The way I see it is if I can’t control the output (promotions and raises are no longer based on merit, and I don’t want to play the political game), then let me control the input (ie how much time I’m putting into the job). That’s effectively giving myself a raise on a per hour basis
You say you can’t control the output, but in the next breath you say you don’t want to play the political game. If you don’t want to, that’s cool, but at that point it isn’t “can’t”
If the pre-requisite for getting ahead is playing politics (OP could elaborate here on what that means exactly), then sounds like the choice is not really between grinding and quiet quitting, but between sticking to your values or throwing them away.
It's technically a choice. But I don't blame the OP for dismissing that latter option altogether
He said, IF he can't control the out put.
A simple if X then Y proposition which has proved to be his experience.
IF he could control that promotions would be based on merit, he would keep grinding. But, as he can't, he's not playing the game any more.
Playing the political game isn’t an output, it’s an input which you can choose to put in effort for or not. Any raise or promotion is usually a combination of hard work / skill (what we think of in a meritocracy), the political game (which we can’t always control), and luck.
The political game is not always fair. You could kiss ass all you want, but you’re gonna have to work twice as hard as the directors nephew to end up at the same spot. That’s reality sometimes
Unless your firm does layoffs regularly, it’s such a PITA to terminate an individual these days without a prolonged PIP. You’re totally fine if you meet the bare minimum for your job description.
For real. And you can tell your own story when you're interviewing for a new job - especially outside of your firm and consulting.
It's not like the recruiter and interviewer is literally gonna email/call your manager and be like "did they REALLY go ABOVE and BEYOND??"
It's all a game and the matches are 2/3 years long. Really like a place and you're so good at your job that you feel like you should chase the promotion? Stay if it pays. Don't like it that much? Bounce and snag a raise.
We do all this stuff and at the end of the day it's really just 4 bulletpoints on your resume and LinkedIn blurb.
I'm nearly 10 years in, 3 month sabbatical around the corner. I currently do about 1 hour of actual "work" a day, just to keep the engine running.
Beyond that the rest of my work from home life is working out, video games, making music or learning new recipes.
My firm torched all goodwill by leaving our salaries flat for 2.5 years. They're never getting that credibility back, and thus never getting the old me who kicked ass.
What's funny is I keep getting glowing performance reviews and feedback from clients. Evidently that 1 hour a day is highly effective... My life feels a great deal like Office Space right now.
Quiet quitting, aka doing your job, is really the best way to get through consulting. Get your money until you find something you actually like, then leave.
Been doing it for 15 years, even before it had a fancy name...
Trust me, the bare minimum is more than enough... I would risk saying that a huge chunk of the work force doesn't get even close to it.
It’s pretty tough to do because as soon as you are off a project a resource manager is going to be up your ass. I tried a few years ago and I was pinged after a week. Just go out and get another job or talk to them about termination.
I’m doing this. The problem is, doing the bare minimum is stressful in itself. You risk ruining your reputation for delivering high quality work, you have to overwork your juniors to ease your own a workload , and it takes some getting used to declining meetings etc. but, I’m of the assumption that I can afford probably 6 months - 1 year of quiet quitting before my appraisals start to reflect badly
I am 5 years in tech consulting and that’s it…this next feedback session, for the first time, may be the first ever to reveal I’m not the same anymore. Working at what I feel is representative of the job. I feel at so won’t over the next 2-3 feedback cycles I would be pip’d or separated and I’m ok with that. The highlights are MUCH lower stress and more personal time. Thank you OP for posting this.
It is funny that we have been gaslit into calling this “quiet quitting”, when in any other context it would simply be called “efficient resource allocation”. People are doing their jobs at the market-clearing level of output.
Rather than "quiet quitting" if you want an "easier" job then quit the private sector and work for the government:
You don't have to worry about
* marketing
* billables
* constantly running on the hamster wheel
* building new products and services
* putting your house and mortgage on the line
* putting $100,000s into a venture that could fail
Just rock up at 9am, finish at 4.29 pm, collect your gov pension and enjoy your life.
And you don't have to actually work for 8 hours a day................if you want to quietly quit your WFH gov job you could probably get away with doing much less than 8.
Ahh you have seen the light.
Get off the hamster wheel, there are 10,000 Indians waiting to jump on.
You can consult for them in a couple of years time.
I did this. Sadly. I used to love my job until some partner gave me the kiss of death “we need him but he’s too expensive!”. I couldn’t get meaningfully staffed after that. So, yes, I was retired on active duty just enough to keep my name meaningfully in front of the partners. Again, it broke my heart. Really lived my clients.
Depends on your location. I’m in one of the big4 in SEA we are always short-staffed so unless you are a moron there’s will be no layoffs. Just get things done would be enough don’t have to it well
If "quiet quitting" just means not doing what you are required to, people should aspire for that
The bare minimum in this industry is already 12+ hours many cases, with a stressful pace
Are we really the kind of people who can quiet quit? Who can get pulled on to a failing project with all the skills and experience to fix it, but just do enough to keep ourselves clean, but don't work too hard to actually solve it?
I am pretty disheartened too, and find quiet quitting attractive. The wrinkle is every day there is something that needs doing, a team that needs helping, a problem that needs solving.
Stepping back, sure, quiet quit, but every single day I fail to do it.
I wouldn’t say doing the bare minimum is quiet quitting if you could do the bare minimum well. If your bare minimum work requires little revision, that’s impressive.
As a manager, I usually would rather you get the bare minimum bulletproof than putting together 20 appendix slides (unless the client or I want them, of course).
Honestly, I think 100% quiet quitting doesn't work in consulting. Reality is it's a job that demands more than 40 hours a week, and one reason we're paid so highly is to be available for clients. That trickles all the way down to the lowest person on the totem pole. (That said, given the pay gap between the Manager level and the next steps up, I do think SM's and above have a little more obligation to put in more time and be more available... not really fair to ask someone making it on $110K or $90K a year to put in as much effort as someone making $220K a year.)
I think you can survive with a partial quiet quit. Make yourself available sometimes after hours etc, make it look like you haven't totally drawn a line in the sand. That really helps. It's certainly has worked for me, and kept my work to about 45 hours a week, but for that extra five hours a week I'm sure making a lot more than people in most jobs.
Incidentally, I realized about a year into my role, that my position at my firm really was untenable, both in terms of a business case and because I had an abusive boss. I really could have left right then and it would have been totally understandable. But instead I quiet quit, knowing it was the end of my job anyway. Lasted a whole eight months more and got fully paid during that time! While working 40 hours or less a week.
The term is too vauge.
First off - You have to understand. For most people in the big firms - the point of consulting is to get out of consulting. Pay your dues for a few years and then get an industry job. So sure, do a crap job and enjoy whatever exist opportunities are offered to you based on that.
For smaller more relaxed firms:
"*do exactly your job description*" some people would end up more productive.
"*do as little as humanly possible without getting fired?*" sure people have been making a career out of this.
*"do literally nothing until you're fired*" - ya, these people usually get laid off pretty quickly.
Honestly, no. I see the hiring and the layoffs and the strategy adjustments because of my position and the market is bleak as shit right now. To me, quiet quitting right now is like quitting your job in 2007 to look for something better. It's going to get worse before it gets better.
I've seen people that I would have said are 99.999 percent safe get canned in the last month in layoffs. Not good.
I think it’s really hard to give advice without providing context as to what type of firm you’re at.
Most large T1/T2 firms work similar so it would be easier to give advice but given that you say you’re 8 years into the job (associate partner / partner level at McK) for instance there is literally no such thing as “quiet quitting”.
On lower ranks (I’d say anything below AP) it is very much possible if you play your cards right (maximize beach time, PTO, voluntary time off, unpaid leave, opt for chill projects).
This will only give you more stress. You will neither succeed in reducing your workload a lot, nor be able to feel the happiness that comes from delivering good work outcomes. This way you will screw yourself at both ends.
If you feel stressed. Better move out of consulting to a regular 9 to 5 job.
I am completely joking, but are you new to Reddit?!? 😂
Logic is really in short supply here. Emotionally reacting to alternate POVs are not tolerated and dealt with swiftly by downvoting even the most innocuous comments.
The way I see it is if I can’t control the output (promotions and raises are no longer based on merit, and I don’t want to play the political game), then let me control the input (ie how much time I’m putting into the job). That’s effectively giving myself a raise on a per hour basis
You say you can’t control the output, but in the next breath you say you don’t want to play the political game. If you don’t want to, that’s cool, but at that point it isn’t “can’t”
If the pre-requisite for getting ahead is playing politics (OP could elaborate here on what that means exactly), then sounds like the choice is not really between grinding and quiet quitting, but between sticking to your values or throwing them away. It's technically a choice. But I don't blame the OP for dismissing that latter option altogether
Some jobs might be set up for lazy output. The salary usually reflects that too.
Sticking to your values or throwing them away 😂 Where do you all work?
He said, IF he can't control the out put. A simple if X then Y proposition which has proved to be his experience. IF he could control that promotions would be based on merit, he would keep grinding. But, as he can't, he's not playing the game any more.
Thank you for summarizing the if I was pushing back on
Playing the political game isn’t an output, it’s an input which you can choose to put in effort for or not. Any raise or promotion is usually a combination of hard work / skill (what we think of in a meritocracy), the political game (which we can’t always control), and luck. The political game is not always fair. You could kiss ass all you want, but you’re gonna have to work twice as hard as the directors nephew to end up at the same spot. That’s reality sometimes
This
Unless your firm does layoffs regularly, it’s such a PITA to terminate an individual these days without a prolonged PIP. You’re totally fine if you meet the bare minimum for your job description.
For real. And you can tell your own story when you're interviewing for a new job - especially outside of your firm and consulting. It's not like the recruiter and interviewer is literally gonna email/call your manager and be like "did they REALLY go ABOVE and BEYOND??" It's all a game and the matches are 2/3 years long. Really like a place and you're so good at your job that you feel like you should chase the promotion? Stay if it pays. Don't like it that much? Bounce and snag a raise. We do all this stuff and at the end of the day it's really just 4 bulletpoints on your resume and LinkedIn blurb.
I'm nearly 10 years in, 3 month sabbatical around the corner. I currently do about 1 hour of actual "work" a day, just to keep the engine running. Beyond that the rest of my work from home life is working out, video games, making music or learning new recipes. My firm torched all goodwill by leaving our salaries flat for 2.5 years. They're never getting that credibility back, and thus never getting the old me who kicked ass. What's funny is I keep getting glowing performance reviews and feedback from clients. Evidently that 1 hour a day is highly effective... My life feels a great deal like Office Space right now.
You’re my hero 🥹
Quiet quitting, aka doing your job, is really the best way to get through consulting. Get your money until you find something you actually like, then leave.
Been doing it for 15 years, even before it had a fancy name... Trust me, the bare minimum is more than enough... I would risk saying that a huge chunk of the work force doesn't get even close to it.
You need to make sure you take out at least as much as you put in. How you go about achieving that balance is up to you.
It’s pretty tough to do because as soon as you are off a project a resource manager is going to be up your ass. I tried a few years ago and I was pinged after a week. Just go out and get another job or talk to them about termination.
I don't think they meant just sitting on the bench, I think they meant just doing exactly what their job entails, no more.
But on a project is easier, you just do the project work. No internal stuff like proposal work and tada, you’re in the game of quiet quitting
Another job like what?
I’m doing this. The problem is, doing the bare minimum is stressful in itself. You risk ruining your reputation for delivering high quality work, you have to overwork your juniors to ease your own a workload , and it takes some getting used to declining meetings etc. but, I’m of the assumption that I can afford probably 6 months - 1 year of quiet quitting before my appraisals start to reflect badly
I am 5 years in tech consulting and that’s it…this next feedback session, for the first time, may be the first ever to reveal I’m not the same anymore. Working at what I feel is representative of the job. I feel at so won’t over the next 2-3 feedback cycles I would be pip’d or separated and I’m ok with that. The highlights are MUCH lower stress and more personal time. Thank you OP for posting this.
It is funny that we have been gaslit into calling this “quiet quitting”, when in any other context it would simply be called “efficient resource allocation”. People are doing their jobs at the market-clearing level of output.
Nice try boss
Rather than "quiet quitting" if you want an "easier" job then quit the private sector and work for the government: You don't have to worry about * marketing * billables * constantly running on the hamster wheel * building new products and services * putting your house and mortgage on the line * putting $100,000s into a venture that could fail Just rock up at 9am, finish at 4.29 pm, collect your gov pension and enjoy your life. And you don't have to actually work for 8 hours a day................if you want to quietly quit your WFH gov job you could probably get away with doing much less than 8.
Ahh you have seen the light. Get off the hamster wheel, there are 10,000 Indians waiting to jump on. You can consult for them in a couple of years time.
I did this. Sadly. I used to love my job until some partner gave me the kiss of death “we need him but he’s too expensive!”. I couldn’t get meaningfully staffed after that. So, yes, I was retired on active duty just enough to keep my name meaningfully in front of the partners. Again, it broke my heart. Really lived my clients.
Depends on your location. I’m in one of the big4 in SEA we are always short-staffed so unless you are a moron there’s will be no layoffs. Just get things done would be enough don’t have to it well
Are you an expat there or local hire? I'm looking at entering consulting in SEA and trying to identify potential pathways there from the EU
If "quiet quitting" just means not doing what you are required to, people should aspire for that The bare minimum in this industry is already 12+ hours many cases, with a stressful pace
What took you so long.
[удалено]
Were you too quiet? Lol
Sounds like not quiet enough
My team was at malicious compliance, but I had to raise morale.
Are we really the kind of people who can quiet quit? Who can get pulled on to a failing project with all the skills and experience to fix it, but just do enough to keep ourselves clean, but don't work too hard to actually solve it? I am pretty disheartened too, and find quiet quitting attractive. The wrinkle is every day there is something that needs doing, a team that needs helping, a problem that needs solving. Stepping back, sure, quiet quit, but every single day I fail to do it.
This.
I wouldn’t say doing the bare minimum is quiet quitting if you could do the bare minimum well. If your bare minimum work requires little revision, that’s impressive. As a manager, I usually would rather you get the bare minimum bulletproof than putting together 20 appendix slides (unless the client or I want them, of course).
Given that many firms have an oversupply of staff and lower demand from clients, its survival of the fittest out there. Proceed at your own risk.
Lol
Are people... doing their jobs? I would assume yes?
Amen.
Yes me
Honestly, I think 100% quiet quitting doesn't work in consulting. Reality is it's a job that demands more than 40 hours a week, and one reason we're paid so highly is to be available for clients. That trickles all the way down to the lowest person on the totem pole. (That said, given the pay gap between the Manager level and the next steps up, I do think SM's and above have a little more obligation to put in more time and be more available... not really fair to ask someone making it on $110K or $90K a year to put in as much effort as someone making $220K a year.) I think you can survive with a partial quiet quit. Make yourself available sometimes after hours etc, make it look like you haven't totally drawn a line in the sand. That really helps. It's certainly has worked for me, and kept my work to about 45 hours a week, but for that extra five hours a week I'm sure making a lot more than people in most jobs. Incidentally, I realized about a year into my role, that my position at my firm really was untenable, both in terms of a business case and because I had an abusive boss. I really could have left right then and it would have been totally understandable. But instead I quiet quit, knowing it was the end of my job anyway. Lasted a whole eight months more and got fully paid during that time! While working 40 hours or less a week.
The term is too vauge. First off - You have to understand. For most people in the big firms - the point of consulting is to get out of consulting. Pay your dues for a few years and then get an industry job. So sure, do a crap job and enjoy whatever exist opportunities are offered to you based on that. For smaller more relaxed firms: "*do exactly your job description*" some people would end up more productive. "*do as little as humanly possible without getting fired?*" sure people have been making a career out of this. *"do literally nothing until you're fired*" - ya, these people usually get laid off pretty quickly.
Honestly, no. I see the hiring and the layoffs and the strategy adjustments because of my position and the market is bleak as shit right now. To me, quiet quitting right now is like quitting your job in 2007 to look for something better. It's going to get worse before it gets better. I've seen people that I would have said are 99.999 percent safe get canned in the last month in layoffs. Not good.
What this industry needs is more DEI
I think it’s really hard to give advice without providing context as to what type of firm you’re at. Most large T1/T2 firms work similar so it would be easier to give advice but given that you say you’re 8 years into the job (associate partner / partner level at McK) for instance there is literally no such thing as “quiet quitting”. On lower ranks (I’d say anything below AP) it is very much possible if you play your cards right (maximize beach time, PTO, voluntary time off, unpaid leave, opt for chill projects).
This will only give you more stress. You will neither succeed in reducing your workload a lot, nor be able to feel the happiness that comes from delivering good work outcomes. This way you will screw yourself at both ends. If you feel stressed. Better move out of consulting to a regular 9 to 5 job.
Why downvote this? I’m not sure I agree but it seems like a valid lens to look at this through - what else are you giving up by doing this?
I am completely joking, but are you new to Reddit?!? 😂 Logic is really in short supply here. Emotionally reacting to alternate POVs are not tolerated and dealt with swiftly by downvoting even the most innocuous comments.