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Cruising on the rump of the Great Resignation is a trend gaining prominence, called “quiet quitting”.

Millennials might have popularised “burnout” – described as a state of physical or emotional exhaustion that also involves a sense of reduced accomplishment and loss of personal identity – but Gen Zs are actively trying to avoid it.

That is, by becoming quiet quitters, which doesn’t quite mean what it sounds like.

It’s less walking away from your job completely, and more renouncing hustle culture and burnout by adopting better boundaries for a work/life balance.

Fortune describes it as “the latest salvo in the pandemic-era tug-of-war between managers and junior colleagues over work-life balance, making the “hustle culture” of the 2010s a distant memory and replacing it with something of a comeback of Gen X’s 1990s-era slacker culture”.

TikTok user zaidleppelin popularised the phrase earlier last month, describing the phenomenon as quitting “the idea of going above and beyond at work”:

@zaidleppelin On quiet quitting #workreform ♬ original sound – ruby

Young workers are tired, overwhelmed, and dissatisfied, which is precisely the climate in which the four-day workweek is making massive waves.

Over to The Washinton Post:

Kathy Kacher, founder of Career/Life Alliance Services, said that “quiet quitting” is a new term for an old concept: employee disengagement.

But it’s arriving in a moment of “unprecedented burnout,” Kacher said. It’s coming in on the heels of the “Great Resignation,” which saw an average of nearly 4 million employees leave their jobs each month in 2021 amid clashes over flexibility and a widespread reevaluation of how work should fit into their lives.

It might be worth pointing out that from the perspective of capitalism, which is the system that created burnout in the first place, a lack of “employee engagement” sounds negative.

But putting up better boundaries so that you can actually find the time to enjoy this short life should not be looked down upon:

“If some one is giving their best in 40 hours and then want to spend rest of time for living isn’t terming/labeling that behavior quiet quitting derogatory?” a HomeAway employee asked earlier this week on Blind, an anonymous corporate messaging board.

“Quiet quitting: doing what you’re paid for,” one Palantir employee responded.

Don’t let the label catch you out:

– Huh, what is “quiet quitting”?
*reads*
– Oh. Setting normal boundaries. Working only the hours you’re paid for. Taking care of yourself.

Ok.
You should definitely do that.

— Patricia Aas 🐢🏳️‍🌈 (@pati_gallardo) July 30, 2022

PLOT TWIST: “quiet quitting” means “doing your job within the confines of work hours” pic.twitter.com/tCmRAfs4rZ

— Mia “longtime Milwaukee Bucks fan” Lastname (@themiasandrist) August 2, 2022

Workers aren’t “quiet-quitting” to avoid burnout. They’re refusing to have their labor stolen without compensation. Idk why there are so many bad articles about this

— Jorts (and Jean) (@JortsTheCat) August 17, 2022

Twitter is alight with the “quiet quitting” conversation, and so are Reddit, LinkedIn, and the global media.

Chinese Gen Zers and Millennials also coined their own terms to describe similar feelings of a lack of motivation in a work culture that rewards slaving away – “involution” and “lying flat”.

Across multiple platforms, work spheres, and economic hubs, Gen Zs are clearly doing their utmost to change the workplace as we know it.

As a Millennial, I am happy to sit back and watch it all unfold.

[sources:washintonpost&fortune]