What is really behind quiet quitting and how do you stop it

At its foundation, people are feeling like they’re not recognized. They’re not getting the visibility they deserve. They’re not getting the career advancement they want. They’re not being seen, and this is what they are telling us. Welcome to the Managing Made Simple podcast, where I bring a decade of experience working in some of the most influential companies in tech to help you navigate the ins and outs of being a people manager from conflicts to feedback, to delegating and more.

We will leave no stone unturned when it comes to what makes us love managing, kind of hate it and everything in between. Doesn’t matter if you’re a new manager looking for some tips or a seasoned manager looking up their game. Everyone is welcome to hang out with Managing Made Simple. Let’s go. Welcome back to the show. It’s been about a year since the concept of quiet quitting came on the scene, and I feel like since then there has literally been a new workplace trend coming out.

Every week it was quiet, quitting, then it was bare minimum Monday. Now I’m hearing about conscious quitting, and I know as a manager, as a team leader, this can be really scary. Like we’re supposed to be doing more with less right now. And there’s all these trends. Talking about doing the bare minimum or not. Kind of just sort of just showing up, not gonna, not gonna give it my all. And first I wanna talk about, I think the problem with these trends is that they paint a picture like people aren’t working very hard.

And this is really concerning because I don’t agree with it. I think everyone I’m talking to, everyone I’m seeing is really working hard and I think. In trying to establish boundaries with these concepts, people are actually doing a disservice to the work that’s actually happening, and it can fuel some of the conversation around needing to monitor employees around that. We have too many employees in many situations, and so I’d really be mindful of promoting these workplace trends because it can really work against, I think, the goal that they, that they’re all about.

But, well, what is the goal that they’re. At, its at its foundation. People are feeling like they’re not recognized. They’re not getting the visibility they deserve. They’re not getting the career advancement they want. They’re not being seen, and this is what they are telling us. And when we think, oh, like, just work harder or you know, you bet you’re lucky you have a job because there’s layoffs or, you know, thinking that we can lead with, you know, fear and scarcity and, and demands and all these different things that we already know don’t work well.

They work less, right. And people engagement is low. Gallup keeps reporting, you know, engagement is going down. It’s, it’s lower than it’s been in years. Um, people are leaving the workplace in record numbers. We are seeing all the data telling us that people aren’t happy with the way things are going right now. And this doesn’t mean we should say, okay, let’s lower standards, let’s make work easier. Let’s make less work. No, this is an opportunity for managers and leaders to create more engagement on their.

Now, how do we increase engagement? Well, I wanted to share three ways to do that, but again, I would say if you are a manager and you are worrying about someone, you know, doing their bare minimum or kind of just like showing up to get by, this is a sign that person is missing something from the job. I just strongly believe with all of my heart, people are not like, oh, whatever. I don’t. When someone is disengaged, it’s because they aren’t feeling seen.

I just said this, but I have to reinforce it, that they are not getting something they need. And why do people come to work? Well, besides getting paid, they wanna have a sense of meaning and a sense of purpose and a sense of belonging. They want to know that when they work, it matters. It means something that they’re not just a cognitive machine. So if this is what is fueling these, It’s not just people decided I don’t really care about working anymore.

So if that’s what you’re thinking, you are wrong. Because I strongly believe people want to work hard, they wanna do good work, they wanna be advancing. That’s why they’re there. So we need to tap into that. We need to trust that belief, and then we can support our teams. So here are those three ways we do it. Number one is creating opportunities proactively. For building recognition and visibility. Now, this means making sure your team members know, Hey, when you’re not in the room, I’m still advocating for you that I understand your career goals and I’m trying to open doors and create opportunities for you to be reaching these things.

This is what we do, and when we know that, when we see that, oh see. Okay. You know, I don’t have to do all the work. So like, Hey manager, look, I did this, I did this. Right? We know that someone’s in our corner really amplifying our accomplishments and our work and making sure we’re getting seen. So this is a critical thing of saying, Hey, I understand recognition’s important. I understand as a manager, as a leader, I have more access to other leaders and opportunities.

I’m going to show up for you in this way. That’s the first one. The second one is about helping connect the dots to your team members around what they do and why it matters. So I mentioned people are really wanting a sense of meaning and purpose in their work. This is in all the data coming from Gen Z. Younger generations are saying, I, I need to feel that sense of purpose. And so we can actually really contribute to this as managers by helping people see, hey, here’s how your role fits into the bigger picture, fits into the vision for the company, fits into our mission, fits into the priorities.

Here is how it all comes. This is critical for reducing these feelings of disengagement because I see, well, I’m not just a cognitive machine. I’m not just like, you know, punching at the clock. I am actually doing something that matters, and a conversation looks like this. Like you could say, Hey, you know, your role as a customer service agent. This is critical because when our customers come to us and they’re feeling frustrated, they’re feeling stuck. You know, you are that frontline person here to change their.

Here to offer them support and without you in your role, we can’t do what we’re doing. We can’t grow, we can’t reach more people. We can’t help save lives or transform whatever the people’s experience are without you in that role. So thank you. And what you are doing matters and what you are doing every single day. That’s helping us forward our whole agenda for our company. Wow. Okay. Now, instead of just thinking, oh, who cares, I’m just a customer service agent.

You’re like, whoa, I matter. I’m important. And that is what people need to know. They need to feel. , they need to know they matter. Last but not least, and this is so, so important, they need to be treated like there’s life beyond this job. So the third thing that you can do is to help support them as whole people in their careers. Now, I think a lot of times when a manager talks about, you know, you know, where do you see yourself in five years?

Right? We think, we feel like we have to. Say, oh, here, I’m just gonna live in this company forever. But that’s not what people expect. So as a manager, you need to set that tone that you don’t expect that, that you see this person as a whole person that has so much potential beyond this job. And to have conversations like, Hey, you know, what are your bigger career aspirations? What, what’s next for you after this job?

. You know what? Where do you see yourself? You know, way beyond, you know, what are, what are some of your bigger goals for yourself? What are some of the skills that you really wanna be developing? When you have these conversations, not only do you create more loyalty and engagement, you build more confidence in your employees because they start to see themselves as more than just this job. And that’s also going to create more, you know, connection to the company, more connection to the work.

And it’s going to help fuel that engagement because people see, wow, I am being invested in, my company believes in me, my manager believes in me. My manager doesn’t think I’m just gonna do this. You know, like whatever job for the rest of my life, they get it. And I mentioned this, but it’s, it’s so powerful because the more we invest in our team members as people and show them, Hey, I understand that there’s life beyond this.

This creates more of a sense of certainty and uncertain environment. So this is really critical right now with all of the layoffs and uncertainty, showing your team members, Hey, I’m gonna help you build your transferable skills, knowing that this isn’t the job you’re gonna have forever. That, that creates, Hey, I, I trust this manager now I’m gonna stick around a little bit longer because I know this person’s investing me. I know I can get more out of this company, out of this job than I even realized.

So these are the ways that you combat these trends that of quiet quitting of bare minimum Mondays of, of all of these things that are coming. Is you show your team members that they matter. They’re not gonna feel disengaged when they feel like they matter. That is all we need. This is Maslow’s hierarchy of Needs. Okay? This is basics. But right now we are in a moment where people are saying, no, I’m not gonna do this anymore.

If my company doesn’t care about me, if I’m not aligned to the values, if I don’t have a sense of meaning here, I don’t have to do this. And so it is our job as leaders and as managers to support our. And that’s how you do it. That’s all I have for today. Thank you so much for tuning in to the Managing Made Simple Podcast where my goal is to demystify the job of people management so that together we can make the workplace somewhere everyone can thrive.

I always love to hear from you, so please reach out at liagarvin.com or message me on LinkedIn. See you next time.