Quiet quitting is a new term that refers to an employee doing the bare minimum when it comes to their work responsibilities, which has the potential to negatively impact their employer.
Reasons for this could be burnout from being overworked, perceiving saying “no” as having healthy workplace boundaries, or it could just be pure laziness.
Whatever the cause, South African employers need to understand the risks attached to quiet quitting and how to manage this phenomenon effectively.
Employees who become disengaged from their jobs need to understand how it can impact their careers in the long term. Being seen as someone who is disconnected from their responsibilities, work culture or teammates doesn’t leave a good impression.
However, employers also need to be aware of the signs of bad management, which could
easily be the cause of an employee shutting down. One possible reason could be that an employee is not being managed efficiently, so they might feel overworked and stressed, or underworked and bored.
According to a recent report in Harvard Business Review, the findings indicate that quiet quitting is usually less about an employee’s willingness to work harder, and more about a
manager’s ability to manage an employee’s workload.
The success of a business depends heavily on the effectiveness of its managers. Bad managers will fail to create trust and respect among their team members, and a lack of appreciation may have a knock-on effect on the company’s revenue and productivity. Employers need to have mechanisms and systems in place to keep track of how managers are running their teams.
There are two types of bad management characteristics. The first is that of a micromanager. When most were working from home during the early stages of the pandemic, many employees felt that they had more auton my over their work responsibilities and their productivity, and motivation actually increased. As the workforce slowly heads back to the office, the paradigm shifts to a feeling that their way of working is under renewed scrutiny and could result in resentment.
The second characteristic is that of an arrogant manager. These types don’t take well to any feedback, and their way is generally the only way, which can lead to employees feeling undervalued.
As a result of rising burnout or discontentment coupled with poor management, an
employee who was previously invested in the company culture might become disinterested and withdrawn. A former high-performing employee who has shut down could become costly from the perspective of productivity and turnover.
- Rasetlola is an associate in employment law at Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr
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