Quiet quitting. You only hear about that? Does that vaguely tell you something? You wonder what this new Anglicism corresponds to? Wherever you are in your knowledge on the subject, you may be concerned! After the “Big Quit” phenomenon, which describes a historic increase in the number of resignations in the United States and then in post-covid France, another phenomenon whose term has become known in the United States is being felt in France: the Quiet Quitting.
What is that ? Why are we talking about it ? Is it serious doctor?
What is quiet quitting?
The news is talking about it right now, quiet quitting or silent resignation, it is this phenomenon which consists in disengaging from the culture of performance at work. Always doing more, not counting the hours, giving the maximum to the point of jeopardizing your health... it's starting to become old-fashioned.
And when we talk about disengagement, that does not mean that the employee no longer works or stays with his feet wide open waiting for the others to do all the work. It is doing your job, without doing more than what is required.
A quiet quit will for example choose not to work overtime, to no longer answer emails outside working hours, to refuse to have responsibilities if he does not wish to have any. It can also go through the choice not to get emotionally involved in the life of the company (events, afterworks).
Is it a revolution? An interior revolution in any case, which consists in refusing to maintain the hustle culture: toxic productivity can lead to burnout. By disengaging psychologically and emotionally from their job, the quiet quitter refuses to “kill” themselves for their work.
Why is quiet quitting becoming a hot topic?
A background story
Already, post covid, many employees have questioned the place of work in their lives. The desire to prioritize personal life, to have more flexibility in work (adaptability of schedules, remote work) was felt and manifested by a desire to have more freedom in managing one's time. of work. There is also a fear of burnout, which affects more and more employees. After the first confinement, the Human Footprint barometer reveals that 2.5 million employees were in a state of severe burnout.
The propulsion of quiet quitting via Tik Tok
This contextual trend brings out a climate of fed up, a desire to take care of oneself and one's mental health. So, when in the United States, TikTokers popularize the term “Quiet quitting” by putting words behind the evils, it has the effect of a bomb. @Hunter Kaimi, whose video, for example, has 1.6M views, highlights two realities which for him reflect this phenomenon of being fed up at the origin of quiet quitting:
On the one hand, there is this absurdity of working overtime to ensure a most uncertain future: “Why would I want to buy a house, when the world may not be more livable in 50 years?”
On the other hand, there is also this desire not to do too much when working for people who are not concerned about the health of their employees: “The reality is that many people my age work for employers who don't see us as human beings,” he says.
Why is quiet quitting good news?
Is quiet quitting the end of the hustle culture?
Race for efficiency, productivity, guilt for not doing enough... many French people are in a situation of exhaustion at work: 2.5 million employees in a state of burnout, that's a lot, that's even too. At Jobs that makesense, we consider this phenomenon of quiet quitting to be a good thing, because it may announce the end of the hustle culture. This culture which consists of giving body and soul to a single sphere of one's life to the detriment of others: here, in this case, at work.
Quiet quitting imposes a redefinition of the relationship to work
On the collective's website Work Less (Travailler Moins), The following question is asked: “Is it the human being who goes off the rails in the work system or the work which struggles to update itself to be in tune with our values and/or our quest for meaning?” Employees want meaning at work, a meaning that begins with the need to preserve themselves. "Work is not your life and your value is not indexed to your productivity", explains moreover @zaidleppelin, another TikToker talking about quiet quitting. A message that echoed in his video viewed by half a million people.
If you recognized yourself in the description of quiet quitting, it may be that you have adopted this form of detachment from your work.
This may also be the time for you to slow down, take stock, or even think about a professional retraining for a meaningful job.
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