How to Prevent Quiet Quitting

If you spend any amount of time around the young generation, you’ll notice that they love giving new names to old things. This time, the trending misnomer around the workplace is “quiet quitting.” This term refers to workers who do the bare minimum in the workplace and never go above and beyond to meet a company’s stretch goals. Such behavior has always been around, but now it has a new name. It’s a common phrase among entry-level workers, mostly the younger generations. 

So what can businesses do to prevent this culture of “the bare minimum” from taking root among their workforce? Below are some useful ideas on how to prevent quiet quitting.

Reevaluate Working Policies to Meet Today’s Needs

In most industries, you can’t expect today’s employees to sit at a desk for twelve hours a day for six days a week. With the ability for most desk jockeys to work from home, many employees value flexibility in the workplace more than anything else. Offering different working situations – from hybrid workplace environments to quiet spaces and flexible work options, such as part-time employment, could be helpful in preventing quiet quitting.

Connect More with Employees

The ‘because-I-said-so’ attitude is something today’s workers don’t take too kindly. The current workforce wants to work for easily accessible and down-to-earth leaders. Checking in on workers, or organizing bi-weekly one-on-one sessions with them could help them feel more engaged, which boosts their overall commitment.

Recognize and Reward Effort

Let’s face it, the effort the older generation put into work just for work’s sake is not the same for this generation and will likely never be again. Expecting perfectionism today might lead workers to actually put in less effort. Companies have to learn to set realistic expectations for their current workforce and recognize the best efforts as an incentive to keep the other workers’ doing more.

Let Free Time Be Free Time

In most industries, employers calling or texting their employees after work hours is behavior that encourages quiet quitting. If you aren’t in a life-or-death industry, learning to respect your workers’ boundaries, including their time off from work, shows you think of them as more than just task managers. Not calling or emailing after hours or on weekends when workers spend quality time with their loved ones shows that you value their time. We’re not telling you what to do, but we’re telling you how it will be received by this generation.  

How to Prevent Quiet Quitting: Seeking Management Coaching

The “quiet quitting” culture is taking root in many organizations today. Since there’s no chance of today’s employees working under the same conditions as in the past, businesses must learn how to prevent quiet quitting to get the most out of their workers. If you want to grow your business in today’s environment, then we’d be happy to help you jump-start that growth. Reach out to us today to get your free business audit. From there, we can help guide you through these sure-to-be challenging times.