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What is this new trend? It is both praised as the saviour of work/life balance and simultaneously berated as a toxic work philosophy. This emerging social movement is becoming prevalent in a burnt-out workforce. So what is ‘Quiet Quitting?’
The concept is doing exactly what you are asked to do, and no more or less. It is working exactly the hours you have. It is refusing to do anything extra or negotiating compensation for anything out of the predetermined work plan. And it is doing this quietly to avoid confrontation. It is a movement across all sectors, private and public, including healthcare.
Is it a good thing? Defining your limitations? Defending your free time for your own health and enjoyment? Looking after yourself, not stressing out or overburdened? Healthy compartmentalised work with life balance. It is up to the employer to do a detailed negotiation, with no guilt or resentment in refusing tasks. Conversely, is it potentially a false promise that leads to less satisfaction with both work and wider life?
What has caused this movement is complex and multifactorial. I suspect the pandemic and lockdown has had a role. I suspect it is in part a rebellion against being treated like a cog in a machine and thus now acting purely as one. I suspect it is partly frustration with unrealistic expectations being placed upon workers and I suspect it is a shift away from a career being integral to people’s identity.
However, it is the compartmentalisation of work. By working exactly to your job description it is purposely limiting yourself. It is the positioning of oneself as a commodity to be utilised with negotiation. This ethos seems to promote turning ourselves into the task and time-defined robots as a matter of principle. No give without cost.
The pendulum is swinging back and forth and certainly, workers have been taken advantage of with ever-mounting expectations. Indeed, the well-known saying ‘the NHS is run on goodwill’ makes exactly this point.
However, the world is messy and unpredictable and needs flexibility, creativity and communication. I can’t help but have sympathy with the position but also rally against its ethos. Implied within ‘quiet quitting’ is an element of a loss of pride in the work, an acceptance of ‘bare minimum will do’, and a loss of purpose in the greater cause. This ‘individual first’ doesn’t protect against burn-out they just focus the frustration on a struggling system, and other people, especially in healthcare.
Whether seen as good or bad, inevitably this social movement is here to stay and must be taken into account.
Competing interests:
No competing interests
25 October 2022
Matthew Philip Doré
Consultant Palliative Care
Belfast Health and Social Care Trust & Northern Ireland Hospice
Workforce woes – What is quiet quitting?
Dear Editor,
Workforce woes – What is quiet quitting?
What is this new trend? It is both praised as the saviour of work/life balance and simultaneously berated as a toxic work philosophy. This emerging social movement is becoming prevalent in a burnt-out workforce. So what is ‘Quiet Quitting?’
The concept is doing exactly what you are asked to do, and no more or less. It is working exactly the hours you have. It is refusing to do anything extra or negotiating compensation for anything out of the predetermined work plan. And it is doing this quietly to avoid confrontation. It is a movement across all sectors, private and public, including healthcare.
Is it a good thing? Defining your limitations? Defending your free time for your own health and enjoyment? Looking after yourself, not stressing out or overburdened? Healthy compartmentalised work with life balance. It is up to the employer to do a detailed negotiation, with no guilt or resentment in refusing tasks. Conversely, is it potentially a false promise that leads to less satisfaction with both work and wider life?
What has caused this movement is complex and multifactorial. I suspect the pandemic and lockdown has had a role. I suspect it is in part a rebellion against being treated like a cog in a machine and thus now acting purely as one. I suspect it is partly frustration with unrealistic expectations being placed upon workers and I suspect it is a shift away from a career being integral to people’s identity.
However, it is the compartmentalisation of work. By working exactly to your job description it is purposely limiting yourself. It is the positioning of oneself as a commodity to be utilised with negotiation. This ethos seems to promote turning ourselves into the task and time-defined robots as a matter of principle. No give without cost.
The pendulum is swinging back and forth and certainly, workers have been taken advantage of with ever-mounting expectations. Indeed, the well-known saying ‘the NHS is run on goodwill’ makes exactly this point.
However, the world is messy and unpredictable and needs flexibility, creativity and communication. I can’t help but have sympathy with the position but also rally against its ethos. Implied within ‘quiet quitting’ is an element of a loss of pride in the work, an acceptance of ‘bare minimum will do’, and a loss of purpose in the greater cause. This ‘individual first’ doesn’t protect against burn-out they just focus the frustration on a struggling system, and other people, especially in healthcare.
Whether seen as good or bad, inevitably this social movement is here to stay and must be taken into account.
Competing interests: No competing interests