Doing the minimum at work, the trend of “quiet quitting” – rts.ch

Doing the minimum at work, the trend of “quiet quitting” – rts.ch
Doing the minimum at work, the trend of “quiet quitting” – rts.ch

“Quiet quitting” or “silent resignation” is a phenomenon that consists of doing only the bare minimum at work, to preserve one’s mental health or personal balance. A trend that seems to be gaining more and more followers.

Do not work overtime, refuse to be contactable outside office hours, perform only the tasks corresponding to his function… “Quiet quitting” or “silent resignation” is a phenomenon which consists in doing only the strict minimum at work. This is not a real resignation, but rather a disinvestment vis-à-vis the latter.

Very popular on social networks, Anglicism has spread like wildfire on TikTok where it has accumulated millions of views. In a video that has gone viral, an American user named Zaiad Khan sums up the term like this: “You’re still doing your job, but you’re no longer mentally buying into the burnout culture that work should be our whole life… Work is not your life and your value is not indexed to your productivity.”

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Preserving your mental health

“Working according to my contract, doing my hours and what is expected of me without going beyond that, this is my definition of a silent resignation”, testifies an employee who preferred to remain anonymous at 7:30 p.m.

“Since I started working with this mindset, I really feel like I have a better balance, to refocus on what I want to do and not to kill myself anymore. task”. She adds: “I thought about quitting but I didn’t want to because I enjoy my job. What’s wrong is an unhealthy atmosphere due to hierarchy and bad management.”

Quiet quitting is therefore akin to a well-being strategy: the refusal to no longer give everything for work in order to preserve one’s mental health. “Resigning internally is a sign of protection, it is not a voluntary choice. I disengage to preserve myself from a situation where I can no longer cope”, analyzes Catherine Vasey, psychologist specializing in burn -out.

>> Listen to the Point J episode: Podcast – Will I burn out?

Catalyzed by the Covid

The term can also be related to the “big quit” (or “big quit”) observed in the United States at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic and where nearly 41 million Americans had left their jobs. The health crisis, the change of pace caused by confinements and teleworking have pushed workers to more introspection.

“The phenomenon is not new. What is changing now is that we dare to talk about it”, explains Catherine Vasey. “It’s an evolution of our society towards a quest for meaning. We also want to be the best of ourselves in our private lives as parents, as friends, by volunteering or as politics, for example,” she adds.

If this reaction of the employees is not surprising for François Gonin, specialist in human resources, the movement has what to worry the companies.

“These are structures that work because employees disobey, go beyond their specifications… It’s because there is intelligence in the situation that they work. If we only do what is in our specifications, it’s the death of companies”, he analyzes. “It is up to human resources to re-establish a bond of trust with the employee, to show recognition. Put in place a management that puts the employee at the center to better grow this collective intelligence”, he concludes.

TV Subject: Fanny Moille

Web adaptation: Sarah Jelassi

The article is in French

Tags: minimum work trend quiet quitting rts .ch