You have undoubtedly heard of the “quiet quitting” trend sweeping the globe. According to a Gallup poll, quiet quitters represent at least 50% of the U.S. workforce, if not even more. Few industries have gone unscathed, and in technology, where the competition is fierce, the hours are long, and the work must be painstaking, the trend is prevalent.
Quiet quitting is a bit of a misnomer, to be fair, since it doesn’t involve leaving the company. Instead, it means that workers are doing exactly what is in their job description — but no more. It’s especially prevalent among Gen Zers and has been described as a way to reclaim work-life balance.
It’s a problem across the board, but in tech, where the work often demands extra effort to meet consumer and business demands, it’s leaving many organizations in a lurch.
What Is Causing Quiet Quitting?
While some people attempt to boil the impetus for quiet quitting down to burnout or — less charitably — laziness, the reasons are far more complex than that. In fact, there is no one reason but a combination of factors that lead to this phenomenon.
A Lack of Clarity About Job Roles
The Gallup poll highlights a dramatic drop in engagement beginning in the second half of 2021, noting that it was related to a lack of clarity of expectations, among other reasons, and an overall disconnect between employees and employers.
Any professional needs to understand what their managers and organizations expect from them. With clearly defining roles and responsibilities, there will be clarity, not only for the individual but for the entire team.
Poor Management
Management has an enormous effect on employee satisfaction and the overall tenor of the organization. At tech companies, managers and leaders set the direction for the rest of the company and all team members. Without those clear plans, strategies, and visions, team members will no doubt feel lost. They will also feel like their managers don’t have high expectations for them, which could compel them to do little in the way of extra effort.
Burnout
Tech is a notoriously rigorous environment where there are plenty of demands. Many workers in the tech sector experience high levels of stress, which all too often leads to burnout and exhaustion.
We’ve underscored how burnout is far from the only reason quiet quitting is so pervasive in tech, but it’s still an important one. Some see doing their jobs, nothing more, as a means of achieving a better work-life balance, something they so desperately crave.
A Lack of Support
The Gallup poll saw a ten or more percentage-point decrease in the number of younger workers “who strongly agree that someone cares about them, encourages their development, and they have opportunities to learn and grow.” It is disappointing and discouraging, and it probably comes as no surprise that feeling unsupported can be linked with putting in minimal effort.
Coaching, mentorship, and support are pivotal in shaping younger professionals’ career journeys. Why would they want to put in anything more than minimal effort if it doesn’t seem like anyone notices them or cares about what they do?
What Are the Effects of Quiet Quitting in Tech?
With a better understanding of why quiet quitting is taking place in the tech industry, it’s time to look at the effects of this phenomenon. It’s important to understand that it impacts everyone, including the individual, their team members and colleagues, their managers and leaders, and the entire company and professional community.
The Individual
Inevitably, the individual who engages in quiet quitting will feel less connected to their colleagues and the company. There will also be less allegiance and loyalty to the employer.
It’s important to note that the impacts of quiet quitting aren’t always negative. It’s probably true, for example, that quiet quitters do achieve a stronger work-life balance.
The Team Members and Colleagues
At a technology company, there’s a lot to do. When one or more team members aren’t pulling their weight or accomplishing what needs to be done, the burden falls on the shoulders of their colleagues. Naturally, this can lead to resentment among those who have to pick up the slack for the quiet quitters.
The Managers
Managers and leaders are not likely to look kindly on quiet quitters, even if the practice seems warranted to individuals. They may perceive these workers as lazy and uninvolved. These behaviors could even lead to consequences like performance improvement plans, probation, or even termination.
Managers are also responsible for their teams, and when their team members aren’t fully engaged or performing up to their standards, these behaviors reflect poorly on them.
The Company
And finally, the overall company will not go unscathed. Having a number of quiet quitters in your fold affects productivity, output, and brand reputation. It can be detrimental to the organization’s culture and overall image.
What Can Employers Do About Quiet Quitting?
The overarching theme of addressing quiet quitting in the tech sector — and any industry — is improving employee engagement and morale. This is critical for fostering a thriving culture and overall company. Specifically, business leaders can take certain key steps to prevent quiet quitting within their organizations.
1. Start With Management
Poor management is one of the many causes of pervasive quiet quitting. That’s why addressing management problems is an important first step in combating the quiet quitting trend.
To start, managers themselves need to be engaged. Therefore, leaders must take stock of how managers feel about their work and teams and what support measures they need in place. This is especially true in a hybrid environment, where management and engagement require different skills and competencies. They may also need to reskill managers on how to effectively lead their teams and keep them engaged in the face of new environments and challenges.
Some steps managers in tech can take include:
- Having frequent conversations and check-ins with their direct reports about their goals, life situations, workloads, and other facets of their work and life
- Implementing team meetings — but doing so sparingly so as not to take up too much of their team members’ time
- Being clear about expectations and measures of accountability
- Exploring, along with team members, how performance and collaboration affect the entire team and overall organization
- Delving into what work-life balance means to each team member and how they can achieve it
2. Look at the Culture
To foster engagement, businesses must create a culture of engagement. This is at direct odds with the “hustle culture” that is so pervasive in the technology industry and can lead to quiet quitting.
One factor of note is the generational divide. According to data from Statista, 50% of 18- to 29-year-olds say employees should go the extra mile at work, while 82% of workers ages 65 and older say the same. There are different expectations and standards when it comes to workplace norms.
This is something organizations need to address. They must establish a unified message and vision for their workplace cultures, ensuring that expectations are consistent among people from different generations and backgrounds, especially when we now have four main generations represented in the workplace: Baby Boomers, Generation X, Millennials, and Gen Z.
Of course, culture involves more than generational bonding. Tech leaders need to focus on building trust and establishing a sense of belonging. This also involves increasing efforts to improve diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) to create a cohesive, welcoming, multifaceted, multicultural workplace that demonstrates that it values its talent and encourages its contributions.
3. Encourage Transparency
Too often, leaders across industries make important decisions behind the scenes, leaving their team members in the dark about matters that will very likely impact them. While it is impossible to share absolutely everything with every member of an organization, tech companies must be as transparent as possible. This creates a greater sense of trust.
In addition to being transparent overall, organizations should also not shy away from conversations about quiet quitting itself. According to a survey by Betts Recruiting, 87.5% of individuals say that their organizations have not had any conversations about quiet quitting with employees.
But it’s important to mention the elephant in the room and acknowledge something that is taking place and affecting the larger organization. By doing so, you are opening the door to deeper discussions about quiet quitting and what employees and employers can do together to address the problem.
4. Check In
What are your team members thinking? How are they feeling? Are they bored? Are they overwhelmed or engaged? Do they believe they are part of a community?
You’re not a mind reader. The only way to find out is to ask. So — ask.
We have discussed how managers can do their part by frequently having meetings with their employees to check on how they are doing personally and professionally. But this is just one part of the equation. It must be part of a concentrated, larger, organization-wide effort to make people’s voices heard.
One step you can take is to have regular, anonymous surveys with questions about the work environment, company culture, sense of belonging, and perceived and actual company values. Beyond administering surveys, demonstrate to your team members that you take their feedback seriously and act on it. While you probably won’t want or need to implement every change they suggest, if you hear the same feedback repeatedly, that’s a sign that you need to take action.
This measure can show you whether there is a lack of engagement and why it might be occurring. It’s a way of nipping trends like quiet quitting in the bud before they happen, allowing you to address company-wide problems. It is also a means of showing your employees that you want to hear what they have to say.
5. Invest in Employee Wellness
More and more, people are expressing what they need from their workplace — and an employer who truly cares about them and wants to invest in their employees’ well-being is certainly one of them.
Investing in employee wellness means initiatives that support your team members’ well-being — health screenings, wellness reimbursements, meditation programs, yoga classes, flexible work options, mindfulness apps, ample paid time off (PTO), and more. But it also means embedding wellness in your culture.
According to one survey, 90% of workers in the tech sector have been diagnosed with a mental health disorder. With such a competitive, rigorous culture in place, burnout is pervasive. The consequences of demanding, harsh conditions can be even worse than burnout and quiet quitting. That’s why it is so critical for businesses to take a hard look at themselves and reflect on what problems exist within their culture that could affect employee mental health.
Then, they need to consider what they can do to address these problems that are so embedded within their systems and procedures, not only to prevent quiet quitting but also to encourage a healthier environment overall.
6. Reward Strong Performance
Quiet quitting is one symptom of individuals feeling undervalued and underappreciated. Why should they go above and beyond if they don’t believe they are being recognized and rewarded for their efforts?
People want their companies to recognize them and appreciate what they do. Promotions, pay raises, and bonuses are one way to reward strong performance, of course, but there are other ways to demonstrate to your team members that you appreciate everything they do. Simply telling them how much you value them and what they can go a long way in making them feel like you truly see them and recognize the effort they put forth.
When team members do feel appreciated, they are more likely to put more effort into their work. That’s because they will know that they are contributing something of value and that their employer recognizes their hard work and appreciates it. This also contributes to a stronger, more positive tech culture.
7. Enhance Education and Career Development
Education is critical for growth in the tech sector. This industry demands a high level of skills and knowledge — skills and expertise that are constantly evolving, given the ever-changing nature of this important field. For tech talent to attain these competencies and persist, their organizations need to support them and give them those opportunities to grow and continue to be valuable members of their communities.
How are education and upskilling related to quiet quitting? One impetus of this phenomenon is employees feeling undervalued. But when employers invest in them, it demonstrates that they see real potential and want their talent to grow with them.
This also goes hand in hand with career development. When employees are given education opportunities and pushed to succeed by their employers, they are more likely to gain the valuable skills and competencies they need to succeed in their careers, not only with their current organizations but with future ones as well.
As professionals grow within their organizations, they will have more responsibility and understand their value and potential, which, in turn, can deter them from quiet quitting.
Final Words
“This isn’t a fad,” Steve Taplin writes in a Forbes Technology Council article. “Instead, it’s a workplace movement that must be recognized if tech companies want to continue to move ahead and retain their competitive advantage.”
Tech companies are facing plenty of obstacles these days. Quiet quitting demands attention, given the enormous impact, it can have on the entire company. You may think it’s not as much of a challenge as, say, talent attrition, when in fact, the two issues are on par in terms of seriousness.
At the same time, this is a problem we can’t put on our employees — at least not entirely. Organizations, leaders, and managers are also playing a role in perpetuating the quiet quitting trend, and they need to take a hard look at what they can do to ensure that their team members feel valued and want to work with you, not just because they have to.
It’s also important to reevaluate policies, workflows, procedures, and other facets of your organization to reflect on what you might need to change about your company culture to cultivate work-life balance and a sense of purpose. You want your business to uphold critical values and supports employees. That is what will deter people from quiet quitting and make your organization stronger as a whole.
