The software development industry might be competitive and fierce, but quitting has always been frowned upon. No company wants its brightest and best talent to consider calling it quits. To that end, great effort is made to ensure that people are happy and healthy in the workplace. That’s why the recent trend of “quiet quitting,” popularized by professionals who are a part of Generation Z, can be troubling. The question is what “quiet quitting” is in the first place.
It’s all about proper work-life balance.
To be clear, quiet quitting doesn’t involve an employee terminating their relationship with an employer. On the contrary, nobody is going anywhere. However, a transformation is taking place in the tech environment where workers are saying long hours at the office will no longer be tolerated. It’s a movement in which employees become more in control of their schedule and begin prioritizing personal over professional duties.
Having less work to do overall is the goal of quiet quitting. Many professionals are now openly refusing to work any amount of overtime. In addition, emails are going ignored as soon as a person leaves the office. Those duplicate emails will only be answered when the individual returns to the office during what they consider a “normal” workday.
In reality, quiet quitting appears to be the modern generation’s answer to burnout. Even in an ultra-competitive tech environment, professionals are no longer willing to give up their dreams and ambitions in exchange for a corporate mindset that gives them little control over their schedule.
This is what quiet quitting means for you.
You might be wondering why you need to be concerned about the trend of quiet quitting. This isn’t a fad. Instead, it’s a workplace movement that must be recognized if tech companies want to continue to move ahead and retain their competitive advantage. Quiet quitting can be reflected in something as simple as a group of employees suddenly refusing to perform duties that aren’t explicitly a part of their traditional job description. This can have severely negative effects on many smaller tech companies that have grown dependent on employees wearing multiple hats within a team environment.
In the past, professionals at tech companies have been known to take work home with them. Dinners could quickly be interrupted by a Slack message or an email that must be responded to. The quiet quitting revolution is changing all of that. Slack messages and emails are only to be answered during regular office hours. Many people will turn off their notifications when leaving the office, turning them back on only upon their return. Forget being able to count on responses during a long holiday weekend. Employees today are more likely to completely check out of work during such extended breaks.
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