The pitfalls of quiet quitting
BRB, quitting (i.e. clocking out to make time for myself). (Image: The Swaddle)
“Quiet quitting” is the new term to refer to doing the bare minimum at work. After being coined on TikTok and starting a global wave of people prioritizing work-life balance, others began to criticize it for labeling itself as something ground-breaking.
Do we hate work?
The post-pandemic workforce has found itself overworked and underpaid, even after last year’s Great Resignation. Employees’ priorities shifted rather abruptly due to many factors like concerns of safety and well-being amidst COVID-19, the rising costs of living, and unsatisfactory wages. The pandemic was also a testament to the opportunities for work-from-home arrangements, as well as the importance of enforcing healthy work-life boundaries.
Job satisfaction has fallen in more recent years, and companies now face more pressure to put their employees first; long hours, hectic commutes, and low salaries are no longer being tolerated.
These everyday challenges have then led up to workers around the world demanding for better and forming communities like the anti-work movement. According to the FAQs page on the subreddit r/antiwork, which now has over 2 million members, their overarching sentiment is hostility towards “jobs as they are structured under capitalism and the state.”
More recently, related trends have emerged. The most popular one at the moment is quiet quitting—working at minimum capacity when actually quitting one’s job isn’t an option.
The term was coined by content creator Zaid Khan, who posted a viral video in which he describes it as “quitting the idea of going above and beyond.”
Millions of quiet quitters
After Khan’s original video blew up, other users on TikTok began to create similar content earlier this month. There are now more than 31 million views of #quietquitting on the platform, and many workers in posts and comments sections share their own experiences of it.
“I quiet quit six months ago and guess what, same pay. Same recognition, same everything but less stress,” one user commented under Khan’s video.
This sudden normalization of doing the bare minimum is good news for employees, because studies have found that better work-life balance is linked to overall better mental health in various jobs.
Amidst a global culture of overwork and overachieving with minimal to no benefits, millennial and Gen Z workers are rejecting hustle culture and embracing a new balance.
Nothing new
In spite of its popularity, many users have also voiced their concerns about the phenomenon.
Aside from bosses and companies who are against employees just doing what they’re asked, some social media users are questioning why the term “quiet quitting” exists in the first place.
The term “quitting” in particular drew flak—a word with negative connotations of defeat. Its branding subtly puts the blame on individual employees for not meeting the oftentimes unreasonable amount of work they receive around the clock.
One Reddit post reads, “My question is: why the f*ck is there even a term for this, and why does said term involve ‘quitting?’ Why is it apparently an expectation that someone should do more than what they have been hired to do?”
The new buzzword for what would otherwise just be considered “doing your job” puzzles people, and some have even called it propaganda or brainwashing by the media. “The concept of just doing your job should not be revolutionary,” said content creator Zulie Rane.
Whichever side you’re on, the fact that people believe in quiet quitting says a lot about how people perceive work. Every worker deserves adequate time to themself, and it’s absurd to see people only realizing it this late.
But if the anti-work movement focuses on the trend’s divisive name instead of shifting the world’s perception of work, the demands of late-stage capitalism might just continue keeping us glued to our work laptops—all while paying us not nearly as much as we’re worth.
