Talent Management: Not So Quiet Quitting
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It seems like everyone is complaining about “quiet quitting”—the approach an employee takes to only do their listed job duties during open hours and nothing more. Many of those complaints often attribute quiet quitting to the sluggishness of returning back to the office or the idea that no one wants to work anymore.
In actuality, the only people to blame are those at the top of the company hierarchy. By not creating real opportunities for growth—whether that’s through compensation, increased responsibility, work-life balance, or training—employees eventually realize that hard work simply does not pay off.
What we’re seeing now is not a form of slow-motion resignation, but malicious compliance. If employees are doing the bare minimum in their roles, it’s only because their companies have been doing the bare minimum to support them.
The Toxic Relationship
If you think about it, the relationship between employee and employer is no different than a life partnership. When the two openly communicate and give themselves to the relationship before the other asks, work and romance can be bliss.
The problem is that those relationships rarely existed for workers since the 2008 recession. Instead, they’ve faced toxic or even abusive dynamics with employers. For years, employers dangled raises and promotions above workers’ heads, assuring them that if they just work a little longer, complain a little less, take a little more initiative, etc., they could secure that raise at the next annual review.
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Then, employees would still somehow fall short of the expectations needed for that prize and see the goal post move farther down the field. If an employee managed to secure a raise, it often equated to more of a cost of living adjustment than a meritorious increase.
Honestly, how can any employer say they’re shocked to see their workers doing the bare minimum? Call me crazy, but it sounds a little like the ex who didn’t do chores, make time for date night, or show appreciation but now claims he was blindsided by a divorce.
The truth is that companies created this culture by devaluing their employees in the first place. Employees are just matching the energy they always received.
Everyone Is Replaceable
Since the 2008 recession, companies have blamed the lack of merit increases, cost of living adjustments, and work-life balance on budgetary concerns. If the work merited recognition, middle managers might recognize it, but often they ask for patience until the company can afford to adjust its pay.
Workers bought that reasoning for a long time. Then, the COVID-19 pandemic hit and those same companies laid off their employees without a second thought. Workers had the wool torn from their eyes and realized what they feared all along: Everyone is replaceable.
As millions found new remote jobs or started freelancing their skills, a second realization occurred: Jobs are replaceable, too. Employees learned they had far more power than they ever knew.
Workers—especially Millennials, who graduated college around the recession—have been chronically understaffed, underpaid, and overworked. Now, they’re finally calling their employers on their bluffs.
Today, companies are no longer merely competing with each other, but the workers themselves. Not only can they find remote jobs that pay thrive-able wages for the same work, they can start freelance businesses in which they control their hours and rates.
So, what’s your company willing to do to incentivize hard work? If you can’t immediately answer that question, it’s time to get creative.
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