How to ‘quietly quit’ this year without damaging your work reputation

About 16% of employees say they plan to do the bare minimum at work this year. But will that put their jobs at risk?

The term ‘quiet quitting’ was made popular on TikTok throughout last year. It describes employees limiting their tasks to those strictly in their job description, not taking on additional responsibilities and doing the bare minimum to get the job done.

A Seek NZ survey of 4000 workers found 53% said they’d never heard of it, 21% said they’d done it in the past and 25% knew someone who had.

Another 16% said they were likely to consider doing it this year.

READ MORE:
* Auckland floods: Do you have the right to refuse work if you’re affected by flooding?
* Is Jacinda Ardern’s resignation the right way to think about burnout?
* Bosses forced to contact staff on Instagram as Generation Z ditch email

Career coach Sarah Vizer suffered burn out after 20 years in a corporate career. She now coaches people to perform well with overworking.

“Managers and employees alike are feeling overwhelmed, socially isolated and lacking in purpose. And burnt-out people burn out people,” she said.

“People are showing less engagement, which means they could be quiet quitting.”

But if you were considering quiet quitting this year, Vizer said it was important to understand why you felt that way.

If it was stress-related, then quiet quitting might be about drawing healthy boundaries, she said.

“The joys of quiet quitting include adopting behaviours such as only working contracted hours, only working on tasks under your jurisdiction, and taking regular breaks. These are reasonable expectations but new for many people.

“It can also refocus your attention on what matters most, whether that be friends and family, hobbies, health or travel, which can really improve your sense of engagement at work.”

However, if the decision to quietly quit was made for reasons beyond your control, such as a toxic workplace, it might be time to considering moving on.

But can going from being an over-productive machine to doing the bare minimum affect your employment?

Employment lawyeer Kimberly Jarvis said most job descriptions had an “any other duties which we may ask you to perform” catch-all, so people could be required to do things outside what was listed.

“However, for others, if you are ‘quiet quitting’ I would expect in the first instance that their supervisor, manager or employer would come and have an informal chat with them when it was noticed that their performance had dramatically reduced,” she said.

“If the employee doesn’t offer any sort of reason, and performance continues to suffer, then the employer might look at putting them through a performance improvement process, which can ultimately result in disciplinary action.”

Vizer said this meant great communication was key.

“Set out clearly your need to make changes,” she said.

“You are not necessarily asking for permission to step back, rather approaching the situation in a logical and respectful manner.”

Whether you’re making some personal changes or a career move in 2023, it was important to look after yourself and maintain good communication with those around you, she said.