How HR Leaders Can Turn the Tide on #QuietQuitting

Over the past several weeks, I’ve become intrigued with the concept of “quiet quitting” that has taken off on social media. When I first heard the word, I admit my mind went to a scene in the movie “Office Space”, where Peter Gibbons is casually playing Tetris while his boss, Bill Lumbergh, is attempting to have a serious conversation with Peter about TPS Reports.

As I’ve read the articles on the matter, I’ve seen a few common perspectives that I’ll summarize briefly: 

It’s the Manager’s Fault 

In many articles, a common stance is that managers are the ones to blame for this trend. The claim from these authors is that managers don’t care enough about their employees and as a result, employees are becoming disengaged and not motivated to put forth the discretionary effort. 

It’s the Employer’s Fault

Another school of thought is that employers foster a culture where there is no regard for work-life balance and that employees in today’s business world are overworking their people and leading them to burnout. Additionally, there is the claim that employers aren’t intentional about engaging their people and making them feel connected to the organization. 

It’s the Employee’s Fault

Many authors have also claimed that today’s employees, specifically young employees, are not motivated, lack work ethic, and act entitled before they’ve earned a promotion or “paid their dues” to an organization. 

Speaking personally, I think that a multitude of factors contribute to an employee “quitely quitting”, and this is not a new problem in the workplace. Low employee engagement has been a challenge employers have been facing for years, but only recently have individuals coined a special phrase to describe it. But, instead of focusing on why this is happening or who is to blame, I believe it is more effective to focus on how to manage it and help get employees connected to their work, their organization, and their team to be engaged. 

That said, I’d like to offer a few ways that HR leaders can turn the tide on this trend and be a positive influence in their organizations. 

Refocus on Employee Engagement Strategies 

I was fortunate enough to be featured in this article from Harvard Business Review as a result of the work we did at BKD to improve employee engagement. In this article, I discussed the business case for focusing on employee engagement. My primary claim was that when we have highly engaged employees, discretionary effort increases (i.e. less “Quiet Quitting”). But unfortunately in many organizations, employee engagement does not get the attention it needs to truly have an impact on the business. To change this, HR leaders need to take the initiative to develop a strategic plan to address employee engagement. According to the article, here are a few top employee engagement best practices: 

• Use survey results to improve the employee experience

• Provide regular feedback to employees at all levels

• Use consistent tools to assess engagement across the organization

• Share engagement results transparently across the organization

• Place equal accountability on managers, HR, and employees for engagement  

Empower Managers with Effective Coaching Strategies 

Even if a manager has the best of intentions, they may still struggle with motivating their employees to give discretionary effort. This has become an even bigger challenge in today’s remote work environment, where managers aren’t always able to interact with their people like the days when everyone was in the office. For these reasons, it is critical that managers are empowered with the right tools to be effective coaches. This includes: 

• Manager training that incorporates guidance on today’s hybrid work environment 

• Guidance on how to have productive conversations with their teams on employee engagement  

• Education on how to have effective development conversations 

If employees aren’t being coached properly, there is a high probability that their engagement will be low and they will feel disconnected to their organization, their team, and their work. Empowering your managers with the skills they need is one of the best ways to improve engagement levels. 

Take a Fresh Look at Flexibility 

Lastly, to create the best chance for high levels of engagement, HR leaders need to be advocates of progressive flexibility policies. Throughout the pandemic, perspectives on flexibility have changed, but one thing has remained constant - employees are no longer going to expect to be in the office five days a week. As leaders take a fresh look at flexibility policies, each organization will have a different solution that fits their business, but above all, it is important for employers to listen to what their people need and what solution will make them the most productive and engaged. 

If you are in need of some assistance or would like someone to empower your managers with effective tools, I would love to have a conversation with you. Feel free to get in touch here!