Are you in fashion?
That is a loaded question. However, I was reading an article today that mentioned a few of the very predictable results from "Quiet Quitting", the ridiculous advice that some people seem to have followed under the belief that it would improve their wellbeing. I say it is predictable, because I have written about it several times over the last year or so in articles like this one from last year.
Rather than addressing the issues that are making you miserable at work, quiet quitting is probably making you unhappier, less productive and less hireable in the future.
Being seen as disengaged from your work and the company culture can also negatively impact your reputation, limiting future opportunities such as training, bonuses, or promotions that you may be interested in.
It isn't an "Aussie" trend, it is global. And, I don't actually work with people who would do this, because the people I work with tend to be motivated and keen to have a career, not stagnate in whatever position they currently have forever. But, what is interesting with these "movements" is that a lot of the young people seem to be influenced by the social media influencers and follow suit, as if some random person on TikTok should be their guiding light for career aspirations.
If everyone is doing it...
Crowds are not very bright when they are aligned along a single thought process, and social media trends are even worse, because it is the loudest voices that get amplified. What this means is there is an availability bias that doubles down on our confirmation bias, leveraging the emotional state of "not feeling adequately valued" in the workplace, suggesting a reaction to the problem, not a solution. If you are going to "work your wage" you are going to get treated how you work. So, if you are feeling under-rewarded and your reaction is to work what you are rewarded, the likely outcome is you are going to be valued even less.
Not a good career move.
But it is not just the career prospects that suffer, because as the article points out, people who have done this are generally unhappier for it. There are multiple reasons for this, but a few of them are the lack of opportunity to grow, the boredom of doing bare minimum and the lack of purpose. The "what am I doing with my life?" question comes up, because what does it mean to do the bare minimum at a job that one isn't willing to do extra for, and then realizing that they might not have options to move internally, as they no longer have a suitable reputation within the company for a promotion. On top of this, if you have ever worked with a colleague who does the bare minimum, you probably don't build very strong bonds with them, which means that these people are also becoming more isolated.
It is not the end of the world for the young though and hopefully, they will use this as a learning experience to work out what is actually important to them in life. Sure, work probably isn't a passion for most people, but most of our passions require work in order to acquire the resources necessary to enable them. Therefore, we have to come to terms with the work we do, and we have to predict what resources we might need in the future.
Today, you might be happy earning enough to pay your rent, eat out occasionally and spend Friday night drunk with friends, but is that the life you want for yourself in a decade from now? What does that life look like and what resourced would you need in a decade to have it?
For many of us, as we progress though life we change our wants as we mature and experience new things. A young person might not be thinking of having a family now and perhaps thinks they don't want one at all, but can they commit to that, even if they meet the person of their dreams who does want to start a family.
Will the opinion change?
Maybe, maybe not. But, what affects does that have on the relationship, what affects does it have five or ten years past that point? While we can predict how we will feel in the future, we should also note all of the times where our predictions haven't been accurate. We have all had the planned night out that we expected would be awesome, but ended up lame. And, we have all had the expected lame night that randomly ended up awesome. This is what the future of our life can be, because what we are predicting with now is based on past conditions, not what we will actually face in the future.
But if you are making decisions on the future that are pushing hard to a commitment to a course of action and result based on what we know today, when that result happens, is it still what you want? It is impossible to tell, but one thing is for sure, we can't do anything without the resources required to do it. If you want to drive your car but don't have money for the fuel, what do you do? This is the way our life operates.
On resources.
The personal resources we have available are our time, energy, attention and skills that we can apply to activities, but if the activities we are doing are not leading us to personal growth and improved application of resources, we will stagnate at best and fall quickly at worst. Neither stagnation or degradation are typical conditions of satisfaction and wellbeing. And this is what we are seeing with the people who committed to quiet quitting, a stagnation of their career growth and degradation of their current state - and they are feeling it.
We should value ourselves and we should look to be valued in the work we do. But past of that is valuing the work we do, or the process and implications of the work we do. If we don't value what we do in an organization where people are relying on us to do a job, they aren't going to value us. This isn't about being taken advantage of, however it really isn't easy for us to objectively value ourselves in an organization, as we tend to think that we do more work than the person next to us, even if it is not true at all.
All trends go out of fashion and the lifecycle of social trends is getting shorter and shorter. And this is why people who follow social media trends have to consider the impacts and implications past the short term gain, because in general, they are instant gratification triggers that take away an immediate pain, but can leave us with far deeper issues down the road.
Perhaps what people should be quietly quitting, is following the loud voices of the uninvested masses.
It is out of fashion anyway.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]
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I don't think it's quite that. I think a lot of people have been doing far too much in their jobs without being valued for what they do. Many are being underpaid for the hours they put in. I think a lot of people aren't doing an unconsciousable amount less, but doing the proportionate amount to their wage and not busting a gut for a company that doesn't value them anymore. Doing less as you work out your exit strategy to find a better job is just sanity saving sometimes. It's not 'fuck you I quit', its a quieter 'I'm not busting my balls for this'.
I say this as Jamie has been quiet quitting - even though his job necessitates he busts his balls to get the bare minimum done. He's said no to a lot more and takes more days off than he ever has. He doesn't go to meetings much anymore, fed up with their pointlessness.
Overachieving, working hard, busting a gut, etc etc - all that did was help the business, not him. Same in my job. All it did was lead to burn out. We see it with the young teachers coming up. They'll burn out too. Quiet quitting should be a wake up call to corporations and businesses to support their staff better. There's a reason for this phenomenon and it didn't start with Tik Tok - it was there before COVID too because of real issues in our work lives. Social media just gave it a name. When we heard about it, we thought 'oh yeah that's what we are doing'.
Would we do bare minimum for a business or profession that treated us better? That truly valued us? Hell no.
Quiet quitting is a sign these businesses need to change, not a flaw on behalf of the person saying no and doing less.
These generally aren't the ones quiet quitting though :)
And, this is what stagnates their career. Like it or not, the people who get promoted are those who go above and beyond. If a person is only doing what they get paid for, they aren't demonstrating what they could do in another role, even if they do what they are doing now well. It is even more of a risk to promote them if they are doing it well, because they might not be able to do the promotion job, but then they can't be demoted back to their previous position.
If people want to build a career, they are going to have to prove that they are able to do more than the job description.
It also sounds like Jamie is working for a crap company and should find a better one. :)
Yes. But, I also have questions about their motivations in the first place, as well as their ability to cope with the role. They might not be suited. My ex got a double degree for teaching and then lasted less than two years in the role, as her "idea" of being a teacher and the reality were different.
I disagree. I see it happen in the companies I consult for, where conditions are very good. My wife sees it in hers (she is a head hunter for a company) where they have about as many perks and possibilities that are possible. Not everyone is suited to being a high performer, and not everyone is suited to being an average performer either. Yet, people still want the perks and prestige of certain roles, even if once in those roles, they are unable to keep up.
In my circles they are. COVID made them rethink a LOT about what they were doing and what they were getting paid to do and how it was basically killing them.
Indeed, that's true - but it's true for every school in the country, and they're finding it super hard to entice people into teaching because of it. It's not actually possible to find a 'better one' - it's the same everywhere.
Sure, with some. But there's a lot of amazing teachers out there who absolutely love teaching kids - us included - we LOVE the classroom and are born educators, but we are STILL burning out. I can't tell you how many teachers are nearly dying because of the demand of the job - impossible to know this unless you've been in this profession and have been on the front line here.
Definitely. Some people do take advantage. I have to say there's some useless execs in teaching who do fuck all for their money, which makes the teachers in the classroom really resentful too. We have an exec at ours we all despise as we honestly can't see what she DOES and she earns 50k more than we do. Some colleagues are so disgusted they get up and walk out of the room when they see her coming.
I guess what I'm talking about is a pretty unique profession. I definitely know that when I was teaching full time I manged it when it was four sets (classes) but when it went to five, and two year twelves, plus all the other responsibilities, I ended up having to cut corners because I literally could not manage the workload - it was incredibly difficult. We don't get paid enough for what we do. Jamie's 'quiet quitting' is a quiet exit out of the profession as no one is doing anything about making it better. Dan Andrews is patching by making a teaching degree HECS free this year. But that doesn't solve what happens when they are in the job and realise how hard it is.
I could talk about it to the cows come home really.
Yep, but this is one industry and it is an industry that is essentially failing due to the changes in economy and importance on schooling. Governments keep reducing the support for education globally it seems.
And this is the lens, right? It is like a comedian telling a joke that is super funny, and then another that is also super funny, but is on a topic that you struggle with - not as funny.
I have a lens for mine too, but I work across varied fields from IT, to manufacturing to higher education, but they are all highly trained and likely earning okay, even if underpaid for the work they do.
The problem comes when people who are yet to develop applicable skills and have broad experience, are limiting their activities to do so. I have had a lot of shitty jobs and I have worked hard at all, knowing they all taught me something. So, if one is only doing the bare minimum, what are they learning and how are they conditioning their work ethic? Give them the perfect job and a good salary, do they work hard at it?
Do you think this motivates the right people, or will there be people who complete the course, but fail at the profession?
Oh man, it is a WHOLE lot of factors at play - but yes, these are big ones. And no one creative, inventive, or brave enough to change the way we do education either.
EVERYONE is expecting they quit within two years. No one realises how hard teaching is until they do it.
I don't know - there is that saying - perhaps based on reality - that a happy worker is a good worker.
Actually just got a pretty big raise and part of the reason they were able to sell it to the board was because I often put in work time at home after hours. If I were choosing to not go above and beyond, I may have not gotten the raise. Likewise, my wife often gets alerts at night or on the weekends about students. She doesn't just say, this is my time it can wait until later. She takes care of it. Believe it or not, some people don't. It's sad. Especially when you are paid salary and you are quiet quitting. If you want an hourly job, go get an hourly job.
Exactly why students and parents are becoming entitled. There is NO reason why she should be responding out of hours. It just leads to her burn out. If other businesses shut on weekends to give their staff a break, so should education. Students and parents take advantage of teachers and that needs to change. Most teachers I know set firm boundaries around this.
Hey, I don't disagree that parents should be dealing with this, but if it is between my wife not responding and a student hurting themselves, I'd rather she responded. We know what we have gotten into with this line of work.
Oh yeah, that's a different story. I did work as a teacher for many years - still do - and our team learnt to say 'we don't check emails on weekend' - 3.30 Friday to 8.30 am Monday. It became a department policy. We were better teachers through the week because of it.
I guess it probably takes the right kind of teacher.
To answer calls on weekend? Yes, it does take the 'right kind of teacher' - not a classroom teacher. If kids are struggling with mental health, teachers do need to be aware of it and assist them accordingly in the classroom, but they aren't paid to counsel - that's the job of school counsellors and those trained in mental health. If a kid rang me at home I'd worry how they got my number as that completely blurs the boundaries between professional teaching and a different kind of relationship. I'd immediately call their parents or the school counsellor as they are far more trained to deal with it than classroom teachers are. In fact, teachers put themselves at risk by taking on that role. We are asked not to have that kind of relationship with the students, but perhaps it's different in America.
Perhaps it's different in America.
As for work on weekends - marking, student feedback and help and so on, it should be done in school hours. I strongly believe that that should be the professional stance. In any other industry, you call out of hours, you get an answer phone service.
I see I said teachers. That's not what I meant. My wife is a school social worker. Though she does teach SEL. Though as the technology Director I get the alerts too and I have had to submit reports to protective services on the weekend. Mandated reporter and all that.
I stopped being dependent on a salary, on an employer, more than ten years ago. Today I am my own boss and whether I am away from the office or in the office, I am always working, whether I am answering a customer's question or ordering a technician to go to the customer's house to solve a problem. Sometimes the mobile phone doesn't ring, and we don't receive any requests at the call centre, but even so, all the staff keep to their schedule and are satisfied with their pay. How do I know that? Quarterly satisfaction surveys are applied anonymously to users and employees.
Here they have a nation wide app, sorted by school. So parents don't need to contact out of hours and everything waits til Monday.
Interesting.
That's brilliant. That way teachers get a break. I say 'break' - as I write this Jamie is a quarter of the way through so much marking he's nearly crying. It's school holidays here and he still hasn't had a proper rest. :( This is his 'quiet quitting' lol....
And this is the thing - because most jobs do actually offer a lot of flexibility these days, so many people aren't actually in the office during set "office hours" - so if they want the flexibility during the day, they are also going to have to make up the deficit. But, they of course don't see it this way.
I'm pretty lucky that we have some flex time. It's not an official thing but like Monday I will probably work 12 or 13 hours, so when Tuesday comes around and I have a doctors appointment in the morning, I probably won't take a half day. That's one of the reasons I have stuck around so long even though the pay wasn't always on par with where it should be.
To be fashionable, they have the right to wear whatever they want, whether others like it or not. Beauty is subjective. This was my niece's response to me some time ago when I was taking a make-up course. She mentioned: “homophobia” and that I should not interfere in her personal life...
—! That's right, except with the truth, you can be perfectly MANIPULATED with everything!
FASHION for the CONSUMPTION of what the powers that be want (this is unquestionable); many times it is the consumption of sexist, political, even religious ideas...
I read somewhere that: “fashion has the same effects as opium; and from this pleasing, there is profit for everyone; but those who dominate-deceive a lot, take even MORE profit”.
People will continue to be manipulated at all levels, if that historical-utopian moment comes, where silence is no longer the answer, the disaster would be such that it would decimate the population; hence, the majority remain sheep, allowing themselves to be shepherded by the powerful.
Hang on, so you were taking a make-up course - but how does that impact on your niece?
I don't know about opium, but there is a social dopamine kick people get, as well as the exclusivity, which is a type of power. The funny thing is that many of the same people talk about wanting equality - it is laughable.
No, the one who was doing the make-up course was my niece who is only 19 years old, heh, heh, heh. In December, when I travelled, I told her that there were better courses to do, but she didn't listen to me...
Today, after nine months, now more mature, and that blows to teach you, she is going to start a law degree at the Central University of Venezuela (U.C.V.), where I studied back in 1986.
Wow perhaps people need a flash course about how a business work. Come to think of it, you could go through life without having the slightless idea about how the world works. So then, is very simple to say business owners just pay you what they want, although it is the case in some occasion. If they knew, perhaps they would come in terms with the fact that a business is made to grow. To grow it needs income, therefore if you want to be valuable in a workplace you have to become an asset. Once you realize you are an asset there you can put some demands on the table, I give more, I want more.
I won't deny though there's also a trend, at least in this part of the world to pay less just because there's too much work demand. Despite how much you work you are always replaceable and as such, you will feel stagnated anyway. Places like this, even China. But what solution is there for all these people? I have not a clue. Perhaps to find an skill that is hard to come by and therefore, hard to replace, but then again, most people don't have the resources to learn it.
What would be good is if everyone had to do a basic business and accounting course to at least understand what is contained in something like the annual report. Perhaps if people had a better understanding of business, they would more accurately be able to value themselves in regards to the position they hold and the impact they make on the company.
Again, this is business. The goal is to maximize profit, which is not only through making more money, but also saving more money - and salaries are a cost It is the fundamental nature of business. So, people need to make sure they are valuable enough to be paid.
Well, of course. But what I am talking about is living wage. To be more specific you can be paid 100$ a month here, 150$ if you are lucky. I believe the same is even worse in China, work payment is so little every corporation as put their factories there because the want to keep prices competitive since everyone else is doing. Perhaps what I truly mean is that there's no goverment protecting workers from being exploted, so is not just paying a little but you can hang on with that, is paying shit because you don't have a choice but to take it.
The challenge is it is in no business' best interest to pay a living wage. If they could, they would automate it all and let people die, because that is the algorithm of business. If we want a living wage, we have to change the algorithms, which means we have to change the way we demand, including what we demand from governments (they are a reflection of us, right) and the financial systems, including money.
In there you are absolutely right. Culture in here is shitty as hell! South America has a very long way to go in these matters.
Unfortunately, today's youngle people are influenced by social media so much. They try to behave, wear and even live like them. I think it is because smartphones or tables are given to their hand in the early ages.
I think it is their content, as well as the way they were raised. Many have been coddled and don't have a good understanding of the realities of the world.
True, I call it an empty self-confidence.
I think fashion, persona building and image management is something that has taken the bigger stage since social media. People give value to the clean persona more than the people with scar. I kind of feel like fashion is always for hiding the scars. But sometimes world doesn't need scars but fake fashion so that world moves on.
Maybe these days it is changing though in the social media, where people in masses value the victims. So, people fake scars.
Today, you might be happy earning enough to pay your rent, eat out occasionally and spend Friday night drunk with friends,
I have the need to refute that
Those who think like that are: to my eye pure mediocre people who don't see beyond that.
The very thought of it gives me skin allergies.
In life everything is a fashion that passes, there's a trend, there's a tendency, there's another one, and so it goes on and on, one after the other, in the end only what is permanent remains.
You. Not Me. :)
And these are the people who are quiet quitting. I am glad, they are just noise in the system and with their volume down, I have a nicer experience :)
Sir I can't refute such wisdom 🥸
Moat people work just because they want to make money but they have forgotten that they need to be respected and also be valued in that work that they claim that they do...
People put a value on other people respecting them - yet I believe it isn't necessary. The only one we need to respect is ourselves and I don't think that comes through doing the bare minimum work possible.
Hello @tarazkp, your article shows the reality that is currently being lived in society, we are living a collective reality, it seems that the networks involve us all in the same reality, it is no secret that our young people can come to copy some attitudes of some supposed influencers who project that things are easy to achieve when in fact to pursue our goals it takes a lot of discipline, dedication and patience.
Thanks for sharing this great content, have a great weekend.
Have a good one.
It's a quiet part of the economy and I have a feeling that there are a lot of people who don't usually want to deal with the problems people get with a job. With the way technology has improved and how social media has rotted people's brains, I am just not surprised. I think a lot of people just treat jobs as a way to earn an economy and wages aren't keeping up with prices either.
I've seen this in my workplace before. There are usually a few reasons for quiet quitting; the workload is too much for the employees [the company is cost cutting], there is usually a little chance for promotion [bosses tend to be young, and there is only 1 boss, so you have to wait for them to move up, retire, or change jobs], or the workplace is toxic overall. Instead of quietly quitting, I think looking for another company is better for both the employee and the current company. Being a corporate butterfly is another issue altogether, but I think it's better than the current trend of quiet quitting.
I surely didn't quietly quit, but this bear market saw to it that my web3 job went goodbye. I would happily LOUD START tomorrow. At this point, I might as well just volunteer for Splinterlands!