What’s happening

Over the past few weeks, the term “quiet quitting” has suddenly emerged to the center of debate about the American workplace. Thanks largely to a series of viral posts on TikTok, the phrase has evolved from an online discussion point to real-life controversy that has drawn the attention not only of workers but of the executives who manage them and the companies that employ them.

“Quiet quitting” is a bit of a misnomer, since it doesn’t actually mean leaving one’s job. Instead, the term describes a variety of ways in which workers reduce the time and energy they commit to their jobs.

In a post that now has more than 3.4 million views, TikTok user zaidleppelin described quiet quitting as a rebalancing of expectations. “You’re not outright quitting your job, but you’re quitting the idea of going above and beyond at work. You’re still performing your duties, but you’re no longer subscribing to the hustle-culture mentality that work has to be your life.”

Unlike the so-called Great Resignation, which featured record numbers of workers leaving their jobs over the past year, there’s no way to track how many people are quietly quitting at their jobs — or even if quiet quitting is a real phenomenon beyond a few attention-grabbing anecdotes. There is some evidence, however, to suggest that workers’ commitment to their jobs is very low. Recent polling from Gallup found that a large share of the U.S. workforce — including more than half of workers born after 1989 — can be classified as “not engaged” while on the job.

Why there’s debate

The emergence of quiet quitting as an ethos has been celebrated by some as an overdue correction to historic workplace trends and also derided as a risky trend that could harm individual workers and the economy as a whole.

Supporters of the movement say quiet quitters are merely fulfilling their duties as laid out in their job description, something that only seems remarkable in the context of exploitative workplace culture that is so pervasive in the U.S. Some economists argue that the current tight labor market and lingering resentment from the pandemic have given workers the power and motivation to wrest back control of their professional lives and free themselves to find fulfillment outside the office. Others say that even employers will benefit from having a workforce that is less prone to burnout — a problem especially pronounced in younger workers.