When watching for signs of burnout, a quiet quitter is a red flag. Quiet quitting has always been a problem in the workforce, but since the pandemic, the matter has become a rising priority for modern managers. A quiet quitter is someone who does the minimum required to keep their job and no more.

They sit quietly at their desk and do not cause problems, but they also never take extra assignments and may actively avoid the burden of additional work or responsibilities. This has become an especially acute problem in the aftermath of the pandemic where trauma and stress are still high. Fortunately, there are ways to prevent and treat quiet quitting within your team.

How COVID Changed Employee Values

During the pandemic, many professionals went through a harrowing experience. Quarantine, isolation, family illness, and working from home all added new stress. People worked hard to make it through, but two issues became spotlighted: Burnout and the importance of a healthy personal life.

First, the stress of video meetings and intrusive management tactics increased the feeling of inescapable burnout. Working at home caused some managers to go overboard demanding 24/7 responsiveness or live productivity management in mouse movements by the minute.

Second, people realized that their family, home life, and personal wellness mattered and an uncaring job didn’t fit. As a result, many de-prioritized work – especially those being mistreated or mismanaged.

When post-pandemic conditions did not result in a significant change in conditions, those still at home and those back in the office were disappointed. Quiet quitting became a natural response. A responsible choice to hold down the job, but with no remaining motivation to do their best.

How Managers Can Address and Prevent Quiet Quitting

How can you, as a manager, help quiet quitters on your team and prevent quiet quitting in the future? Understanding the current influences on employees and their work morale makes a big difference.

1. Evolve With the Times to Avoid Quiet Quitting

Times are changing. Employee values and available workflows are changing. Those managers struggling the most are the ones still holding on to old ideas about how the business world works. The tools available, the way you structure roles, and even the way executive power should be used have evolved slowly over the last thirty years and very rapidly over the last three years.

2. Cut Down on Employee Work

Lighten workloads and overachiever expectations. Post-covid burnout can still be smelled in the air, and the rising cost of living is not doing any favors to household stress levels. If you’ve been piling on the workload, find a way to level it off. Quiet quitters, especially, respond better to interesting and approachable work while they will quickly tune out of a seemingly impossible pile.

3. Stay Out of Employee Off-Time

Let employees enjoy their off-the-clock time without thinking about work. If you write emails over the weekend, send them on Monday. If you think of texts overnight, send them no more than an hour before work on Monday. Minimize work intrusion so that your team won’t learn to ignore work messages. If you want a jump-to-priority response, make sure to keep that channel clear for priority requests.

4. Minimize Your Meetings

Hold shorter and fewer meetings. Many employees are burned out on live and virtual meetings. Use agendas to keep your meetings efficient and send emails for messages where a meeting is not necessary. If you need verbal confirmation for security or procedure reasons, a quick video-chat nod takes minutes, where meetings are booked 30 often less-than-useful minutes at a time.

5. Allow Remote Work and Hybrid Teams to Reduce Quiet Quitting

Let your teams work from home or the office. This is not only more flexible, it’s also more accessible. Allow employees to work from home when they have health concerns, must care for a family member, or simply need to unwind from the workplace. In fact, you’ll get more productive days with remote and hybrid flexibility than simply with a vacation day system.

6. Prioritize Workplace Happiness

When employees are in the workplace, prioritize workplace happiness. Design the office to be uplifting and ergonomically useful. Welcome employees when they arrive and accommodate their preferences – or let them accommodate themselves. Personalized, well-designed workspaces purpose-built for the work at hand can do a lot to relieve burnout caused by frustration or isolation.

7. Offer Enrichment Opportunities

Offer your quiet quitters a chance for positive professional change. Offer them training or more interesting projects. Remind them of their forgotten specialties and passions. Pull out your notes from their initial interview and consider offering more work tasks or opportunities they once cared about in the past. If your quiet quitter simply thinks the job has nothing for them, prove them wrong. Recapture the attention and ambition of the people still capable of caring.

8. Get Rid of Zombies

Finally, when you have done everything you can do to support, engage, and motivate your team, you may choose to fire the true zombies for whom quiet quitting has become a way of life.

Learn More About Quiet Quitting

Quiet quitters don’t typically want to quit. It’s an early form of burnout that has become very common in the post-pandemic workforce. If you detect quiet quitting on your team or suspect a team member is sliding in that direction, offer support instead of reprimand. Take burnout-reducing measures and offer a personalized solution like more engaging projects or a more considerate schedule. Reduce intrusion, increase opportunities, and be prepared to evolve to find the most uplifting and productive solutions for everyone on your team.

Here at Bishop & Company, we are dedicated to making strong employment connections in the face of an evolving workforce. To work with a hiring team that understands the trends and challenges of the modern workforce, contact us today.