Why are employees quiet quitting?

Are you doing the bare minimum at work? You might be ‘quiet quitting’, and no, you are not alone in this. There are many others who are at exactly the same juncture as you, and this workplace trend is only rising.

A new study by researchers at the Stevens Institute of Technology examined why employees are quiet quitting their jobs. The multidisciplinary study, published in the journal Human Resource Management, analysed the reasons behind this rising workplace trend.

What is quiet quitting?

Quiet quitting is a term used to describe when employees do the bare minimum at work. They do not invest any extra effort and do not go the extra mile.

Quiet quitting is the phenomenon where employees do only what is required to keep their jobs. It is not formally resigning, but it is still ‘quitting’ any work and commitment beyond what is explicitly listed in their job description.

Why are people quiet quitting?

So, why are employees quiet quitting? The reasons vary, but in most cases, it is attributed to workplace issues such as job dissatisfaction, burnout, or a lack of purpose.

Though quiet quitting is not a new phenomenon, in the post-pandemic years there has been a definitive resurgence. This prompted two Stevens researchers to explore and pinpoint its underlying causes.

“We were seeing a lot of #quietquit hashtags and a lot of publicity about it,” Assistant Professor Justine Hervé, whose research focuses on labour economics, said.

“We were really puzzled by that resurgence and trying to understand what happened during the pandemic that caused this phenomenon to come back.” Assistant Professor Hyewon Oh, who studies consumer wellbeing and aims to help people lead happier lives, was also intrigued by the trend.

“As a consumer psychologist, I’ve always been interested in what shapes people’s sense of wellbeing and meaning in their daily lives. We started talking about quiet quitting and wondered — was it simply about disengagement at work, or was there something deeper happening? This phenomenon was overlapping with our research interests,” Oh said.

How does quiet quitting impact employers?

Quiet quitting does not necessarily have negative effects on employers. Why? Because employees are still meeting their targets.

“Quiet quitting means that employees are still doing what’s expected of them; they are still performing their duties. They are just not going the extra mile, not taking on extra tasks, and not devoting more time to their work beyond the required hours. That’s different from disengagement,” Hervé said.

“Refusing to perform tasks beyond what is required contractually does not necessarily imply disengagement during the agreed-upon work hours.”

Reasons behind the post-pandemic resurgence of quiet quitting

The researchers hypothesised that quiet quitting behaviour is linked to individuals’ reduced perception of control over their circumstances during periods of uncertainty, such as the pandemic. To test this, they recruited about 1,400 participants through CloudResearch, an online platform that offers survey data collection tools. Participants answered a series of questions about their perceived control over their lives.

The responses confirmed the hypothesis that a perceived lack of control over one’s situation could be a precursor to quiet quitting. Periods of uncertainty, such as political turmoil, economic instability, and health or climate crises, may diminish an individual’s perception of control over their environment.

“The pandemic represented an aggregate shock to one’s perception of control. There was a lot of uncertainty,” Hervé said.

From the employees’ perspective, quiet quitting can be explained through two channels: a high sense of replaceability and reduced affective commitment to the employer.

The researchers also noted that quiet quitting can be reduced. How? When employees have a voice, some autonomy, and a sense that their contributions matter.

“That doesn’t just mean giving employees more tasks or perks — it’s about creating conditions where they feel their work has impact, their input is valued, and they’re not easily replaceable. Managers can take small steps, like involving employees in decision-making, clarifying how their work connects to the bigger picture, or giving them ownership over meaningful projects,” Oh said.

Appreciation and voice are what truly matter. In work cultures where people feel unappreciated and voiceless, quiet quitting is only likely to increase. In the long run, this can lead to less enthusiastic and more detached employees.



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