5 aspects of Quiet quitting and quiet firing
Ioana Petrea, Rightfit: "Quiet quitting and quiet firing are like two twins who look alike physically but with different personalities."
In 2022, a term describing an employee behavior became highly visible on social networks and later in the international media, thanks to two tik tokers (a young engineer, Zhaid Khan and a career coach, Brian Creely) and stood, thus, at the basis of the spread of a phenomenon that is becoming increasingly popular, quiet quitting. This is not about resigning and giving up a job, as one might think at first glance, but about fulfilling the minimum, basic requirements of a job, without putting in extra effort or being involved more than required the job description, while you receive a monthly salary.
In addition to quiet quitting, another phenomenon that has spread in companies has also received a similar name, under which it is gaining notoriety in the online and offline HR world. This is quite firing, which is not the actual firing of someone, but the voluntary departure of an employee from an organization because a manager inadvertently or intentionally does not provide him with development support for the career, a training suitable for the position, or help in carrying out the tasks for which he was brought into a team.
Ioana Petrea, Managing Partner Rightfit and co-founder of the TogetHR application points out some aspects of the two phenomena that are increasingly observed in the post-pandemic years, especially among employees from Generation Z and especially Millennials.
5 essential aspects of silent resignation and silent dismissal
1. Disengagement, the characteristic valid in both phenomena
Silent resignation is determined by the employee, who becomes disengaged in his work, while silent dismissal is determined by the employer who does not get involved in supporting a person in his team, causing him to quit the job himself.
"The two phenomena that express, in fact, the same thing, disengagement, either in work or in supporting subordinates, are often present simultaneously in certain organizations and denote a toxic, unproductive work environment, which can affect not only those involved but entire teams. Quiet quitting and quiet firing are like two physically similar twins but with different personalities. Usually, one phenomenon causes the other, thus the lack of involvement of employees in the performance of tasks at the office for long periods leads to silent dismissal", said Ioana Petrea, Managing Partner Rightfit.
2. Burnout, a key factor for quiet quitting
Chronic burnout can be to blame for depression, several health problems, lack of motivation, and lack of confidence in an employee's strength, which causes him to reduce tasks to a minimum and stop investing his talent and skills in activities the employing company. Thus, an exhausted employee can easily switch to quiet quitting.
3. Remote work can favor both phenomena
Relationships with managers and colleagues in a company are not the same when working remotely as they are on-site. Managers must be skilled enough to engage remote employees and show them that they are valued and that their skills are needed to increase company productivity. Employees who do not feel engaged tend to feel useless and left out of the teams, thus they become followers of quiet quitting which can ultimately lead to looking for another job.
4. Quiet firing, preferred to dismissal by the termination of the contract
Standard dismissal of an employee can bring inconvenience to a business, negative reviews, and publicity in the market. As a result, some managers prefer to remove uncomfortable employees through silent firing, which comes with less adverse effects on the organization.
Thus, this type of "dismissal" can be a deliberate and calculated move by a manager, to force an employee to voluntarily give up a position and thus avoid certain unpleasant aspects related to the costs of a standard dismissal, labor law, or even the negative implications on the psyche of the person concerned.
5. Symptoms of silent resignation and dismissal
Among the symptoms that can be observed with the naked eye in silent quitters are: they are late for work, they lack creativity, they give up expressing any ideas related to various projects, they are not enthusiastic, they do not stay over the schedule even by a few seconds, they are content with solving the basic tasks.
Also, when it comes to the other side of the coin, the silent dismissal, the most common signs that we are dealing with such a phenomenon are:
• the employee is excluded from various team activities, meetings, or company events;
• the manager does not communicate certain details to the employee that would help him to perform certain tasks
tasks;
• the employee is deprived of benefits and various bonuses;
• permanent criticism by the manager of the employees on whom quiet firing is practiced.
"A Gallup report from 2023 indicates that 59% of the global workforce is made up of people who give up their job involvement, turning into quiet quitters. The same report states that when combined with actively disengaged employees, low engagement costs the global economy $8.8 trillion or 9% of global GDP," said Ioana Petrea, Rightfit Managing Partner.
About Ioana Petrea & Rightfit
Ioana Petrea has extensive experience in HR, for over 15 years. She is the Managing Partner of the Rightfit agency, a team of passionate people who have transformed recruitment into a process carried out at the highest standards. Over time, the Rightfit team has integrated specialists with experience in general HR, recruitment, marketing, business development, communication professionals, and not only that. The concept of the Rightfit agency is based on a different recruitment, which overcomes the barriers of conformity in the field. 200 client companies have completed their teams, in the last 3 years, with the support of Rightfit, and 10,000 candidates have been interviewed during this period, for various roles.
In October 2023, Rightfit launched the TogetHR digital solution on the market, which it used internally for a year, within the agency, to be tested and upgraded. The application is an innovative one, intended for recruitment, and is addressed both to HR departments in companies and to HR agencies. The first category will have the possibility to digitally manage jobs, candidates, and CVs and also generate reports related to the activity carried out, and in the case of the second category it will offer the possibility to recruiters to manage their clients in a centralized way.
Comments