The co-founder of The Huffington Post has waded into the “quiet quitting” conversation with an optimistic vision of a workplace where staff are “joyfully joining” instead, which one critic slammed as “CEO-like garbage”.
The term “quiet quitting” was coined by TikTokker @zkchillin earlier this year, who described it as “not outright quitting your job, but you’re quitting the idea of going above and beyond” in his now-viral video.
“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,” he said.
Quiet quitting has been celebrated as an antidotal movement as swathes of Australians experience burnout from the pandemic, cover gaps amid labour shortages, or feel overall despondence from a lack of career progression ahead of them.
“This idea of quiet quitting could be considered a subset of the Great Resignation as this concept speaks to that ongoing trend that has come out of COVID-19,” Employment Hero people and culture manager Lauren Berry told SmartCompany.
“Individuals are re-evaluating their priorities and their work is front and centre of that re-evaluation for the first time in many years.”
But is that a good thing? In a LinkedIn post, Thrive Global CEO Arianna Huffington argues that we need to “keep [quiet quitting] out of our work lives”, arguing that the movement precedes a person “quitting on life”.
“Yes, we shouldn’t be defined by our work,” Huffington continued.
“But at the same time, if work is at least eight hours of our day, are we saying these are hours we’re willing to simply go through the motions, with the inevitable boredom that’s bound to ensue?”
Rose Zaffino, director of clinical services at LifeWorks tells SmartCompany that this is where a misunderstanding derails the conversation about quiet quitting.
“Quiet quitting may or might be misconstrued as people not wanting to work or pretending to work and therefore less productive, but this is not what is going on,” she said.
“It’s a term used to describe the ‘pulling back’ that people are doing to indicate they are renouncing the hustle culture and going 150% at their jobs by working long hours, never saying no and sacrificing their work/life balance to a point where it becomes unsustainable.”
Zaffino says she often works with people experiencing burnout, and one of the first things she asks them to think about is: what would scaling back over-performance to work at 100% actually look like?
“It is a good conversation employees are starting to have, where they are saying ‘I can only do so much in a day’ and are prioritising the balance between work, personal and family life so that they can survive the pace of life.”
But Huffington continues that its work that can “give us meaning and purpose”, as “part of a thriving life”.
“We should absolutely reject ‘hustle culture’ and burnout (I believe this so strongly I founded a company with that as its mission). But rejecting burnout doesn’t mean rejecting the possibility of finding joy in our work, loving our work,” Huffington said.
Zaffino counters that quiet quitting doesn’t necessarily mean that an employee doesn’t find joy in the work or love the work.
“Instead, it is about understanding your capacity so you are not exhausted to the point of burnout by work demands that seem endless. This contributes to feeling appreciated and valued, and to enjoying their job with less stress or feelings of resentment.”
Despite global burnout being at a backbreaking high — a study from Asana found approximately 70% of people experienced it in the last year — Huffington says that employees going “above and beyond” doesn’t always lead to burnout.
“Pushing ourselves beyond the bare minimum is how we grow, evolve and expand our possibilities,” she continued.
“The Great Resignation is still going on. If you’re not engaged by your job, there’s less stigma to simply switching jobs and finding one that motivates you.”
So, Huffington concludes, “instead of quiet quitting, how about ‘joyful joining’?”
“Rather than go through the motions in a job you’ve effectively quit on, why not find one that inspires you, engages you and brings you joy? We have, after all, a once-in-a-generation opportunity to redefine how we work and live.”
“Let’s not settle on quiet quitting.”
But not everyone agreed with her post. Head of creative at Sydney fintech Hnry Michael Beveridge described it as “the most CEO-like garbage I have ever read”.
“I am truly in awe of this attempt at shifting the energy back to hustle culture — which the initial post was all about moving away from,” Beveridge said.
“People are now finding meaning and personal growth outside of work. They’re not doing the bare minimum with their friends, family, hobbies.
“The broad shift in culture is moving away from our parents beyond antiquated rule book of how to approach your behaviour with employment and, for the majority, that means clock in, clock out, and find your meaning in places that won’t terminate you due to market downturn.”
Girl Geek Academy founder Sarah Moran agreed, saying “Quiet quitting is what ‘giving your all’ looks like after more than two years of a global trauma”.
“You’d think CEOs would be happy [they’re] not experiencing ACTUAL quitting and crazy high staff turnover!”
Emma Elsworthy is Climate Editor at Crikey, SmartCompany, and The Mandarin, and writes daily morning newsletter the Worm. Before joining Crikey in 2021, Emma was a breaking news reporter in ABC’s Sydney newsroom, a journalist at BBC Australia, and a journalist in Fairfax Media’s regional network. She was part of a team awarded a Walkley for coverage of the 2019-2020 Black Summer bushfire crisis, and won the Australian Press Council prize in 2013.
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