Category: Articles

Quiet quitting is a term which has recently come to the forefront of workplace discussions. It's considered by some to have become more prominent due to the change in work patterns attributed to Covid lockdowns.

What is Quiet Quitting

Quiet quitting refers to individuals doing the bare minimum to fulfil their job role requirements. Very little else is carried out outside of their job description and their level of engagement drops. Quiet quitting highlights an issue around the employer/employee relationship, more specifically, a lack of trust around expectations of an acceptable workload and remuneration for that work and effort.

During a highly stressful time, Covid being a good example, quiet quitting is seen as a way to navigate change, to avoid any additional stress leading to burnout, as well as a way to maintain work/life balance. Quiet quitting gives individuals a way to take back control without having to have formal discussions with their Managers.

This change in individual behaviour is considered to have a wider impact on the workplace community and on team morale. By individuals taking a step back from their work and becoming disengaged, it can present a number of challenges for team peers, managers, and ultimately the organisation as a whole. In this article, we take a look at the signs of quiet quitting and how to potentially reduce it.

How to Prevent Quiet Quitting

Quiet quitting can be avoided through better communication and a clear and agreed alignment between employer and employee expectations:

• Listen to your employees and let them know they have a voice
• Keep your employees in the loop. Tell them in advance of any upcoming changes or challenges
• Keep any increase in workload to a minimum and ensure the employee knows that this is a temporary situation
• Understand your employees' work/life boundaries and career ambitions. Work with them as much as possible.
• Reward your employees appropriately whether that’s financially, time in lieu, or a focus on their general wellbeing
• Work on building rapport with your employees and respecting them as individuals
• Hold regular reviews or feedback sessions to stay current with employee opinion

How to Deal with Quiet Quitting

Quiet Quitting can be reversed through honest communication and a willingness to rebuild trust on both sides:

• Get things out in the open. Offer open two-way communication and initiate that communication in a non-confrontational, approachable manner
• Identify the specific areas of contention as seen by the employee and ask for examples
• Give context to these issues from your perspective and how they relate to the individual, the team, and the wider organisation
• Reach a solution that genuinely works for both parties by re-establishing agreed expectations and associated rewards
• Give your employee time to adjust and re-engage with their work through regular agreed review periods
• Demonstrate your commitment to your employee by sticking to agreed actions in order to rebuild the relationship
• Should these steps prove unsuccessful, conduct an exit interview

The world of work has changed considerably. Covid made us all adapt and rethink how we could continue to work, which soon led to us thinking about how we want to work. People’s priorities have changed and in turn employers are now looking at how to get the balance correct between hybrid, flexi and hybrid working, whilst still being productive, profitable and true to their employer brands. New phenomena and terms like the ‘mass resignation’ and ‘quiet quitting’ are frequent topics of discussion, shining a light on how it is best to retain employees and to attract new ones.

We take a look at a summary round up below:

Pay

Payment in line with responsibilities, experience, and performance is common practice. However, pay rise increases inline with cost of living is becoming a pressing concern. There are a growing number of people who work, however, their take home pay is no longer covering their day-to-day expenses, meaning they’re working in deficit, and ‘the working poor’ have been created. Whether employers can assist their employees to bridge this gap again is another budgetary and ethical dilemma being called into question. Where does the responsibility lie - the employer, the Government, or both?

In their latest collaboration, CIPD and Omni have published their Resourcing and Talent Planning Report 2022, to give practical recommendations on how employers can encourage employees to join and stay at an organisation, when pay increases become ‘exhausted as an option’. Three significant areas were identified - 1) flexible, hybrid and remote working 2) upskilling existing employees 3) increasing diversity by advertising through more varied sources

Zofia Bojorek a Senior Research Fellow at The Institute of Employment Studies emphasises that employers need to ‘ensure that work has meaning for employees’ and that our historic preoccupation with pay, simply isn’t enough. Valerie Beaulieu-James, Chief of Sales and Marketing at Adecco, reiterates this point by advising employers to avoid engaging in ‘blunt tool’ pay rises purely to retain staff and that more attention should be given to Line Manager Support

Line Manager Support

In order to retain good talent, Line Managers need to meet the requirements of both the organisation and the individual employees. Particular attention must be given to ensuring work loads, work patterns, and the work itself are fair and fulfilling, alongside good career progression, and the individual welfare of employees. Employees want to feel valued and heard by their employers, with fair performance recognition and pay. By achieving these things, employees are increasingly likely to feel engaged and loyal to the organisation they work for. Employee surveys and exit interviews have highlighted that a poor relationship between an employee and a Line Manager can result in the employee leaving their job, even if they found that job itself fulfilling.

Flexibility

Flexible working has become increasingly popular. Part-time, compressed or flexi- hours, reduced days, remote working, job shares, working from home, hybrid working, term-time working, career breaks/sabbaticals, and commissioned outcomes are all ways in which work patterns have evolved.

According to the CIPD, more action is needed to increase the uptake of flexible working where possible by employers’, as it’s believed ‘to increase inclusive, diverse and productive workplaces that suit both the needs of organisations and individuals’

Flexible working brings other benefits such as reduced overheads in terms of office space, better use of technology and potentially being able to operate more efficiently in line with customer requirements. From an employee perspective, flexible working promotes better work-life balance, job satisfaction, and overall wellbeing.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

In an interview with Employee Benefits, Asif Sadiq MBE, Senior VP, and Head of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, highlighted the importance of creating a sense of belonging when it comes to employee retention ‘ creating a sense of belonging helps to achieve goals and retain staff. It's not hard to create this, we just need to focus on what matters. It’s the morally right thing to do to have diversity, equity, and inclusion strategies in place, and often businesses with more diverse workforce generate more income. It can be a critical element to drive success’ Sadiq goes on to say that in doing so ‘psychological safety’ can be achieved in the workplace and any privileges should be acknowledged and used to support those not in the room for conversations, not for apologies.

Company USP

According to Gemma Bullivant, HR Coach and Consultant ‘promoting your organisation’s USP’ is vital for employee retention. ‘What makes you stand out as an organisation, why people choose to join and stay, what you are doing and how you can leverage that to be even stronger’ is an extremely powerful way to communicate what you can offer your employees. It also demonstrates a business with a clear vision and identity.

Adapting work practices to fit with societal change is essential. Continued reviews and open, collaborative discussions between employers and employees can lead to positive working relationships which are beneficial for all. It’s clear that pay is no longer the only factor that employees consider when looking to join or stay at an organisation; balance, progression, welfare, and satisfaction are all central to their decision making. Employee retention helps contribute towards an organisation’s stability and performance. Holding onto and nurturing skilled workers, developing them further, and supporting their overall wellbeing, will only lead to a productive and profitable business.

Hybrid working has required organisations to adopt a blended approach to both business management and employee wellbeing. Rethinking how best to deliver health and wellbeing programmes to your employees needn’t be overwhelming - it’s time to consult, review and to get creative!

In this short guide, we give you seven pieces of advice which are key to getting health and wellbeing right for your employees and ultimately, your business.

Ask them - send out a poll or survey to staff to get a better understanding of what their current challenges are and where they’d like support. Have their challenges changed because of Covid? Because of a change in work practices? If so, how? What are their biggest stress points in life generally - at home, at work, as an individual? To support your staff competently, you first need to understand their requirements.

Maintain Balance - try not to favour one aspect of health and wellbeing over another. Find a way to keep all services accessible and possibly look and introducing new ones where necessary.

Prioritise - planning and optimisation - Accessibility is key. Firstly, who needs your support here and now? Who is currently struggling? Your organisation holds a wealth of information about your employees, so use it to identify who NEEDS which type/s of health and wellbeing service/s, how often and how they are best to receive this support.

Review Delivery Methods - hybrid working has undoubtedly brought about a greater reliance on technology and a greater level of autonomy to employees. So ask yourself, how can these two factors fit into your health and wellbeing programme without compromising the quality or the effectiveness of the services?

Can your services be accessed online or through an app - eg counselling sessions or fitness classes? Do they need to be face to face - eg counselling or physical therapies? Can they be in-office or at home or both - eg ergonomic desk assessments or physical therapies? Do they need to be delivered at a certain time or can they be accessed ad hoc - eg lunch and learns, webinars or Yoga classes?

Automation - self serve - give your employees as much control as possible in order for them to access services. In doing so, it makes your employees feel empowered and they are more likely to engage with your health and wellbeing programme, as well as within the business overall. Automation greatly increases convenience, accessibility and can be extremely cost effective.

Rotation - by offering services on a rotation basis - weekly, monthly or quarterly - it ensures that accessibility is optimised. Not everyone will be in the office at the same time, nor will they necessarily be consistent with the days that they do come into the office or work from home.

If certain teams or departments have decided to adopt a regular working schedule, it's worth adding this to your databases and working in a more informed manner.

The Personal Touch - Health and wellbeing programmes are all about personalisation and accessibility. Give careful consideration to outsourcing to a provider with which you have no in-person relationship, particularly around mental health. People often like to know they can talk to a person and that they can build trust and rapport with them over time, as well as getting immediate and bespoke feedback. Employees using mental health services are most likely making themselves vulnerable and talking about sensitive issues, which is where an app falls flat. Technology doesn’t offer meaningful or insightful engagement. An impersonal one-size fits all approach to mental health, will most likely have a low uptake and will be wasted money from your budget. Online or app access for online fitness classes however is a far more suitable use of online or app access.