Quiet Incredulity
Initially, I observed the corporate hand wringing concerning “quiet quitting” (and remote work) with a degree of bemusement. It’s not terribly difficult to puzzle out. I grew up in the 80s and 90s surrounded by comedy and musical subcultures riffing on corporate culture so horrid that your only real options were to “self-medicate,” laugh, or cry. None of this is new.
“No one wants to work…” in a cubicle where their soul gets drained by their five different bosses that ensure they “…work just hard enough not to get fired.” Employers worked hard to kill the 20-year (or longer) career, though perhaps they didn’t appreciate that riding the noble steed of “competitive pay” to thrust the 401k lance into the heart of pension costs would turn out this way. I suppose the idea was that jobs/careers were an integral part of people’s identities. In retrospect, it isn’t the job but the relationship with the employer that people incorporate into their identities. A relationship that, to many, no longer seems caring, trustworthy, or reciprocal.
In this context, remote work is a sort of collective referendum on corporate culture. It affords many disaffected employees the opportunity to generate the same value for their employer, but at much less personal cost. Employees who don’t see their job at the center of their identity may see remote work as the optimal arrangement, which is why the desire for remote positions is persistent. It is unsurprising that organizations and leaders are struggling to accept it, but the hostility towards remote work further entrenches the idea for many that employers are willing to take, but with nothing to give in return.
Reflecting on our own organization’s culture, there are a few questions we should consider honestly when it comes to employee engagement. How effectively do we define and communicate purpose? What does “empowerment” look like in our organization? Is work-life balance a concern or a punch line? How accessible are raises and promotions and do we pay new hires more than current employees? When we say that we care about our employees, is there action behind it? All of the above goes to building faith and trust in the employer-employee relationship. That relationship requires daily maintenance; it’s not something a few pizzas once a quarter can cover.
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence is not an act, but a habit.” Quiet quitting is what you get when you spend “human resources” without replenishing them. It’s what you get when an employee realizes that the company will take as much as they can give and ask for more without offering anything in return. If an organization cares for, grows, mentors, and rewards its people while creating opportunity for them, they don’t (quietly) quit. If an organization pursues a transactional relationship with its employees, it will get what it pays for and little else. Even extra cheese at the quarterly pizza party and insisting everyone returns to the office won’t change that.