Quiet Quitting

HughFreakingDillon · September 2022

this is a concept that is becoming more and more clear to me in the current stage of my career that I find myself in. I work for a Crown Corporation (non-profit that is really for-profit for the government to the tune of bazillions of dollars). Our BOD is full of provincial government heads, and of course, every dime of the money we make needs to go back to their respective governments; the staff, therefor, suffer under this model. Even during the pandemic our profits never suffered. Not one bit. It was only a decade ago that our company reached the milestone of an annual profit of a billion dollars. Now we're steady at 1.5 billion. But they're cutting even more staff and more "perks" but also benefitting from the new hybrid model of working from home so we're now also saving tens of thousands of dollars a MONTH in office space.

So today, overworked and underpaid, I fucking called in sick. And I don't feel the slightest guilt about it (my coworkers won't suffer for my loss for one day). And when I go to work tomorrow, will I work my ass off like I generally have my entire career? BIG FAT NOPE. I just don't care. And I'm not alone. I know so many people across the corporation, management and staff, that feel the same. I will do what I need to do to get the job done. But no more. No more above and beyond. No more extending the extra mile. FUCK IT.

I'm not looking for a daily pat on the back or some big bonus that simply doesn't exist in today's day. Just personal satisfaction of a job well done. And I'll do that and I'll get that. I just won't do a job exceptionally done. It's not worth it anymore. that's clear.

we had a massive turnover in executive about 5 years ago. Everyone was excited after the dinosaurs finally all died off (retired). But slowly this new type of exec has crept in: the disengaged exec. We were word-for-word told at a town hall meeting that "if you don't like your job, no one is forcing you to stay". From our VP of HR. Message received, fuckers.

https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2022/09/13/1122059402/the-economics-behind-quiet-quitting-and-what-we-should-call-it-instead

If you don't like your job, you don't strike; you go in every day, and do it really half-assed.
-Homer J. Simpson

tempo_n_groove · September 2022

BRAVO!!!

If you have zero incentives then why strive to do a great job?

You have higher ups that look at the bottom line and workforce almost like Moneyball. You can pay people less to get the same outcome. Or like Office Space where he does nothing but gets promoted, lol.

I have always worked in the private sector for this reason. I get perks doing it and usually get rewarded for a job well done. Knowing that I can easily be fired though bothers me sometimes but as long as my job is done I'm good.

I think you'll find more happiness in doing what you need to do and not killing yourself. You'll have a better quality of life.

Good for you.

static111 · September 2022

I hear you Hugh. I just left a big company and joined a small business and have higher pay, better benefits, more time off and more flexibility. I feel like at a certain size companies just start to take the focus off the people and put it on numbers, whether those numbers are profits, productivity goals, calculated benefits that provide just enough incentive but nothing more, it all comes down to the same thing, not looking at the whole health of the company and workforce. Sure there will be HR emails talking about caring, and buzzwords like stakeholder this and sustainability that, but it is usually just empty words. I may be an exception but in my working career I have always ended up with better pay and benefits when working for smaller companies, and as an added bonus there is usually a sense of community and conviviality that I have found to be lacking at a corporate level.

Gern Blansten · September 2022

Honestly if I wasn't self employed I would probably be fired. I fuck around on the internet way too much.

tempo_n_groove · September 2022

Gern Blansten said:

Honestly if I wasn't self employed I would probably be fired. I fuck around on the internet way too much.

Ahem....

Lerxst1992 · September 2022

tempo_n_groove said:

BRAVO!!!

If you have zero incentives then why strive to do a great job?

You have higher ups that look at the bottom line and workforce almost like Moneyball. You can pay people less to get the same outcome. Or like Office Space where he does nothing but gets promoted, lol.

I have always worked in the private sector for this reason. I get perks doing it and usually get rewarded for a job well done. Knowing that I can easily be fired though bothers me sometimes but as long as my job is done I'm good.

I think you'll find more happiness in doing what you need to do and not killing yourself. You'll have a better quality of life.

Good for you.

For many in the private sector, many times it doesn’t matter how well performed the job is done. Wish I had a dollar for every time I heard of a termination related to change of corporate ownership where the exit list was not compiled based on performance or seniority. Also, good luck to those of us over 50 in the corporate world!

tempo_n_groove · September 2022

Lerxst1992 said:

tempo_n_groove said:

BRAVO!!!

If you have zero incentives then why strive to do a great job?

You have higher ups that look at the bottom line and workforce almost like Moneyball. You can pay people less to get the same outcome. Or like Office Space where he does nothing but gets promoted, lol.

I have always worked in the private sector for this reason. I get perks doing it and usually get rewarded for a job well done. Knowing that I can easily be fired though bothers me sometimes but as long as my job is done I'm good.

I think you'll find more happiness in doing what you need to do and not killing yourself. You'll have a better quality of life.

Good for you.

For many in the private sector, many times it doesn’t matter how well performed the job is done. Wish I had a dollar for every time I heard of a termination related to change of corporate ownership where the exit list was not compiled based on performance or seniority. Also, good luck to those of us over 50 in the corporate world!

If you're good then companies want that knowledge. I'm experiencing that right now but I'm also not 50...

F Me In The Brain · September 2022

I hate this term, "quiet quitting"
As I understand it, it is not actually quitting. It is consciously doing the absolute bare minimum

I agree with the VP of HR. If you don't like your job nobody is forcing you to stay. There are so many options for people who want to work that I don't think it is good for people to stay somewhere they don't like and to put up something like this quiet quitting flag.

Have you looked around to see what other jobs may he open for you? Perhaps there are options which might make you happier, or at least not joining a mass of people celebrating doing just enough.

To each their own, but I will not ever work at something where I don't give my all. I don't have it in me. Go 100% at everything I do, it is the only way I could ever be.

Hope you can find happiness in your work, or at least something more than you feel now.

OnWis97 · September 2022

I'm convinced "quiet quitting" is a term created by someone in corporate America in response to the idea that donating shit-tons of personal time on weekends is no longer a flex.

static111 · September 2022

F Me In The Brain said:

I hate this term, "quiet quitting"
As I understand it, it is not actually quitting. It is consciously doing the absolute bare minimum

I agree with the VP of HR. If you don't like your job nobody is forcing you to stay. There are so many options for people who want to work that I don't think it is good for people to stay somewhere they don't like and to put up something like this quiet quitting flag.

Have you looked around to see what other jobs may he open for you? Perhaps there are options which might make you happier, or at least not joining a mass of people celebrating doing just enough.

To each their own, but I will not ever work at something where I don't give my all. I don't have it in me. Go 100% at everything I do, it is the only way I could ever be.

Hope you can find happiness in your work, or at least something more than you feel now.

I understand your view, as I once shared it. There is not always a more fulfilling position readily available when the general dissatisfaction with the tightening of benefits and the expectations to deliver more productivity set in. At times like this, in the interim between jobs, I understand doing the minimum job you are paid for and nothing more. In a more fulfilling environment, sure then give it your all. Reality doesn't always line up with the VP of HRs outlook, we all need to survive and provide and sometimes you have to make the best of a bad situation in the meantime. Which may mean quiet quitting.

F Me In The Brain · September 2022

static111 said:

F Me In The Brain said:

I hate this term, "quiet quitting"
As I understand it, it is not actually quitting. It is consciously doing the absolute bare minimum

I agree with the VP of HR. If you don't like your job nobody is forcing you to stay. There are so many options for people who want to work that I don't think it is good for people to stay somewhere they don't like and to put up something like this quiet quitting flag.

Have you looked around to see what other jobs may he open for you? Perhaps there are options which might make you happier, or at least not joining a mass of people celebrating doing just enough.

To each their own, but I will not ever work at something where I don't give my all. I don't have it in me. Go 100% at everything I do, it is the only way I could ever be.

Hope you can find happiness in your work, or at least something more than you feel now.

I understand your view, as I once shared it. There is not always a more fulfilling position readily available when the general dissatisfaction with the tightening of benefits and the expectations to deliver more productivity set in. At times like this, in the interim between jobs, I understand doing the minimum job you are paid for and nothing more. In a more fulfilling environment, sure then give it your all. Reality doesn't always line up with the VP of HRs outlook, we all need to survive and provide and sometimes you have to make the best of a bad situation in the meantime. Which may mean quiet quitting.

I disagree, but know many do not share my outlook on this.

cincybearcat · September 2022

F Me In The Brain said:

static111 said:

F Me In The Brain said:

I hate this term, "quiet quitting"
As I understand it, it is not actually quitting. It is consciously doing the absolute bare minimum

I agree with the VP of HR. If you don't like your job nobody is forcing you to stay. There are so many options for people who want to work that I don't think it is good for people to stay somewhere they don't like and to put up something like this quiet quitting flag.

Have you looked around to see what other jobs may he open for you? Perhaps there are options which might make you happier, or at least not joining a mass of people celebrating doing just enough.

To each their own, but I will not ever work at something where I don't give my all. I don't have it in me. Go 100% at everything I do, it is the only way I could ever be.

Hope you can find happiness in your work, or at least something more than you feel now.

I understand your view, as I once shared it. There is not always a more fulfilling position readily available when the general dissatisfaction with the tightening of benefits and the expectations to deliver more productivity set in. At times like this, in the interim between jobs, I understand doing the minimum job you are paid for and nothing more. In a more fulfilling environment, sure then give it your all. Reality doesn't always line up with the VP of HRs outlook, we all need to survive and provide and sometimes you have to make the best of a bad situation in the meantime. Which may mean quiet quitting.

I disagree, but know many do not share my outlook on this.

There is a difference to giving 100% and giving 150% or 200%. You earn vacation….take it. Work your hours and don’t feel guilty if you can’t work more. Want to do something for work on the weekend? Have at it. Don’t? Don’t.

Quiet quitting is a terrible term. It’s simply work life balance

Cropduster-80 · September 2022

Isn’t the bare minimum filling your job description to the letter?

you don’t get paid 110% for putting in 110% particularly if you are salaried. Once you are no longer aggressively seeking promotions it makes total sense.

If you think about it, it’s absurd people are criticising employees for doing their job. There are a lot of articles on this where people pile on pretty hard on these people. Doing their job is what they are doing though. All the extras aren’t their job. Being “engaged” which they probably aren’t doesn’t necessarily preclude them from completing their assigned duties.

I don’t like the term though. It’s kind of like “de fund the police”. It’s not exactly representative of the position and it sounds terrible.

Your employer isn’t and has never been loyal to you, they give you the bare minimum pay and benefits they can get away with in a competitive marketplace. Are they “quiet hirers?”

cblock4life · September 2022

HughFreakingDillon said:

this is a concept that is becoming more and more clear to me in the current stage of my career that I find myself in. I work for a Crown Corporation (non-profit that is really for-profit for the government to the tune of bazillions of dollars). Our BOD is full of provincial government heads, and of course, every dime of the money we make needs to go back to their respective governments; the staff, therefor, suffer under this model. Even during the pandemic our profits never suffered. Not one bit. It was only a decade ago that our company reached the milestone of an annual profit of a billion dollars. Now we're steady at 1.5 billion. But they're cutting even more staff and more "perks" but also benefitting from the new hybrid model of working from home so we're now also saving tens of thousands of dollars a MONTH in office space.

So today, overworked and underpaid, I fucking called in sick. And I don't feel the slightest guilt about it (my coworkers won't suffer for my loss for one day). And when I go to work tomorrow, will I work my ass off like I generally have my entire career? BIG FAT NOPE. I just don't care. And I'm not alone. I know so many people across the corporation, management and staff, that feel the same. I will do what I need to do to get the job done. But no more. No more above and beyond. No more extending the extra mile. FUCK IT.

I'm not looking for a daily pat on the back or some big bonus that simply doesn't exist in today's day. Just personal satisfaction of a job well done. And I'll do that and I'll get that. I just won't do a job exceptionally done. It's not worth it anymore. that's clear.

we had a massive turnover in executive about 5 years ago. Everyone was excited after the dinosaurs finally all died off (retired). But slowly this new type of exec has crept in: the disengaged exec. We were word-for-word told at a town hall meeting that "if you don't like your job, no one is forcing you to stay". From our VP of HR. Message received, fuckers.

https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2022/09/13/1122059402/the-economics-behind-quiet-quitting-and-what-we-should-call-it-instead

If you don't like your job, you don't strike; you go in every day, and do it really half-assed.
-Homer J. Simpson

You need to do whatever it takes to be happy. I worked for my millionaire brother for 24 years and when I stopped staying late during busy seasons and told him I wanted overtime if he expects me to stay (I was making $7.25 an hour) he “terminated” me. Best thing that ever happened to me and my family. Even my kids noticed how different( in a good way) they saw the person i truly I was, who I was always meant to be. I mean I was treated like shit and I was his sister….I meant nothing to him. We haven’t spoken in 23 years and it doesn’t bother me at all. He didn’t even tell me when my mother died (she lived on his farm/write off).

Stick with it but don’t stop looking elsewhere. In the meantime, fuck the big bosses. Do your thing at your own pace. Keep us posted…..there’s many around here who’ve been through the same type of things. We probably can’t solve the problem but we can certainly listen.

Oh and I didn’t get paid sick or vacation time or medical benefits…he was such a joy to work for.

static111 · September 2022

Cropduster-80 said:

Isn’t the bare minimum filling your job description to the letter?

you don’t get paid 110% for putting in 110% particularly if you are salaried. Once you are no longer aggressively seeking promotions it makes total sense.

If you think about it, it’s absurd people are criticising employees for doing their job. There are a lot of articles on this where people pile on pretty hard on these people. Doing their job is what they are doing though. All the extras aren’t their job. Being “engaged” which they probably aren’t doesn’t necessarily preclude them from completing their assigned duties.

I don’t like the term though. It’s kind of like “de fund the police”. It’s not exactly representative of the position and it sounds terrible.

Your employer isn’t and has never been loyal to you, they give you the bare minimum pay and benefits they can get away with in a competitive marketplace. Are they “quiet hirers?”

Quiet Hirers! I love it!

brianlux · September 2022

As a dinosaur (lol!) and because I am someone who has had the mixed good fortune/curse of having had a shit load of different jobs- three of which I would refer to as careers- college store manager, teacher, business owner- and having plenty of experience with verbal but mutually agreeable quitting, I'm not really qualified to respond about quiet quitting.

But I will say I understand how frustrating it is to have a job that lacks satisfaction and compensation. So, HFD, I wish you the best and hope you can make your way in your current job that works well enough for you or, if you so decide, that you find something that works better for you.

Cropduster-80 · September 2022

static111 said:

Cropduster-80 said:

Isn’t the bare minimum filling your job description to the letter?

you don’t get paid 110% for putting in 110% particularly if you are salaried. Once you are no longer aggressively seeking promotions it makes total sense.

If you think about it, it’s absurd people are criticising employees for doing their job. There are a lot of articles on this where people pile on pretty hard on these people. Doing their job is what they are doing though. All the extras aren’t their job. Being “engaged” which they probably aren’t doesn’t necessarily preclude them from completing their assigned duties.

I don’t like the term though. It’s kind of like “de fund the police”. It’s not exactly representative of the position and it sounds terrible.

Your employer isn’t and has never been loyal to you, they give you the bare minimum pay and benefits they can get away with in a competitive marketplace. Are they “quiet hirers?”

Quiet Hirers! I love it!

This idea people have to love their job or something I’ll never understand

I would wash dishes 8 hours a day if I got paid enough, I wouldn’t care. I wouldn’t hate it any more or less than being an engineer or a banker. Loving your job to me is code for no hobbies and your job defines who you are as a person.

My stepfather is that guy. He didn’t have a clue what to do when he retired. Putting in 80 hours a week in a white collar job was his life. I have exactly 1 family vacation as a kid to prove it. Missed my wedding too.

Is that really the example we want as an ideal employee? I really hope not

work is work. It’s not fun no matter what. If it is something is wrong. If you have a life outside the office it’s easier to realise

American work culture has valued what is objectively unhealthy behaviours for a long time, the backlash was inevitable

Halifax2TheMax · September 2022

Some people work to live and other people live to work. Americans regularly leave sick and vacation time on the table and the productivity gains over the past four decades prove it. Unfortunately, salary and wages haven’t kept pace so yea, bust your ass if you want to but just meeting your responsibilities is acceptable as well. I like being challenged but long gone are the “I feel obligated to put in 80 hour weeks.” I can’t wait to retire. Or win the lottery.

Lerxst1992 · September 2022

tempo_n_groove said:

Lerxst1992 said:

tempo_n_groove said:

BRAVO!!!

If you have zero incentives then why strive to do a great job?

You have higher ups that look at the bottom line and workforce almost like Moneyball. You can pay people less to get the same outcome. Or like Office Space where he does nothing but gets promoted, lol.

I have always worked in the private sector for this reason. I get perks doing it and usually get rewarded for a job well done. Knowing that I can easily be fired though bothers me sometimes but as long as my job is done I'm good.

I think you'll find more happiness in doing what you need to do and not killing yourself. You'll have a better quality of life.

Good for you.

For many in the private sector, many times it doesn’t matter how well performed the job is done. Wish I had a dollar for every time I heard of a termination related to change of corporate ownership where the exit list was not compiled based on performance or seniority. Also, good luck to those of us over 50 in the corporate world!

If you're good then companies want that knowledge. I'm experiencing that right now but I'm also not 50...

I know many who got promoted so often they became too expensive. the next time their corp needed a reorg, that was all she wrote. If they’re in their 30s to 40s, no biggie, a new job takes minutes to find.. If it happens after they hit 50, good luck.

HughFreakingDillon · September 2022

F Me In The Brain said:

I hate this term, "quiet quitting"
As I understand it, it is not actually quitting. It is consciously doing the absolute bare minimum

I agree with the VP of HR. If you don't like your job nobody is forcing you to stay. There are so many options for people who want to work that I don't think it is good for people to stay somewhere they don't like and to put up something like this quiet quitting flag.

Have you looked around to see what other jobs may he open for you? Perhaps there are options which might make you happier, or at least not joining a mass of people celebrating doing just enough.

To each their own, but I will not ever work at something where I don't give my all. I don't have it in me. Go 100% at everything I do, it is the only way I could ever be.

Hope you can find happiness in your work, or at least something more than you feel now.

I don't like the term either, but it's what's in the lexicon.

the VP of HR can shove it. she's not there to say "you don't like it, there's the fucking door". she's there to listen to ideas on how to improve the corp. that is literally her fucking job.

I don't dislike my job. I dislike the current culture. Culture can change. And it should change if the majority of the staff want it to. If they want to be a successful business that isn't wasting tens of thousands on turnover (ever heard the phrase "it's costlier to hire than to retain"?), then they are currently failing.

HughFreakingDillon · September 2022

it's also not as easy a decision as "find a new job". I've been there nearly my whole adult life. I will be getting 6 weeks vacation next summer. My benefits and pension are top notch. it would take a LOT to leave that, even in the current state.

I hold onto hope that the culture shifts back a bit to what it was when they see how awful our employee retention has been the last decade. I have no idea how they don't see it now. People come and stay for a few months, 6 months at the most, and go somewhere else. It happens constantly.

Quiet Quitting

Comments

Categories