Are you working harder than everyone else? Here’s how to know if your colleagues are ‘quiet quitting’ and doing the bare minimum… and what to do about it

It’s 5pm and you’re sweating on your keyboard as you work through mountains of work. Seems like a late one again. By the time you get home, your food will be in the dog. Yet the entire team is working on it this week. But what do you see across the top of your screen? Your colleague – computer off, jacket on – quickly leaves the office. Again! This person has not been contributing ideas to meetings lately and leaves punctually every day. They barely meet their job description. Could it be that they…quietly stop?

“Stopping quietly is a way of working where you do your job in the strict sense of the word,” says entrepreneur Ben Askins. “You follow the letter of the law, in that you show up when you’re supposed to, but you do the bare minimum. You do everything you can not to get fired, but you don’t go to extremes. You don’t put any extra effort into it. You do what it takes to complete your employment contract.’

Is such an attitude outrageous – ‘Oh, it’s so unfair, they should work hard!’ – or can it be justified? And what are the signs? Ben, whose 766,000 TikTok fans follow him for his smart advice on working life, explains how to tell if your coworker is quietly quitting, why he or she might do it, and whether trying it yourself is a good or bad idea… .

What are the trademark features of QQ?

Quitting quietly is about changing behavior. There will be an element of telling the time: they will enter and leave almost exactly on time, and even try their luck. They communicate less and emails and messages become a little shorter. They won’t talk to you as much. You will notice their waning enthusiasm. If they have lost the love for their work, it will also show in the way they deliver work, or the actual work itself, and how much they get done. There will also be less initiative shown – and you may find that they avoid taking on a new project or volunteer role. When they’re dealing with customers, they’re going to have less contact with them than they used to, and you might get feedback on that.

Who is actually to blame here?

I have no problem stopping quietly. Too often we focus on what the employee isn’t doing, rather than what the company isn’t doing. If you’re a business owner or manager, you need a high-performing team to do your best work. If half the team quietly stops, you are do something wrong, not them. It should raise questions among those in charge about why employees drop out and what you need to do to get them back on track. Technically, they are doing what they are paid to do. If you want them to do something more, it’s up to you to encourage or motivate them to get involved again and get results.

Why do people quietly quit?

I think ‘stopping quietly’ is part of the natural cycle of long-term work anywhere. We all experience ups and downs. If you work at a company for ten years, there will be periods when you enjoy it, love the challenges, work late and give it your all. But every now and then you will experience times when work is not a priority. There may be something going on in your personal life, perhaps family related. There will be a reason why your career takes a back seat and you put in less effort.

‘Stopping quietly is a work approach in which you do your work in the strict sense of the word,’ says entrepreneur Ben Askins (photo)

Should you try it if you’re burned out?

If you are burned out, it is for a reason. Something isn’t right. If so, quitting quietly becomes a legitimate move. If you’re running a marathon, you might slow down your pace occasionally so you can make it to the end. So there’s nothing wrong with consolidating your energy, recharging it and then getting back to it. If you’ve had an intense few months, you may need to take it easy. We can’t be on all the time and everywhere.

What if you are the boss?

Start an honest conversation. Listening gives people a boost, and often the problem turns out to be a few small things that can be solved. Ideally, you would reach out and say, “I’ve noticed that you’re not quite yourself. And in this and that case your work is not up to your usual standard. What’s wrong? Is there anything the company can do to help?’ Money and salary may be part of that, or they may feel like their role has stagnated and they need change and challenge. They may want to work more flexible hours. Or it could be a personal event that affects their professional life. There is so much you can do to help an employee reengage.

If you are an employee, can QQ backfire?

Quitting quietly can definitely backfire on you. If you normally perform at 80 percent and are now performing at 60 percent, your manager will notice. A good boss would recognize that when a normally diligent employee withdraws, it is his/her job to find out what is wrong and help him/her out. But if a company thinks you’ve gone too far, they may take the step of removing you. My argument is that if they fire you immediately and without discussion, you did the right thing in getting out of there.

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