All signs seem to point to quiet quitting being the ultimate burnout cure, but the honest answer is that it depends. Quiet quitting is ultimately employees setting boundaries, not only with their employer but with themselves.
Quiet quitting is a way for workers to regain control of their lives and avoid burnout or stress. It can be done in many ways, but the goal is to make a change by taking action.
Quiet quitting can be a beneficial practice that allows employees and employers to improve work focus, productivity, mental health, motivation, and culture. Therefore it should be embraced among all organizations looking for ways to manage employees and workloads efficiently yet healthily.
On one hand, quiet quitting has been described as maintaining healthy boundaries and a sustainable work-life balance—doing what you're paid for while prioritizing your mental health and personal priorities.
Relaxation techniques such as yoga, meditation, and deep breathing activate the body's relaxation response, a state of restfulness that is the opposite of the stress response. Get plenty of sleep. Feeling tired can exacerbate burnout by causing you to think irrationally.
Since burnout affects people differently, recovery time hinges on how a person experiences work-related exhaustion. Because of this variation, recovery time can take anywhere from a few weeks to several years.
Burnout is usually a slow and gradual process – one that tends to rob people of their passion, their motivation, and energy, leaving them instead with feelings of exhaustion, disillusionment, and frustration. But as overwhelming and infiltrating as burnout can feel, recovering is possible.
Higher turnover. If quiet quitting impacts morale and motivation, it may also lead to higher turnover. This is because team members who are unhappy with the situation may look for other opportunities where they can be happier and more productive.
While it may seem like disengagement or even insubordination, quiet quitting can actually be seen as grounds for termination in some cases. If an employee consistently does just the bare minimum, leaders of the company may get the wrong idea and penalize them for being unproductive.
Decreased morale: Quiet quitting can also create a negative workplace culture and make it difficult for the remaining employees to trust and rely on their colleagues. This can lead to decreased morale and productivity, which can ultimately harm the organization's success.
Reframe: Instead of quietly quitting, consider joyfully joining. As Arianna Huffington suggests, “rather than go through the motions in a job you've effectively quit on, why not find one that inspires you, engages you and brings you joy?
Quiet quitting is passive-aggressively checking out. Quiet quitters will be the first to be let go when the labor market cools.
Seen in this context, quiet quitting does not describe laziness so much as it does a refusal to be taken advantage of in an increasingly unequal economy.
Twenty-one percent of workers are 'quiet quitting,' choosing to put in only the bare minimum and just doing what they are paid to do. Additionally, 5% say they actually do less than what's required of them.
In short, quiet quitting has been popularized recently with employees that are just at a job for the paycheck and aren't really emotionally or intellectually engaged. It's about doing the bare minimum, and not going “above and beyond”.
Another related buzzword of 2023 is Bare Minimum Monday — or as Insider's Rebecca Knight and Tim Paradis wrote: "the TikTokian progeny of 'quiet quitting. '" While this involves doing just the minimum on Mondays, it's similar given quiet quitting includes not doing more than you are required to.
However, quiet quitting could be a sign that an employee is not happy in their position or is experiencing burnout. Quiet quitting is a way the employee deals with burnout to help alleviate stress. It may also mean they are ready to change positions or may be currently looking for another job.
Quiet quitting—and low morale in general—affects recruitment and retention. It also impacts productivity and efficiency on an organizational level. Rather than villainizing quiet quitting, Human Resource teams can use these signals to come up with thoughtful ways to better connect and align with employee needs.
The final stage of burnout is habitual burnout. This means that the symptoms of burnout are so embedded in your life that you are likely to experience a significant ongoing mental, physical or emotional problem, as opposed to occasionally experiencing stress or burnout.
How Long Does Burnout Last? It takes an average time of three months to a year to recover from burnout. How long your burnout lasts will depend on your level of emotional exhaustion and physical fatigue, as well as if you experience any relapses or periods of stagnant recovery.
Burnout doesn't go away on its own; rather, it will get worse unless you address the underlying issues causing it. If you ignore burnout, it will only cause you further harm down the line, so it's important that you begin recovery as soon as possible.
You don't always need a tropical vacation to fix burnout. There are other things you can do to restore your energy and get control of your stress. You can address burnout from home, even if you must continue working. Of course, a vacation is the easiest way to do that, but only because it gives you more time.
Moreover, burnout can lead to unrelenting stress, leading to relapse risk. When you feel that you have things under control, you are more inclined to motivate yourself physically mentally.