Better Understanding Quiet Quitting
“Quiet quitting” is not a new concept to employers. It occurs when employees become less invested or engaged in their work and only perform their core duties without going above and beyond. While these employees continue to perform their primary responsibilities, they’re less invested overall. Quiet quitting can indicate that a worker is unhappy in their role or is feeling burned out. Many workers engage in quiet quitting to help alleviate work-related stress and burnout. It can often be the first step toward an employee’s eventual departure, either by the employee voluntarily leaving for a new opportunity or the employer letting the employee go because their performance no longer meets expectations. Employers should confer with local legal counsel to ensure such decisions comply with applicable laws.
A recent survey by Harris Poll, a global market research and consulting firm, found that more than 75% of Canadian employees have felt burnout at some point in their careers. Burned-out employees are often less engaged, more prone to mistakes and at higher risk for quiet quitting. With the recent increase in employees working in remote or hybrid environments, it’s become more difficult for employers to identify those at risk. However, metrics can help identify employees who are no longer motivated to work or feeling burned out.
This article provides a general overview of quiet quitting and metrics employers can use to detect these trends among their workers.
Signs of Quiet Quitting
Employers must understand and recognize the signs of quiet quitting to improve engagement and re-energize employees. While indications can take various forms, there are some common signs, including:
- Not attending nonmandatory meetings
- Not participating in meetings they attend
- Not being as productive as they once were
- Contributing less to team projects
- Displaying a lack of enthusiasm
Although the exact reasons an employee is choosing to quiet quit may not be evident, these signs are reliable indicators that an employee is becoming less engaged with their work or considering leaving their position.
Better Understanding Quiet Quitting
Quiet quitting is not necessarily a bad thing, and employees choosing to quiet quit shouldn’t be considered lost causes. With support and resources, these workers can recover from burnout and find meaning in their roles again. If an employer experiences a rise in employees deciding to quiet quit, it should be a wake-up call that they must do something to address it.
Understanding and utilizing the following metrics can help employers recognize employees at risk of quiet quitting.
Employee Engagement
Employee engagement is an important indicator of an employee’s motivation, commitment and connectedness toward their role and employer. The more engaged a worker is, the more productive they are and the less likely they are to be at risk of quiet quitting. Employee engagement can be difficult to measure since it is made up of factors that are hard to quantify, such as motivation, happiness, satisfaction and commitment; however, employers can use quantitative and qualitative data to measure their organizations’ employee engagement.
Employers can obtain this data by doing the following:
- Conducting regular employee satisfaction surveys
- Measuring voluntary employee turnover and absenteeism rates
- Performing employee sentiment analysis
- Calculating the organization’s employee net promoter score
- Holding one-on-one meetings and stay or exit interviews
- Reviewing employee performance
Burnout Risk
While “burnout” has become a catch-all term for employees feeling exhausted and stressed, it has become increasingly acknowledged as a critical element of the global well-being crisis. The World Health Organization has recently added burnout as an occupational phenomenon in their international classification of diseases. Employee burnout occurs when employees are unable to manage chronic workplace stress. Anxiety, depression, irritability and low self-confidence are all symptoms of employee burnout. It can also manifest in physical symptoms, such as headaches, colds, difficulty communicating and low energy levels.
Burnout is likely to occur when employees must:
- Balance heavy workloads with tight deadlines
- Work long hours without suitable compensation
- Meet unclear expectations
Establishing effective metrics can help employers understand which employees are experiencing feelings of burnout. The Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) was developed in 1981 to help measure employee burnout. The MBI evaluates burnout based on the following criteria:
- Feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion
- Increased mental distance or cynicism related to work
- Reduced work efficacy
A burnout diagnosis requires a negative score in all three criteria. Organizations can conduct engagement surveys, train managers to recognize early signs of burnout and prioritize a healthy workplace culture to reduce instances of burnout.
Turnover Risk
Employee turnover risk refers to the probability or likelihood that employees will leave an organization for other opportunities. Employee turnover can negatively impact organizations by imposing costs related to recruitment, hiring and onboarding new employees, resulting in loss of critical knowledge and skills and causing reduced morale and productivity.
Employers can track several key metrics to measure and assess employee turnover risks, including:
- Turnover rate, including overall, voluntary, involuntary and new-hire turnover
- Internal mobility rate
- Exit interview analysis
- Employee satisfaction surveys
- Tenure distribution
Takeaway
By tracking employee engagement, burnout risk and turnover risk metrics over time, employers can gain valuable insights into the potential causes of quiet quitting. This insight can help organizations identify trends, make informed decisions to address underlying causes and help their workers find balance and become engaged and productive.
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