Quiet Quitting- For Managers

Quiet Quitting – As a manager what do I do?

Gen Zers gave it a name, but it is a reality across all demographics.  And if you run a business or lead a team, you may want to look in the mirror. 

But first, why are people quiet quitting? Toxic work environments. Perception of unreasonable expectations. Desire for work/life balance. 

The pandemic let a lot of genies out of the bottle; some of them were good and some not so good.  

People realized that they could work effectively and efficiently at home (some jobs are more conducive than others). And now that companies want them back, they resent the commute (200 million hours a week in the US), transportation cost, and parking costs. Plus, business attire. 

Also, during the pandemic, many of us realized that with our kitchen/living room/spare bedroom as our office that there was no physical or mental separation of in the office/out of the office. We worked at all hours and many employers let that happen. 

Women, especially, felt the burden of working, homeschooling and managing the household. 

We also realized that life is fragile and that there is more to life than work alone. 

So as we return to our lives, many of us want things to be different.  And some people are focused on taking back their lives. 

What can you do?

Ask yourself some questions?

Is “always on” an expectation? Is it necessary? Is it reasonable? 

Confessions of a reforming workaholic here. I worked at a job that did require 24-7 availability for emergencies. It was real. But responding to emails about general work after normal hours was not necessary and perhaps unreasonable. And I made it worse. Because I worked over the weekend and after hours, I sent lots of emails. And people felt like they needed to respond. Immediately. When I realized that, I made a practice of noting – this is not urgent and can wait until Monday.  But what I was saying/not saying is “I’m working and you should be too.”  

Delay send and draft folders were made for this.  Use them.  

I’ve worked with someone since then who had the same practice. And I realized that by responding on Saturday morning to a Saturday morning note that I was reinforcing the behavior. 

Is it the hours or the work?

Think hard about this one. Do long hours equate to quality or is quality quality. One of the best employees I ever had worked a 30-hour week. She had a young child and valued being at home when he left for school and got home from school. She was productive and effective. I remember her doing a media interview via phone while her son was in the bath. She made it work and she was a superior employee and colleague. 

Leaders of an age (pointing the finger at me here) may have a bias that more is better when it may not be. 

Is back to the office necessary?

In some cases, it absolutely is.  In other cases, not so much. Or it may not need to be full time.  

Everybody back or you lose your job is perhaps not a winning strategy.

A Fortune 100 company I know well set 3 categories for post pandemic work. In the office, hybrid and work from home.  They evaluated the needs of the work and established guidance per person.  They also put in place an appeals process.  This enabled them to do space planning before they welcomed people back to the workplace. 

Even better, involve employees in planning. Let them weigh in on how they plan to collaborate effectively and what at home/at work schedules work best for them. 

What are the boundaries? 

McKinsey and Company and LeanIn have the receipts.  In their 2021 Women in the Workplace report they found that only 1 in 5 employees say their company has explicitly told them that they do not need to respond to non-urgent requests after traditional work hours. And they found that only 1 in 3 has received guidance on blocking personal time on calendars.

Do you model good behavior?

I’ve already given you examples where I didn’t. Model the expectations and take it well if someone catches you crossing those boundaries. 

Do you treat everyone the same? Or do you treat everyone equally?

Everyone isn’t the same and may not respond the same way.  

My sister and I are night and day different.  But my parents at one time punished us the same way – “go to your room.  I took a book and was happy as a clam. My sister was miserable. There was no one to talk to and no one to play with. She was miserable. 

Now my parents are smart, and it didn’t take long for them to figure this out.  So, punishment turned into losing something that we loved. That got our attention. And it was equal even though it was not the same. 

Do you know what matters to the members of your team? 

It’s not hard. If you ask them, they will tell you.  But according to Gallup’s workplace research only 2 in 10 employees have received meaningful feedback about their work within the last week.  

Make the time to talk with the members of your teams one on one. Ask them what matters to them and how you can make their work more enjoyable.  It may help some employees realize this isn’t the place for them and they may leave. It may engage some team members who are feeling unengaged. 

And if some of the quiet quitters become actively engaged, that’s a win for everyone.