You may have heard about “Quiet Quitting” but just in case you haven’t, it’s one of the many new words that GenZ has coined to describe modern work and work-life balance. And it may be the biggest issue you have at your company that you’re completely unaware of.

So, what is “Quiet Quitting”?

In simplest terms, it’s a form of malicious compliance.  You’ve established what a day’s work should “look like” for your employees and…that’s exactly what they do.  That, and not one thing more.  Exactly the minimum you set as the benchmark or requirement.

If you are a Boomer, or to a somewhat lesser extent, Gen X, then you grew up with a different mindset when it came to work.  The benchmark was the minimum.  The unspoken expectation was that if you finished the minimum amount of work your boss needed you to do, you’d just…keep working.  You’d do more, and the idea was that the “more” would be rewarded.  Maybe not in hourly pay, but in faster promotions or bigger raises, and the like.

Except that, for the overwhelming majority of people, that didn’t happen.  Vanishingly few people got faster promotions or bigger raises by going above and beyond.  In fact, most people didn’t even get annual raises that kept up with inflation, which meant year over year, their pay actually went down slightly.

On top of that, most of these employees watched in horror as their company hired new people who came on board making more than the veterans who had been there for years were making!

GenZ got wise to that.  GenZ took a dim view of that, and they decided to do something about it.

That’s not to say that you’ll never find a GenZer who’s willing to go above and beyond.  Of course you will.  But understand that they are fewer in number and you’re more likely to see GenZer’s who will “quit quietly” by doing exactly what you demand of them and nothing more. 

And if they have free time, where possible, they’ll try to work a side hustle or engage in “polywork” to make the extra money they’re not getting by working harder for their primary employer.

There’s really no good solution to this problem, and there’s an argument to be made that it’s not really a problem at all. 

After all, you as business owner have set the benchmark on the amount of work you want and need to have done in a given timeframe.  As long as that work is getting done in the timeframe you’ve established and the quality is at the level you expect, it’s difficult to argue for the existence of a problem to be solved.

Even so, the current reality of today’s work environment doesn’t sit well with a great many business owners and managers and there’s an active search for ways of shifting the paradigm.

Whatever the solution ultimately is, it almost certainly begins with taking the time to express your appreciation for the contributions of your employees.  That probably means employee gifts in one form or another, and we can help with that!  Just spend some time browsing through our extensive collection and you’re sure to find the perfect token of your appreciation.

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