What Is “Quiet Quitting” And Should You Try It?
The trend that's rejecting hustle culture.
A new trend of “quiet quitting” has emerged on TikTok, which rejects hustle culture and ‘girlbossing’ in favour of doing the bare minimum.
The trend coincides with recent employment trends such as the The Great Resignation, but instead of quitting your job entirely, TikTokers are encouraging people to do no more than what is expected in their job description.
Quiet quitting looks like finishing work on time, not coming in early, not answering emails or phone calls outside of work hours and declining tasks outside of the scope of your normal job description.
The trend rejects hustle culture and promotes the idea of getting fulfilment outside of work, rather than having your job be your entire life. Instead of finding satisfaction from being the hardest worker in the office, people are finding it from spending quality time with their loved ones, indulging in hobbies and simply relaxing.
According to TikTok user @zkchillin, whose video sparked the trend, work shouldn’t be your whole life.
“I recently learned about this term called ‘quiet quitting,’ where you’re not outright quitting your job but you’re quitting the idea of going above and beyond,” says @zkchillin in the TikTok.
“You’re still performing your duties but you’re no longer subscribing to the hustle culture mentality that work has to be your life. The reality is it’s not, and your worth as a person is not defined by your labour.”
The trend is, obviously, not appropriate for everyone — especially if you’re gunning for a promotion at work right now. It also isn’t the solution if you actively hate your job, in which case you should probably quit and find something less soul-draining.
But if you can tolerate your job and simply aren’t all that keen on climbing the corporate ladder, it could be an option for you.
Social media users are divided on the trend, with some claiming they’re still getting the same pay and same recognition for less work, while others claiming they were fired as a result — so do this at your own peril!
“Then when you do it you realise nothing at work matters and suddenly all the stress vanishes,” one social media user commented.
“I did this and should have been way more quiet about it,” another added.
“If your hourly doesn’t change. neither does my job description,” a third said.
While the term may be new and trendy, the concept of working to live, rather than living to work is far from original — and is particularly popular in Europe, where the average work week is shorter than in places like Australia and the US.