You might see someone staring at their computer screen at the office, but their thoughts are far away. Or maybe you are one of them? If your body is in the office but your soul has already left, you might have silently quit your job. You may not realize it, but you have “quietly” resigned.
Quiet quitting is a term frequently discussed in the business world, especially after the pandemic. It is defined as an employee continuing to work with minimal effort, only fulfilling their basic responsibilities without putting in any extra effort. A quiet quitter performs the tasks listed in their job description but stops taking initiative, generating ideas, taking on extra responsibilities, and contributing with their knowledge and experience.
In our daily lives, we often complain about being constantly tired. We feel exhausted before the day even begins and rely on coffee to pick us up. But could it be that it is not our bodies that are tired, but the voice of our minds?
Some fatigue comes from having many things to do but not being able to do them. While we used to define burnout solely by workload, today we explain it by including factors such as lack of motivation and emotional exhaustion. By nature, humans want to produce, contribute, and leave a mark. When the potential within a person cannot be expressed, it leaves a deep emotional fatigue.
In places where producing, contributing, and being noticed lose their meaning, the thought “Nothing will change no matter what I do” plants itself in the mind like a seed, and over time, the feeling of hopelessness engulfs the entire body. The silence of a mind that cannot find an exit door tires the body. Therefore, burnout is not just physical fatigue; it is the sum of loss of meaning, value, and voice. When meaning is lost, we first give up on our ideas, then on our contributions.
In the workplace, someone who realizes their potential creates collective value. They are curious, ask questions, get excited, share, and care. This spreads; it infects those around them with their emotions, increases knowledge, and multiplies experience. Quiet quitting stops this network of emotion, experience, and knowledge sharing. The potential of a quiet quitter is still inside, but instead of bringing it out, they slowly close the door and lock themselves in.
This situation is not just an individual performance issue; it can often be a reflection of the internal structure, relationship quality, and leadership styles within an organization. Quiet quitting indicates a process where the individual disconnects from meaning and relationships rather than the job itself. Because people do not give up on their jobs, they give up on leaders who do not listen to them or systems with which they cannot connect.
A therapist might frequently hear the phrase “I no longer believe anything will change” from their clients, but we can also be quite familiar with this phrase outside the therapy room. If you listen carefully to the meeting rooms, coffee breaks, and email lines, you can find hopelessness echoing as a feeling. In the corporate world, this feeling is often called “burnout” or “loss of motivation”. However, when we get to the root of it, what we find is the inability to form a positive expectation for the future.
Corporate burnout is often tried to be solved as a fatigue or time management issue. However, this situation is the natural result of a person not feeling safe in an environment where hope is systematically eroded. Because hope is not just a personal motivation issue. The ability to look positively towards the future is nourished by a cultural climate based on secure relationships established in the workplace.
The biggest antidote to the concept of “quiet quitting” is the concept of “psychological safety”. By definition, it describes a climate where individuals can speak, ask questions, make mistakes, and be themselves without fear of judgment within the team. But this concept does not only describe meetings with a soft climate or well-intentioned leaders. Psychological safety is not something we feel; it is nourished by a culture built with behaviors repeated every day.
Psychological safety does not disappear overnight. It usually erodes slowly with small but repeated behaviors. What behaviors can accelerate this process?
- Punitive Feedback: Instead of seeing mistakes as learning opportunities, it creates emotional pressure and hinders development.
- Micromanagement: It makes it difficult for employees to take initiative and reduces ownership of decisions.
- Invisible Effort: The lack of appreciation for effort and the failure to recognize contributions dulls the motivation needed for more.
- Ignoring Opinions: When employees feel unheard and unimportant, they lose the desire to contribute and eventually become silent.
So how can organizations rebuild psychological safety?
- Seeing Mistakes as Learning Opportunities: Asking “What did we learn?” instead of “Who did it?” creates a company culture that can develop with experiences.
- Strengthening the Feedback Culture: Creating processes for constructive feedback increases the trust environment in the long term and develops both the individual and the processes.
- Coming Together Around a Common Purpose: When individual contributions are placed within a larger framework of meaning, it becomes easier for employees to find meaning.
- Creating Safe Spaces for Idea Sharing: Creating an atmosphere that supports and encourages participation increases creativity and collaboration.
- Including Employees in Decisions: Giving a voice and trying to increase participation reinforces the sense of responsibility.
- Valuing Diversity and Inclusion: Giving space to different voices can strengthen the sense of belonging.
Quiet quitting is not just about the job; it is about leaving behind the sense of belonging, meaning, and excitement we have with life. The path we walk splits in two. When we start to move away from realizing our potential, we approach “quiet quitting”. To realize your potential, you can ask yourself the following questions and observe yourself more frequently in your work life:
- “Have I been actively sharing my ideas lately?”
- “Am I excited to put in more effort?”
- “Do I take ownership of tasks, or do I step aside saying this is not my job?”
- “Am I just getting through the day, or am I participating in the process?”
- “Does the work I do feel meaningful to me, and can I see my contribution in the big picture?”
In summary, when an employee stops caring, stops volunteering, and stops putting in extra effort, they quietly quit. They choose not to put forth their talents, ideas, and energy. This choice is a passive resignation. What they give up on is their own potential.
Wishing for more days where we have the courage to reach our potential, find opportunities to realize ourselves, and create an environment for others’ potential to shine…