Poor performance or quiet quitting?

New year, new goals, new targets. And as we enter the second month of the year, I want to throw out the question for workplaces and ask: How is it all going? And by “all”, I mean the vibe in the office, your teams, and performance.

Navigating the range of emotions this time of year can be a little challenging for managers; from those refreshed and ready to “go-hard” employees, through to those “still adjusting” vis-à-vis post-holiday blues, it’s undeniable that it presents as a mixed bag. One thing is for certain, however: whether employees are on the same energetic page or not, the year is well underway – and so is business.

I read an article recently on the concept of ‘quiet quitting’. The term piqued my interest; as a millennial, it made me wonder about my generation and whether these terms work together (we don’t typically do things half-heartedly). But as I continued to read, I realised that this trend hasn’t just already been occurring, but that it is now becoming a probable rotten seed for workplaces. 

Arguably, it was once the typical organisational restructure that tended to uncover the underperformers. Employees that had become pieces of furniture, hiding in the dark if you will, unquestioned or unchallenged because of their tenure or seeming ability to look busy. Then there was the establishment of formal performance management reviews – designed to manage exactly that – but haven’t always lived up to the desired effect. Not when workplaces are trying to resolve the epidemic of retention and engagement issues. And then, more recently, we’ve seen the impact of mass job quitting, where not even the least of engaged have been willing to stay in jobs they can’t be bothered with: the offset, global recruitment issues. 

And now we have ‘quiet quitting’ – the art of doing the bare minimum, with the potential of finding something better or not, depending on where the balance of power lies between workplace and employees. And while we could once point the finger and call out the lack of motivation, performance, and engagement to the “seasoned employees”, they are no longer the problem. It’s the younger employees who are carrying the burden.

The pandemic, as we know, inspired a new way of thinking about work and our sense of purpose and meaning in the world. For our younger generations, particularly Gen Z, there is still a chronic distaste that’s being felt about the relative position of the world – but more importantly, how they fit with it all.

What workplaces seem to have on their hands right now, is a movement beyond work-life integration – something that millennials advocated for – but a “where do I fit” complex as Gen Z try to navigate and understand what the existing state of work is, what the future will be and what it means for them. And while they contemplate these questions, with their answers having impacts on both them and their workplaces, quiet quitting, and its symptoms, may continue. The impacts to workplaces, costly.

My advice for managers is to check in on the health of your teams, find out where they’re at and in cases where they are “contemplating”, offer support and guidance. For many, it’s still a trying time on the workplace front, with younger gens in particular carrying the strain. Offering support will matter.