more to do with managers and bosses who tax their employees with additional work and responsibilities and generally have poor relationships with them.
“What is ‘quiet quitting,’ and how it may be a misnomer for setting boundaries at work,” argues that quiet quitting is actually about having the time to take adequate care of yourself. Those interviewed in the article state that companies need to be paying their workers to go “above and beyond” and not automatically expecting them to do such excess work. The article also highlights that workers shouldn’t be vilified for doing what’s required of them while also wanting a healthy and respected work-life balance.
The Wall Street Journal wrote in their article, “If Your Co-Workers Are ‘Quiet Quitting,’ Here’s What That Means”, that employee engagement across generations is falling and reported as the lowest engagement of all during the first quarter. Many young employees report that they don’t feel like their work has purpose. This article mentions that quiet quitting isn’t about being lazy, but reminding workers to “not work to the point of burnout” (Ellis).
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/23/style/quiet-quitting-tiktok.html
https://hbr.org/2022/08/quiet-quitting-is-about-bad-bosses-not-bad-employees
https://www.npr.org/2022/08/19/1117753535/quiet-quitting-work-tiktok
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/08/21/quiet-quitting-what-to-know/
Thoughtful post on work/life balance. Topic that is getting a lot of ink, perhaps because it has been given a catchy name, and that leads to coverage.
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