Quiet quitting

Definition of quiet quitting

The term "quiet quitting" also called "silent resignation", emerged from the United States to make its way into the professional landscape of France from the summer of 2022.

The objectives of quiet quitting

Quiet quitting does not translate into a conventional resignation. It manifests itself as an attitude where the employee performs the bare minimum required in their job. They focus only on the tasks clearly defined in their job description, declining any additional responsibility, scrupulously respecting their working hours and often refusing to help a colleague in difficulty.

The consequences for companies

For companies, the consequences of this silent loss of engagement are multiple:

• Decreased employee motivation: tasks may take longer to complete
• Loss of time to identify the employees concerned without affecting the overall productivity of the company. It is then necessary to find solutions to anticipate or mitigate the phenomenon: meetings on the progress of projects, more dialogue with employees, etc.
• Dismissal of employees as a last resort, which would require a new recruitment phase

The origins and spread of quiet quitting

This new trend of quiet quitting has mainly spread through social media, particularly via the hashtag #quietquitting. It is directly linked to the health crisis and the evolution of new ways of working, such as the globalisation of remote work. Employees now aspire to a balanced job in line with their personal life, pushing them to balance their workload to preserve their mental health.

The main audience of quiet quitting

This approach, which is above all a quest for meaning at work, focuses on preserving well-being within the company. It mainly affects the younger generation, especially Generation Z (born between 1996 and 2012). These are young workers who are leaving school and placing increasing importance on their well-being at work and the balance between their professional and personal lives. Indeed, a study by Malakoff Humanis indicates that 23% of employees under the age of 30 say they have poor mental health, compared with 16% for all employees. The bar is therefore higher for this young audience. This shows that quiet quitting reflects a search for meaning and recognition in the professional world.

In summary

Quiet quitting is a phenomenon of silent disengagement of Employees, which translates into doing the bare minimum in their work, mainly in response to the search for a better work-life balance, as well as the quest for meaning at work, particularly observed among the younger generations.