By Benjamin Lyngdoh
“Through social media, many have become aware of its meaning and nuances in recent months. The term ‘quiet quitting’ was coined in 2009 but the condition is not new. Today, it has become a buzzword thanks to a number of TikTok clips that have been doing the rounds. It basically refers to work/motivation culture whereby the worker does just the bare minimum that is required and expected of him/her.”
A youth sat at an eatery at Golflinks in Shillong. It was early evening. While sipping on his coffee his eyes were set on the lush green hillocks of the golf course. But, something was not right. His gaze was somewhere else. He looked anxious, perplexed and lost. On seeking permission from him on whether we could converse, a short but meaningful discussion took place. The youth works in a typical government office and is dissatisfied with the work climate and its manner of functioning. He explains that he has been sitting at the golf course for quite some time now and narrates on being dissatisfied, irritated, sad and angry at the state of things. On most days, he ventures out early from the workplace after doing just what he is supposed to do on a daily basis. There is no motivation to do more or better and the commitment level is zero. This encounter has been put on this column with his permission.
The phenomenon is known as ‘quiet quitting’ and is becoming a serious problem these days. Through social media, many have become aware of its meaning and nuances in recent months. The term ‘quiet quitting’ was coined in 2009 but the condition is not new. Today, it has become a buzzword thanks to a number of TikTok clips that have been doing the rounds. It basically refers to a work/motivation culture whereby the worker does just the bare minimum that is required and expected of him/her. There is no motivation, dedication, drive and commitment to do more and contribute extra in work and other duties. There is an air of discontent at work. For example, a data analyst in a firm has access to a plethora of data and numerous programmes through which the data could be richly analysed. But, since the worker is not happy with the supervision style of his superior/employer he/she does just a basic analysis without going the extra mile towards serious analytics which would have really helped in decision-making processes and policy formulation and implementation. Under quite quitting, a worker tends to enter work late and looks forward to close of office. Whenever possible a worker will always look to leave office early.
Although quiet quitting is mostly related to work and employer-employee relations, the ramifications are far wider. If we are really observant, we will find quiet quitting everywhere. It is there in our households, educational institutions, public and private offices, locality affairs, politics, the drive to bring change in society, etc. We are becoming more inclined to do just the required minimum in everyday affairs and life. The most worrying case is that of students. This is because if they are gripped by quiet quitting, then all future is lost. Over time there is a tendency for student-teacher lethargy and conformity to accepting things the way they are. The belief that there can be no change has started seeping into the thought processes.
In social life, it is every man for himself. The good human nature to help and be of use for a social good has diminished. In politics, the voters have ‘quiet quitted’ at large. They see no hope in elections and government. The rot is such that even politicians themselves do engage in quite quitting. They only do what is needed and that too mostly for their own constituency. Things are done out of compulsion and not out of the feeling of duty. There is no concern for carrying the people towards a better well-being.
In truth, the phenomenon is more than meets the eye. By not being motivated and having high commitment levels right from school to work to society and politics, etc, the result of such a lackadaisical attitude impinges upon development as a whole. It is an accepted fact that the more hard working are the workers, the more and better are the development outcomes. Quite quitting is detrimental to the process of development. It is anti-development and goes against the very ethos of a responsible human being. By being less motivated right from school means that it would hamper the quality of future workers. As they grow, they would work less and try lesser and not push themselves to try new and better things. In future, as they work at different levels they will become complacent and not try to improve in their careers and life. By being depressed and with the temptation of alcohol and drugs aplenty, it is a serious problem facing us today. It is a vicious cycle. But there is a catch, if the workers are quite quitting then there must be something wrong in the functioning of the employers too. It cannot be a one-way traffic. There is a high probability that the employer themselves are not professional, lack understanding, lack empathy, are exploitative, do not promote work-life balance, etc.
As a way out, there are a number of things that can be looked into. First, a workplace could develop a practice of continuous evaluation of employer-employee relations. There is a common saying that workers are complex beings, but then so are employers. In fact, employers are the direct reason for quiet quitting. Hence, an open channel of two-way communication, empathy and care can go a long way in mitigating the problem. If workers are expected to go the extra mile, then so are employers. Second, homes and educational institutions are expected to do bulk of the work. Quiet quitting can be seen in a simple case as a child who does not do his/her class work and homework properly. For example, they do painting but there is a lot of room for improvement but the child is not willing to do more. This can be taken as the very first indicator of quiet quitting. Such a situation is to be nipped in the bud. Third, there are rehabilitation centres for addicts. Well, do not let it get to such a stage. Addiction results from lack of motivation in life. As such, rehabilitation/counselling centre for the struggling youth can go a long way in dealing with the problem early; before they get to drugs and alcohol. Such centres can be set up at the Dorbar/locality levels.
In the final analysis quiet quitting is a ticking time-bomb. It is like a cancer that is eating into our homes, schools and society as a whole. Those heading institutions and workplaces should intervene and try and reverse the phenomenon. The hallmarks of a human being are mostly developed when at school. This is one of the reasons as to why so much stress is laid on school education. Today, the role of a teacher is not confined to just teaching hard social studies, science and mathematics, etc. It is about understanding nuances like quiet quitting. The marks of a student may be very high; yet there still may be obvious signs of quite quitting. Observe closely, we as teachers will all be surprised and alarmed at the gravity of the problem!
“Although quiet quitting is mostly related to work and employer-employee relations, the ramifications are far wider. If we are really observant, we will find quiet quitting everywhere. It is there in our households, educational institutions, public and private offices, locality affairs, politics, the drive to bring change in society, etc. We are becoming more inclined to do just the required minimum in everyday affairs and life.”
(The writer teaches at NEHU; Email – [email protected])