The term “quiet quitting” has been used as an umbrella term for a series of measures that workers have been taking to adjust their workload and scope of work to their current remuneration or position.
The thing is, in a capitalist society, quiet quitting doesn’t exist!
Story time!
My family wasn’t necessarily poor when I was growing up, but we couldn’t afford certain luxuries. Like countless people in Latin America, we frequently moved from one rented house to another, and with that came all the costs of cleaning, painting, drilling walls, and everything else. That was the kind of work done by me, my father, uncles, and cousins. I’m grateful to have that knowledge even today, by the way.
In the last house we lived in together, we finally had enough money to pay a painter to paint the living room for us. We agreed on a price with him, and he did a great job. At the end of the day, we discovered a problem. Due to our mistake, we hadn’t asked him to paint the staircase that led to the second floor of the house, and since the paint was different, the staircase looked extremely different from the rest of the room. My father asked if he could take advantage of being there and paint the staircase as well. With all the respect in the world, the painter replied, “no” and explained that the time he had spent was based on what had been paid. However, if we wanted, he could come back the following week and paint the staircase for an additional fee. We ended up accepting just to avoid having to paint it ourselves.
That painter wasn’t quiet quitting; he simply knew how to price his time and the value of his work.
Okay, but as a manager, what should I do?
The first thing to do is to understand that maybe you don’t see it this way, but we all sell our labor in exchange for a financial reward. A survey conducted in 2022 by Gartner showed that only 32% of workers believed they were adequately remunerated.
Your organization must take into account possible market fluctuations, especially in the availability of talent. There is a false impression that there are many people available in the job market due to the layoffs that most companies have had to implement since 2022. But the truth is that in most markets, attracting talent is not the problem; it’s the hiring process, training, and the cost of having your team go through a storming phase again, which is much higher than a potential salary increase.
There is even a term for this called “quiet hiring”, where based on individuals’ performance, companies have been increasing salaries, thus compensating for the need for increased scope. This has proven to be an incredible retention tool. It not only keeps individuals motivated with more challenges but also demonstrates that this increase in workload comes with monetary recognition.
So as a manager, start considering the entire context of losing that person for your organization instead of blaming the market, the economy, or things you can’t control.
Thoughts from Phil 