PUC-MG 2023/1

Quiet quitting: The workplace trend taking over TikTok

Despite the name, "quiet quitting" actually has nothing to do with quitting your job. It means doing only what your job demands and nothing more. Quitting doing anything extra. You still show up for work but stay strictly within the boundaries of your job requirements. So, no more helping out with additional tasks or checking emails outside work hours. Since the pandemic, an increasing number of young workers have grown tired of not getting the recognition and compensation for putting in extra hours. They're saying no to burnout, and instead focusing on work-life balance. The movement is centered around selfpreservation and "acting your wage".

The term "quiet quitting" has taken off recently after American TikTokker @zaidlepplin posted a video on it that went viral, saying "work is not your life". Perhaps surprisingly, the overall movement may have its origins in China, where the now-censored hashtag #tangping, meaning "lie flat", was used in protest against the long-hours culture.

However, not everyone's on board with the quiet quitting phenomenon. Workplace decorum expert Pattie Ehsaei expressed her disagreement with it in a TikTok video, saying you'll never succeed at work with that mindset. "Quiet quitting is doing the bare minimum required of you at work and being content with mediocrity," she told the BBC. "Advancement and pay increases will go to those whose level of effort warrants advancement and doing the bare minimum certainly does not."

Career coach and podcast host Joanne Mallon says many of her clients have already started to quiet quit when they come to her for coaching. She says that while she would never advise someone to quiet quit, she asks them what their reasons are for doing so. According to her, "Everybody has quiet quit at some point in their lives, but ultimately it might be a sign that it's time to move on and get out of a space physically".

Adapted from: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-62638908 Available on September 15th, 2022.