12 Strategies to Manage Quiet Quitters
A rapidly spreading virus has emerged in America’s workplace! It’s not COVID.
It’s a behavioral virus with profound consequences. It is called quiet quitting.
Quiet quitting is real. Articles and comments on quiet quitters are published daily. Quiet quitters represent a serious threat to customer service, workforce performance excellence, implementation of your Strategic Plan objectives, and your organization’s reputation.
What is Quiet Quitting?
Quiet quitting is worker disengagement. Quiet quitters are employees who opt out. They consciously choose not to go above and beyond their tasks and responsibilities.
Quiet quitting isn’t new. It’s a decades-old phenomenon. However, in the past, quiet quitters were foiled. Their behaviors were noted by sharp-eyed committed leaders and co-workers. They were subsequently mentored and retrained.
Today’s management expects employees to be self-directed, resourceful, and responsible. Your organization expects everyone to fulfill their tasks and responsibilities. It’s not happening. We are in challenging times!
Quiet Quitting: Causes and Impact
Employee research and employee comments indicate the causes and impact of quiet quitting. They are many. Each is alarming and results from:
Increased workforce responsibilities due to:
Labor shortages and loss of skilled leadership
COVID-related retirements, resignations, illnesses, and long-term absences
Sudden loss of knowledge workers
Tension and frustration caused by supply chain disruptions
Mental and physical exhaustion caused by additional work responsibilities
Inadequate management support and poor communication
Remote/hybrid employees impacted
Absence of employee goals and lack of clarity provided for tasks and responsibilities
Failure to cross-train employees
Failure to monitor and support Performance Improvement Plan goals
Absence of appreciation for going the extra mile
Few opportunities to learn and grow
Inadequate benefits and inflexible work schedules
Overwhelming college debt
High-interest rates -- inability to purchase vehicles or homes
Low salaries, no salary increases, no bonuses for excellence, layoff fears
Global conflict and inflation anxiety, fears of an unstable future
Quiet Quitting Statistics
The 2020 Pandemic caused many organizations to experience workforce disruption and required employees to assume additional tasks and responsibilities. The Pandemic demanded increased innovative thinking, problem-solving, and decision-making.
Antrim Consulting is aware that for the past two years your culture has suffered. Why? Quiet quitters jumped ship!
An Antrim Consulting blog entitled 12 Succession Planning Benefits noted the findings of a recent Gallup Poll that employees had stopped “going above and beyond” their roles and responsibilities.[1] In December 2021, 4.3M employees quit their jobs. By the end of 2021, a total of 47.4M employees had voluntarily left the workforce.[2] The number of disengaged workers jumped to 18% by March 2022. The number of engaged workers hovered at only 32%.
As of July 29, 2022, the last business day of the month, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported job openings at 11.2M with resignations at 4.2M and layoffs/discharges at 1.4M.[3] These are worrying numbers for American businesses. They reveal a disengaged workforce. Only four in 10 remote or hybrid employees state they know what is expected of them![4]
We know that most disengaged workers are Gen Z or young Millennials – a significant contrast from prior generations. They demand a more balanced work life. Gen Z and Millennials put a strong emphasis on their mental and physical health and a social life that provides time to bond with their peers. Could this be the cause or reason for quiet quitter behavior?
Quiet Quitting Demands Rapid Responses
The issues surrounding quiet quitting require your organization’s immediate attention.
Antrim Consulting urges your management team to quickly identify and acknowledge quiet quitting issues.
Research and worker comments strongly suggest damaging behaviors and lower performance will continue to emerge. They are likely to increase! Your management team should not think quiet quitting behaviors will pass or fade away.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention projects a third wave of COVID and a serious flu season in the 2022/2023 winter season. If that occurs, workplace disruption and workforce stress will escalate quiet quitting behaviors due to heightened employee absences. For the foreseeable future, business leaders must expect continued workplace and workforce turbulence. Employees need support now.
Competitive markets will continue to demand more. Your business must be prepared to meet and beat your competition. There is no time to lose. Current employee attitudes must be changed. Renewed commitment to tasks and responsibilities must be demanded, set, and achieved.
Identifying Quiet Quitters
Quiet quitters stand out! We know that alert managers can readily detect troubling behaviors. For example, quiet quitters:
Arrive late to work using irresponsible or blasé excuses
Take long lunch hours and coffee breaks
Leave early without explanation
Provide vague reasons for repeated absences
Waste time roaming around the office chatting with others
Text excessively or engage in extended personal phone calls
Fail to complete tasks in a timely manner
Display disinterested attitudes
Struggle with sudden workplace change
Produce error-filled and mediocre work product
Quiet quitting behaviors by on-site employees are easily observed. However, hybrid or remote workers require increased focus. It’s difficult to assess and monitor their attitudes and work quality. But, hybrid or remote worker quiet quitting behaviors can be managed with increased communication and support.
Responses to Quiet Quitters
A recent Gallup poll revealed that “quiet quitters make up at least 50% of the U.S. workforce, probably more.”[5] Gallup reports that workforce detachment has been increasing since 2018. A Quiet Quitting Tsunami has hit!
Quiet quitting issues will continue to grow if unchecked. Eventually, quiet quitter attitudes will overwhelm management and Human Resource professionals. It’s also possible that clients will notice these behaviors. Customer losses threaten business reputations and bottom line profitability.
Senior management may be tempted to begin quiet firing, sideline, and/or demote quiet quitters. These actions could easily backfire and increase workforce negativity.
Antrim Consulting urges management to consider its approach to quiet quitting behaviors. Retaliation can harm talent acquisition initiatives and your organization’s reputation. Worse still, it may lead to costly litigation.
12 Strategies to Eradicate Quiet Quitting
Antrim Consulting is prepared to collaborate and design initiatives that will alleviate the causes and impact of quiet quitters.
We will remedy and provide implementation and support to:
1. Set new responsibilities; measure goal achievement
2. Develop leaders with mentoring skills
3. Utilize conflict resolution expertise to eliminate quiet quitter attitudes
4. Provide quiet quitters with knowledge that enriches their skills
5. Invigorate quiet quitters’ commitment to tasks and responsibilities
6. Enhance managers’ awareness and embed Emotional Intelligence
7. Enrich management and employee collaboration
8. Oxygenate company-wide innovative thinking
9. Support leaders’ skills for accurate and timely communication
10. Assess and benchmark benefits with an aim to boost employee morale
11. Promote talent from within
12. Create and sustain a team culture where needs are heard and opinions are valued
After defining the team goal, you should explain to your followers how
they can contribute to the accomplishment of that goal
The Leadership Secrets of Hamilton,
7 Steps to Revolutionary Leadership
Gordon Leidner
Why Antrim Consulting?
It will take time to eradicate quiet quitting issues! However, that should not slow your organization’s efforts. Antrim Consulting’s customized initiatives will guide your organization through a series of rapid interventions to embed the 12 strategies to eradicate quiet quitting behaviors.
We are Organization Development and Change Management specialists. That’s our business!
Antrim Consulting invites you to give us a call. Let us help you redirect your employees’ attitudes and eliminate quiet quitting behaviors.
Antrim Consulting supports your commitment to workplace excellence!
Online &/or Onsite Coaching
Free 1 Hour Initial Consultation
CONTACT ANTRIM CONSULTING
Footnotes:
[1] Ibid
[2] U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Job Openings & Labor Turnover, February 2022
[3] U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Job Openings & Labor Turnover, July 2022
[4] Changing America, O'Connell-Domenech, Alejandra O'Connell-Domenech, September 7, 2022
[5] Is Quiet Quitting Real? Harter, Jim, Ph.D., Gallup Workplace Management, September 6, 2022
