Quiet Cutting vs. Quiet Quitting: What HR Must Watch Now!

Imagine a workplace where employees are doing bare minimum requirements of the job to avoid losing their jobs. Whereas employers on the other hand are unapologetically showing the exit door to employees in the form of often an unfair pink slip.

In the evolving and dynamic work era, the aforesaid imagination actually depicts a world of two trendy terms: “Quiet Cutting” and “Quiet Quitting”.

If a person is in HR, they should keep a close eye to these emerging terms. As these catchwords are more than just trendy fashionable terms, they are in fact reshaping how we think about work, loyalty, and how these are setting the employee-employer beats.

Therefore, understanding these phenomena is crucial for both individuals steering their careers and organizations determined for a productive workforce. Let’s deep dive into interplay of both sneaky trends!

”Quiet Quitting”, gained popularity in the post-pandemic era. It describes an employee deliberate decision to do minimum requirements of their job description. Although they work efficiently during their office hours, but somehow fail to think out of the box, decline to take on extra projects, or respond to emails outside of their designated shift work hours.

This trend is often accelerated by job stress and employee burnout, a desire for better work-life balance, or a feeling of being undervalued and underpaid. This mindset psychologically detaches them from the workplace where loyalty starts to fade and a silent protest against the expectation of constant availability begins.

“Quiet Cutting” on the other hand is a more recent trend from the employer’s perspective. It is described as organization’s subtle efforts to create a bearable environment where employees feel insecure, undervalued and start thinking to exit the workplace.

This strategy relies on indirect workplace dressing rather than directly terminating their employment. Reassigning an employee to a less desirable role, reducing their responsibilities, withholding opportunities for growth or promotion, or simply neglecting to provide then with the resources or support needed to succeed could be some typical examples of quiet cutting phenomenon. It’s a passive-aggressive form of downsizing, shifting the onus of departure onto the employee.

The implications/differences of both trends are huge: Quiet Quitting:

• An employee driven initiative.
• A form of boundary setting.
• For individuals, it can lead to greater personal well-being for employees but may also limit career advancement if not managed strategically.
• For organizations, its existence signals a need to re-evaluate their compensate, culture, and employee engagement strategies.

Quiet Cutting:

• An employer-driven strategy.
• Often a cost-cutting measure (but more than just about saving money).
• A way to manage underperformance without issuing a formal notice of termination.
• Can be incredibly damaging to an employee’s morale, self-esteem, and financial stability.
• Can erode trust, damage employer brand, and ultimately lead to a less engaged and productive workforce.

Relevance to HR
One must be thinking what HR had to do with all of that. Well, these sneaky trends are secretly jeopardizing workplace morale, productivity, and trust. Interplay of both trends is creating a not-so-early-ending cycle of disengagement. Employees quietly quit because they feel unrecognized, unappreciated and often reach burnout; employers quietly cut to cushion their frustration with low productivity and longing for cost cutting. As HR is often perceived as referee to the game where both teams/trends are secretly cheating, it needs stay ahead and prevent workplace from becoming and endless battlefield.

Role of HR HR folks - it’s time to pull your socks up and vouch for these sneaky trends which at times can be tricky to spot on.

1. Identifying Red flags in Quiet Quitting: Here’s what to look for “Quiet Quitting”:
   

• Assess Employee Behaviour: Employees working strictly to their JD’s, killing their time, refusing extra tasks are some of the behaviours notifying the existence of trends.
• Boundary-setting slogan filling in everywhere: Situations where more focus is given on “Work life balance” to avoid anything beyond core or basic job responsibilities. While hoping for work life balance and the associated traits may not be entirely wrong. Due care shall be taken in differentiating between employees protecting their well being and those who’ve mentally checked out. Open communication, transparency and nurturing focus on mental respect can help HR dig out the root cause and fix it within time.
• Detachment and disengagement: Low morale, decreased motivation and lack of participation in team meetings shall not be ignored.

2. Catching red flags in Quiet cutting before it backfires:

Here’s what to look for “Quiet Cutting”:

• Immediate Role Restructurings: Employees being reassigned to less meaningful tasks or projects with no clear explanation.
• Employee Appraisals and promotion Freeze-out: High-performing workers constantly side-lined and ignored in appraisal and promotion cycles.
• Deliberate and Tactical Resource Deprivation: Employees suddenly losing access to budgets, tools, or support need to do their jobs.

3. Tracking the Trends: Being associated with HR, your work doesn’t end after identifying or vouching for these trends. In fact, you have to keep the ball rolling right after it.

Here are some measures to tackle quiet quitting and quiet cutting with finesse.

• Foster Open Communication and set clear Expectations: Companies must create a culture where employees feel safe sharing concerns rather that fearing the consequences of speaking up. This will reduce occurrence of “Quiet Quitting”. Employees shall be communicated what is expected of them and clear paths for growth.
• Recognize and Reward: Underappreciation often gives birth to “Quiet Quitting”. HR shall work on providing a conductive environment where all wins (whether big or small) are celebrated, acknowledged and appreciated.
• Training and Development: Quiet cutting often starts with managers who don’t know how to handle underperformance or budget pressures. Such managers shall be trained and developed to deal with the pressure situations positively.
• Strike the balance with empathy: Be it an employee setting boundaries or a manager trying to cut costs, striking the balance with empathy shall be HR’s motive and biggest strength. HR shall understand both sides of stories and work toward amicable /mutual solutions.

Fostering trust, transparency, and engagement at all levels of the organization- you HR folks reading - yes you could be a superhero in your organization.

Through such proactive measures we can move beyond these silent struggles and build more sustainable and fulfilling working relationships for everyone involved.

Have you spotted quiet quitting or cutting in your workplace? We would love to hear your sneaky-trendy thoughts!

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