Quiet Quitting: What’s all the Fuss?

Quiet quitting is a relatively new term used to refer to the subtle and delicate balance of having a job without letting said job take over your life. This trend has gained a great deal of popularity as burned-out GenZers and Millenials took to social media to explain why they were no longer over-extending themselves at work, and striving to create more time for mental health. A Gallup poll conducted in 2022, shows that quiet quitters make up more than half of the US workforce. And apparently, it is driving some folks quite mad; to the point of asking these quiet quitters to just quit already. 

After hearing people discuss this new trend, specifically in the field of higher education, I can sort of see both sides. A survey by LLC.org shows that 62% percent of employees find the quiet quitting trend annoying, with another 57% stating they’ve had to take on more work because their colleagues decided to do less. To many, the idea of quiet quitting means shirking your professional responsibilities and just coasting from paycheck to paycheck, but for others, quiet quitting is a way to protect mental health and work-life balance. This begs the question, is quiet quitting ethical? 

To answer this question, we must first look at the context behind this new vocabulary word. According to The Atlantic, “when a phrase takes off, it's often because the new words fill a space of uncertainty...A lot of workers are seeking an efficient way to describe the colliding pressures of wanting to be financially secure, but not wanting to let work take over their life…” If we look at the definition of trend provided by NPR, we see, “a trend is a prevailing tendency that is gradually gaining momentum and might have long-term implications.” But, quiet quitting is not something new. Every year, Gallup asks thousands of Americans about their commitment to their job. As you can see from the chart below, from 2010 to 2020, workplace engagement actually increased. The slight decline that you see in 2022 is still higher than it was in any year from 2000 to 2014. 

It may be safe to say that ‘quiet quitting’ has always been a thing, people simply didn’t talk about it before. This new, but old, phenomenon has only become a trend because burned-out workers are desperate for fresh vocabulary to describe their feelings. Are there people who will and have abused quiet quitting to do the bare minimum? Yes. But are there people who have been putting their all into a workplace that doesn’t value them, support them, encourage them, or make them feel heard; who are delicately hanging on to their mental health by a thread and deciding to put themselves first by abandoning the perfectionist lifestyle and seeking a healthy balance between their professional and personal lives? Yes! And putting yourself first is not unethical. 

Trends are usually born because they satisfy some type of basic need; and quiet quitting is no different. Emily Nagoski, co-author of Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle, puts it very simply, “Workers throughout history have found the strength to detach their senses of self-worth from working conditions that are unreasonable, to do their jobs…The revelation for lots of folks is discovering that they have the option to change how they approach their work, that they are not obligated to burn themselves out.” The word ‘quit’ will always have a negative connotation, but if we reframe quiet quitting as fighting against exploitative work practices by setting healthy boundaries, practicing self-care, and prioritizing our mental health, it’s really not up for debate.