Quiet Quitting: Dear Owners. You’re better than that.

Photo by Tim Gouw on Unsplash

One thing I can’t stand about modern society, is the creation of soundbites that turn into character boxes. Terms like ‘Woke’ or ‘Lefty’; if we adopt any similar perspectives to other members of these imaginary groups, we get thrown into said box.

It’s a really clever tool used by the media to polarise and encourage division. The British government right now love it, as did Trump; they lap up that kind of Populism. They don’t like the grey, murky in-between; the centre ground. They don’t want you to take both sides into account and be, well, logical.

The latest annoying soundbite to come to my attention (I’m probably late to the party as usual), is ‘Quiet Quitting’. Urgh. *Already rolling my eyes*.

What is a Quiet Quitter?

Well, if we believe the articles and the headlines, it describes someone who turns up to work and does the bare minimum, unless they’re paid more. This evokes a lot of anger and labelling of younger generations as lazy and entitled. The irony is, the immediate adoption of these soundbites, with no critical thinking is the epitome of laziness. However, I digress.

As is usually the case with these soundbites, there isn’t actually a definition…Because that would require it to be a real term. So, let’s try and break it down.

What is the ‘Bare Minimum’?

Are people turning up to work and doing what’s expected of them to a good standard? Or are they dipping below those levels?

Are they just putting healthy boundaries in place to find balance in their own lives, but still committed to performing consistently?

Some people live to work and some people work to live. That’s okay, neither is better or worse, but they are different and that’s something we need to be more accepting of.

You could have someone coming to work 8 hours a day and then going home to do another 3 hours of work. You’ve then got someone who’s been with you for years, who may have been person 1 once; but now have a family at home. Person 2 turns up, does their job well and goes home. Person 1 will often be favoured due to their ambition and maybe having greater potential for growth within the…