<\/p>\n
By Brian Knowlton<\/p>\n
They are drawing a line at the 40-hour work week, limiting after-hours calls and emails and softly, saying \u201cno\u201d more often.<\/p>\n
Some workers are embracing the concept of \u201cquiet quitting\u201d as they push back against what some see as the stifling trap of constant connectivity.<\/p>\n
Maggie Perkins \u2013 who lives in Athens, Georgia \u2013 was racking up 60-hour weeks as a matter of course in her job as a teacher, but the 30-year-old realised after her first child was born that something was wrong.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s pictures of me grading papers on an airplane on the way to vacation. I did not have a work-life balance,\u201d Perkins says in a TikTok video about how she chose \u2013 though she did not have a name for it back then \u2013 to begin \u201cquiet quitting\u201d.<\/p>\n
Perkins told AFP she eventually left her job to pursue a PhD, but remains an advocate for her former colleagues \u2013 producing videos and podcasts with practical tips on making their workload fit inside their workday.<\/p>\n
\u201cAdopting this \u2018quiet quitting\u2019 mindset really just means that you are establishing a boundary that helps you to do your job when you are paid to do it \u2013 and then you can leave that, and go home and be a human with your family,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
\n@managermethod #quietquitting #worktok #hrtiktok #pov #worklife #workstress #corporate #hrtok #whattosay \u266c original sound \u2013 Manager Method <\/section>\n<\/blockquote>\n Work-life balance or slacking?<\/strong><\/p>\n
The buzzword seems to have first surfaced in a July TikTok post.<\/p>\n
User @zaidleppelin says: \u201cYou\u2019re not outright quitting your job but you\u2019re quitting the idea of going above and beyond. You\u2019re still performing your duties but you\u2019re no longer subscribing to the hustle culture mentality that work has to be your life.\u201d<\/p>\n
That post went viral, drawing nearly a half-million likes. Responses bubbled over with a sense of shared resentment \u2013 and newspaper columnists spilled ink all summer trying to decipher the phenomenon.<\/p>\n
For the debate soon erupted: Are \u201cquiet quitters\u201d merely trying to draw boundaries in pursuit of a reasonable work-life balance?<\/p>\n
Are they slackers with a trendy new name? Or are they people at genuine risk of burn-out \u2013 who would do best to quit outright?<\/p>\n
Data suggests the need for greater balance is real.<\/p>\n
\n@zaidleppelin On quiet quitting #workreform \u266c original sound \u2013 ruby <\/section>\n<\/blockquote>\n On-the-job stress rose from 38% of those polled in 2019 to 43% the following year as Covid-19 upended the world of work, Gallup found, with women in the US and Canada facing the most pressure.<\/p>\n
Similar dynamics helped fuel the \u201cGreat Resignation\u201d \u2013 the surge in employees leaving or switching jobs amid pandemic-related pressures.<\/p>\n
Many \u201cquiet quitters\u201d say they are perfectly willing to work hard, but only for the hours the job is meant to entail. Their motto: \u201cact your wage\u201d.<\/p>\n
Some observers are sceptical, contending that offices have always had their share of clock-watchers and prickly workers claiming certain tasks are not their responsibility.<\/p>\n
Arianna Huffington, founder of the Huffington Post, panned the phenomenon as \u201ca step toward quitting on life\u201d.<\/p>\n
But former US labour secretary Robert Reich summed up the \u2013 forceful \u2013 counterargument, saying: \u201cWorkers aren\u2019t \u2018quiet quitting\u2019. They\u2019re refusing to be exploited for their labour.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018Six months of dread\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n
A case in point: the experience of Bess, who asked not to be identified by her real name, illustrates how Covid-19 allowed some jobs to spill far outside their normal boundaries.<\/p>\n
She was hired shortly before the pandemic in a job originally meant to involve regular trips to Germany.<\/p>\n
!function(e,t,r){let n;if(e.getElementById(r))return;const a=e.getElementsByTagName(\u201cscript\u201d)[0];n=e.createElement(\u201cscript\u201d),n.id=r,n.defer=!0,n.src=\u201dhttps:\/\/playback.oovvuu.media\/player\/v1.js\u201d,a.parentNode.insertBefore(n,a)}(document,0,\u201doovvuu-player-sdk\u201d);<\/p>\n<\/div>\nBut, she said Covid-19 left her stuck in her New York apartment, having to take phone calls as early as 3am due to the time difference.<\/p>\n
Out of self-preservation, she began to dial back her efforts \u2013 which her American friends had trouble understanding.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is that stigma \u2013 you put your blood, sweat and tears into your job in the US, and if you don\u2019t work, you don\u2019t deserve to be here,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter six months of dread,\u201d Bess says, she stopped answering emails for several weeks \u2013 and ultimately parted ways with her company.<\/p>\n
Philip Oreopoulos, a labour economist at the University of Toronto, said one solution is better communications to clarify employer expectations before accepting a job.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you need to be on call at home, then they should clearly state that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
And if things do get out of hand \u2013 and quiet quitting won\u2019t fix the problem \u2013 aggrieved workers do have one asset to fall back on: a historically low unemployment rate.<\/p>\n
\u201cCome to an employer and say: \u2018I have an opportunity with another firm and I\u2019m thinking of taking it\u2019. It\u2019s a good time in general to be asking for a raise,\u201d Oreopoulos said.<\/p>\n