Quiet quitting, quiet firing, and how to tell if it is happening to you
If you’re a harried employee who suspects your manager is quietly firing you, is there a way to break the silence and save your job?
In either case, the solution begins with examining your own assumptions about what it means to be productive and do a good job. It also means finding objective, quantifiable ways of measuring job performance and quality that are clear to both employers and employees.
Employers looking at empty offices on Fridays or noticing a distinct lack of after-hours conversations on the intranet might think, “It’s quiet. Too quiet.” They may be concerned that their employees are using telecommuting and flexible working hours to put in less than an honest day’s work for a full day’s wages.
But a lack of 24/7 performative noise doesn’t mean the job isn’t getting done. The tightening of boundaries between work and personal time can seem like a easing — or it can mean workers making sure they have their full, undiluted concentration on their work responsibilities, and then doing the same for their free time. Working differently does not mean working less.
Employers who are concerned about quietly quitting should ask themselves: Is the work we pay for getting done? Do we have relevant, quantifiable metrics to judge the quality of this work? After all, if the output is good by those standards, does it matter where, when, and how it’s done?
Apparently, missed deadlines, unhappy customers, and unmet demand are objective output issues that need to be addressed. And if office presence and after-hours engagement proves essential to maintaining quality performance, employers should be able to explain why.
Problems with job performance can stem from causes beyond employees’ control – which is why it’s important to ask employees for their perspective when identifying performance issues. Your answers should make it clear whether it’s really disengaged workers calling, or something bigger and more systematic.
What if you’re an employee and suspect you’re being “quietly fired” — by a manager who can’t fire you but is making your work increasingly uncomfortable and unrewarding? Start again with a careful look within. Consider whether it’s possible that you’re underperforming and delivering less or less quality results than what you’re paying for.
Check your mental and emotional state and get a second opinion from an outside observer who knows you well. Burnout, anxiety, and depression have insidious ways of calming down in ways that are visible to everyone but their host.
If you think you’re performing as well as ever, but your manager still seems unhappy, make it clear that you want to be successful. Ask for quantifiable metrics of what constitutes good work so you and your manager can see when you’re hitting those objective levels.
That might not be enough to convince a manager who genuinely wants you out, but when you’ve struggled with self-doubt for months or years, it can be encouraging to see that your performance isn’t the issue, and the outcome this silent standoff is not in your hands.
Take, for example, the reader whose employer ordered everyone back into the office – but had the local office relocated to a hard-to-reach location. The reader said it seemed odd that the employer seemed willing to risk losing workers, including those newly hired during the coronavirus pandemic, by forcing them to make a difficult commute.
But then the reader recalled that the employer had recently opened a new facility in another state with lower labor costs and had moved more work, resources, and opportunities there. Once those dots were connected, the reader said, everything became clear: “Moving our local office to a cheaper, less accessible location was just another step in showing us the door. Secret revealed.”
While being repressed for any reason is disheartening, the reader found it strangely motivating to know the reason. “Your report suggests I’m part of a trend. Knowing that is power,” the reader wrote. “I’m doing an interview and I’m hoping that despite my age I’ll be able to land something on the job market soon.”
Knowing the business motive behind the silent layoff might also give this reader some financial leverage: A company poised to lay off employees might be willing to expedite the process with a severance package. But in my opinion, being freed from a pointless struggle to stay where you’re not valued is just as rewarding.