Hey there! What’s with all the quiet quitting going on in the workforce at the moment? Is it just another pandemic hangover, or the start of a new workplace contract? Perhaps it has been caused by a sense of “what’s the point?”, given the current economic cycle.

Below, I track the rise of quiet quitting (or “lying flat”, as the Chinese call it), explore its roots, its impacts on business, and suggest some ways disillusioned employees can be re-engaged.

Image: Poorly Drawn Lines

For years, the mantra of "hustle culture" has dominated the zeitgeist - the idea that the path to success requires endless grinding, an always-on mentality, and sacrificing many aspects of work-life balance. But recently, a seismic shift has occurred with the rise of the quiet quitting phenomenon. 

McKinsey recently found that quiet quitters make up between a fifth and two fifths of organizations’ workforce - people who insist on doing the bare minimum required in their roles. 

What’s behind it? I believe many are seeing a disconnect between their personal efforts and the "gain" they personally see - especially in the current economic climate. For quite some time, people would trade happiness for success, which they perceived would bring future happiness. 

But that bargain is being actively re-evaluated by younger generations who can see the traditional markers of success - such as the dream of home ownership - slipping ever-further out of reach. Why, the quiet quitters ask, should they risk burnout when it would take a buyer on the national median income of $82,156 twelve years to save a typical down payment for a home?

There’s also a sense of unfairness driven by the US’s ever-growing income inequality. Young workers can see people like Instagram influencers becoming wealthy from doing, seemingly, nothing, while people with productive jobs make a fraction of the same income.

Then there’s the grossly unfair CEO-to-worker compensation ratio - CEOs received (checks notes) 344 times the annual average salary of production and nonsupervisory workers in the key industry of their firm. Even CEOs that have overseen disastrous downturns, like Boeing’s David Calhoun who received a total compensation of $32.77 million. 

And it's not just here in the West - look at the tang ping ("lying flat") movement adopted by many young people in China who are exhausted by a culture of hard work with seemingly little reward. Tang ping means “not overworking, being content with more attainable achievements and allowing time to unwind” - and unsurprisingly it’s causing panic within the Chinese Communist Party.

A similar movement known as bai lan (“let it rot”) means a voluntary retreat from pursuing certain goals because they are simply too difficult to achieve.

Look, I get it. Quiet quitting is about setting boundaries. Going home at the end of your shift, not doing unpaid overtime, not putting your hand up for extra responsibilities without a raise, and not looking at work stuff out of hours all sounds reasonable enough.

But the reality  - let’s face it - is that employers have built a culture over decades that only succeeds when workers give 110%.

Here’s the problem: McKinsey found quiet quitters are three times as likely to be dissatisfied as other employees - which suggests that it would be better for the organization, its performance, and its culture, if disengaged quiet quitters turned into real quitters and looked for a job elsewhere. 

So what does this mean for corporate productivity and the future of work? I believe it will force a reckoning. Expensive, high-stakes projects that rely on employees sacrificing their wellbeing are going to increasingly struggle to land. Change management initiatives that demand longer hours and harder work will face greater resistance.

To adapt to this shift away from hustle culture, companies will need to make some fundamental changes in how they operate. First and foremost, they need to be prepared to stop doing some - or even many - of the things they've grown accustomed to.

The days of demanding 24/7 availability and endless overtime are coming to an end, with several nations including much of the EU, Australia, and Mexico passing the right to disconnect laws. 

Fairness and transparency must be essential. Employees are no longer willing to accept arbitrary performance standards or opaque promotion policies. Companies need to listen objectively to their workforce and communicate with honesty about their expectations and limitations.

Setting realistic expectations that can actually be met is crucial. Employees are tired of the constant pressure to "do more with less" - they want stability and achievable goals. Companies must acknowledge that change is a constant, not just a one-time event, and be willing to adapt their rules and policies accordingly.