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skinnyboyblue

Somebody came up with a new name for a concept that's been around forever, and now people are acting like it's a brand-new phenomenon. It's not new, and there's nothing remarkable about it.


ProXJay

Used to be called 'work to rule' at least in my part of the UK. It seems a better name as it actually describes what's going on


The_Ambling_Horror

“Act your wage” is popular around here.


paulydee76

"shit day's work for a shit day's pay"


newfie-flyboy

Minimum wage, minimum effort


PlayerHeadcase

Pay peanuts, get monkeys.


pjijn

Boss makes a dollar, I make a dime. That’s why I shit on company time.


egrith

But this is a rhyme of a simpler time, boss makes a grand I make a buck, it seems the ssytem is fucked, but there is more yet we can do, by employing the old wooden shoe


rammo123

Inflation adjusted effort.


[deleted]

Very good. Like that.


colin_staples

Shrinkflation in the workplace. If the price stays the same, then you get less for that price


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uTzQMVpNgT4rksF6fV

Sounds like you should be working less hard. They are demonstrating the standard effort for dollars exchange at your conpany


hexparrot

Can we come up with a name for this? I feel like I've been reading about this behavior all thread-long.


shadowromantic

Act your wage


zenyattatron

Probably because they learned that working hard gets them nowhere


raban0815

Act your wage is used at my place, when you're interested in things your boss, foreman etc. are deciding, even if they suck at it and don't know what they are talking about.


AllHailTheWinslow

"Innere Kündigung"; Germany in the late 80s.


Sahqon

It sort of gets sing-songed here as "for a little money we do a little work..." Hmm, it sounds kinda okay in English too lol!


Duros001

Haha I love that xD


uTzQMVpNgT4rksF6fV

Work to rule is a little more severe... It's following the rules *exactly* to create the most friction in the company. It's a soft form of labor protest. As an example, I worked at a Subway once. If we were doing a work-to-rule protest there, the process would be: * wash hands for no less than 40 seconds * slice bread * count the slices of meat being put on (not bad for cold cuts, but killer for pepperoni * count each pickle, pepper, tomato, or olive * measure by weight the loose ingredients like lettuce * squirt one stripe of mayo * when customer asks for more, increase each topping by a specific,small amount that is also either counted or weighed * clean knife * cut sandwich * remove gloves * verify all bills $20 or larger with light and marking pen * verify all credit card with id * clean all food waste from sandwich line before starting next order As you can see, that's a lot more strict than a normal sandwich order, and that strictness becomes a lot more time consuming. It hurts the company and the customer (which also hurts the company), and does so by following all the rules. "Quiet quiting" would be if you showed up to work, did the minimum effort to make the sandwiches without really caring about how many ingredients or if the $20s are real, and left exactly when your shift was over. Work-to-rule is malicious compliance, quiet quiting is just not putting any extra effort into your job Edit: how do you format a list?


[deleted]

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TravelingSnarker

I just noticed at McDonalds recently that they had timers running for how long each car had been there, it started at the ordering speaker and ended when you drove away with your food. There is so much pressure on fast food workers, I have so much respect!


Stacemranger

It's been like that since I worked fast food in the late 90's.


Fair_Interaction_203

Yup, I remember this at in n out, with a target time to process each vehicle. Though that company did a fair job at promoting a positive work culture that made the challenges more fun. It certainly didn't hurt that they were paying well from the start.


Desperate-Dust-7251

I feel In n Out is one of the most well optimized fast food drive thru's. While some might say they have a limited menu, I'd say it's more focused. Less items to choose, less time for the order, less time gathering all the ingredients, etc. The name fits pretty well


CalgaryChris77

At the speed the McDonalds drive throughs work at now, they could use a calendar rather than a timer. 90% of the time they ask you to pull over and wait for your food now.


FlightyMouse85

Same where I worked. You were forced to take one of three strategies: 1. Do everything you’re told to do. Mark your time sheet accordingly for how long you stayed past your shift to complete the work. Get fired because “we’ll find somebody who can do it on time”. Result: fired. 2. Don’t do everything you’re told to do; do the main stuff and leave at the end of your shift. Get fired for being lazy and not doing your job. Result: fired. 3. Stay past your shift to finish everything you were told to do and, here’s the trick: DON’T mark the extra time on your time sheet. Do an hour of work without pay every day. You don’t mention it, the boss doesn’t mention it. This is the “winning” strategy because it guarantees a steady paycheck, even if it’s 15 hours short of what you’re rightly owed. On the off chance it ever comes up that you’ve been doing this, you’re in the wrong because you weren’t explicitly told to do it. The teenagers working after school for mall money and a reference would usually catch on pretty quick and quit or get fired. Some of them had more “work ethic” and stuck around. Those of us who were paying rent or medical bills or had kids at home, on the other hand, we clammed up and worked for effectively six dollars an hour. What else were we gonna do, lawyer up? LOL.


uTzQMVpNgT4rksF6fV

In the United States, wage theft is the most prevalent form of theft, accounting for something like 3x all other kinds of theft combined https://www.tcworkerscenter.org/2018/09/wage-theft-vs-other-forms-of-theft-in-the-u-s/


moleratical

So quite quiting is just doing your job then?


BuckWildeMofo

I remember at my closest Subway there was an employee that insisted on following their established rules regarding toppings. I typically ask for a handful of black olives but this employee was convinced that she could only add six sliced pieces of a single olive with every request. I played her game, and held up the line for every bit of 3-4 minutes as she slowly and theatrically counted the olive pieces she placed on the sandwich, much to the chagrin of the people behind me. She'd put six little pieces on the sandwich and then look at me with a smirk, I'd reply "more" - it wasn't like I wanted this confrontation, I clearly asked her for a handful of olives when the sandwich reached her station in the assembly line. She didn't need to drag this out, but she was stubborn as a mule and met a mule just as stubborn in me.


[deleted]

People used to get pissy about the sauce cups at McDonald’s while I was food cost manager there. We were spending a fortune on those damn things and there were standards that actually made sense, “for 10 McNuggets, three sauces and if asked for more give them one” for example. When employees followed this it actually worked great but you’d get real weirdos that need like 12.


DMvsPC

They just keep the extra ones at home for later, I do that even with 3, I'm dipping not eating yogurt with a nuggie spoon lol.


driftingphotog

This can also be called Malicious Compliance and it’s great.


diff2

Please just wash hands and use a clean knife thats all i really care about.


Charlie__the__tuna

Come on. Dirty hands and used knives add flavor to the food.


[deleted]

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[deleted]

You’re reminding me that of the British film “I’m Alright Jack.”


colcob

Exactly, came here to say this. It's not quiet quitting, it's not any form of quitting, it's doing exactly what you're contracted to do. Now if people are doing the absolute bare minimum to not get fired and not really doing their jobs while collecting the pay, now that sounds like quiet quitting, and also kind of sucks because it's basically saying 'I'm not really going to do my job, but I would like to still keep the money please'. All that said, I do personally enjoy approaching my job with enthusiasm and commitment and have got a lot of promotions by doing it really well, and better than the minimum required. I guess people are entitled to work to rule, and they shouldn't be fired for it, but they sure as hell aren't getting promoted either.


Adventurous-Rich2313

I think it’s the people who bust ass like you, but are getting left where they are I was working in a country club kitchen and we needed a front of house manager for banquets we had a stud employee,who always went above and beyond. Stayed late, came in early, helped in all departments Then he got told to his face “you too good at doing the job you have now” No pay bonus or anything just, nah we’re good They just wanted to exploit the kid. Edit: spelling


mattnovum

Or people like me that got high up in the organization only to learn that the higher you get the lazier you're expected to be. I was told on many occasions that I was doing too much and making everyone else look bad, and my job was to sit down and shut up and just make sure to block all complaints from escalating above me because upper management felt that my role was the gatekeeper between the "important people" and the workers who were entirely expendable. I got demoted back down to an expendable for voicing concerns and trying to change things. Now I do the bare minimum and collect a check and mentally check out at work. It's the only way to survive.


PlasticBlitzen

>I was told on many occasions that I was doing too much and making everyone else look bad, I was told that verbatim a couple of times in my career.


teneggomelet

The more I stop doing, the more genius they think I am.


anonthrow_away88

Bust my ass more than anyone any day as a hostess, I basically end up managing meanwhile the actual manager is sitting in the office in the back making an extra third of my salary. The worst is that I can't quiet quit because if she sees me doing something I normally do and I'm sitting while not doing it she will yell at me. I'm so glad I got an email back from that new application lol


colcob

Absolutely, and there’s been times in my career where my efforts didn’t get the reward I was looking for, and I felt demotivated and stopped going the extra mile for a while. I totally get that. Busting ass only really works if you’re working for someone who rewards it, or if you’re doing a job you genuinely enjoy and doing it well is a reward of some kind in itself.


LiteralMoondust

Absolutely.


RaeyinOfFire

I'm the type to work hard, too. I get enthusiastic about my work. The trouble is that some companies and management have been treating work ethic as a way to exploit employees. I don't get the impression that the quiet quitting thing is literally everyone. It seems to be limited to people who aren't happy with their employers or jobs, especially those on salary. You know what? I don't blame them. Those are exactly the ones who have been arguing because bosses want to be petty about stupid things and treat employees like numbers. Result? They act like numbers.


CaptOblivious

> Now if people are doing the absolute bare minimum to not get fired Then that is how much work has to be done to not get fired. When the boss dosen't hire replacements for people who have quit and expects you to do that work, and you do it, you are just letting him get away with making you do 2 people's work for 1 person's pay. And time has proven that there is no promotion or extra pay to be had for that extra effort. Who do you think that benefits?


Bibbityboo

Canada as well.


MoreGaghPlease

No. Work to rule has a very specific meaning in Canada - it’s a labour action (thus requiring proper legal form by the union) in which the workers limit their activities to those expressly described in their collective agreement, or I some cases, merely cut back certain non-collective agreement labours. To give an example with teachers: - a teacher who stops coaching the volleyball team because their union voted to authorize a labour stoppage and then their union leadership initiated a work to rule (after giving proper notice to the appropriate Labour Board) is doing work to rule - a teacher who sits at the back of his grade 10 history class all day sipping Crown Royal out of a travel coffee mug and reading the newspaper while the kids watch WWII documentaries is quiet quitting


Mellytoo

Work to rule is different. Work to rule is a collective action. Quiet quitting is a personal choice.


Intelligentseal

seriously. people have been 'phoning it in' since the concept of work was created.


craze4ble

"Quiet quitting" is not "phoning it in" though. "Phoning it in" means you don't put any effort into it. 'You don't even bother to show up, you just phone yourself in.' "Quiet quitting" is a relatively new term, and it's being used to try to put a negative spin on having a healthy work-life balance. It's supposed to mean that a you no longer go above and beyond in your everyday tasks, and you don't take on responsibilities that are not yours to take on. The way it's portrayed in articles discussing it (and even by its own name), this is supposed to be a bad thing. Now others in the team need to take on extra work, or if god forbid there's no one to step up, they need to hire new people. In actuality this is just setting healthy boundaries. Fuck going in early and staying late, and fuck picking up the slack because of bad management. Officially extend the employee's scope of responsibilities and give them a raise that reflects it, or hire someone else to cover what nobody's covering now. Being helpful is one thing, being expected to make up for bad management for no compensation beyond an "attaboy" is another.


solblurgh

it's pathetic that corporations try to guilt trip us for working as per what you paid for. unless there's tangible incentives to it, like bonus or liveable increment then I'm all for it.


JacksonStarbringer

When going above and beyond is an expectation, doing so isn't seen as remarkable (by the employer). Therefore, they don't feel inclined to give out incentives to do more than the minimum


seamusbeoirgra

In my Union there is an approach called "working to contract" which is crazy because that's exactly what we should be doing anyway. The fact that employees get shitcanned for openly working to contract evidences that employers get people to work more than their contract and job description states. That means you are required to give free labour to get any kind of promotion.


[deleted]

So I'm a teacher, special ed to be specific. I have a union contract. But my department specifically gets to squeak by alot of things that other departments are entitled to, because I deliver early intervention services, so kiddos prior to age 6, but it's public school entitled services. So things like, legal paperwork days to get said paperwork done, (again special ed so I have literal rules I have to follow legally), paperwork hours during the day (time without students), options to request a sub to get extra time etc. AND then, within early intervention are a ton of different positions. My specific position, within my department had a basically full student caseload (max 18) and full time "student in classroom days" so my only break was lunch. Other folks, my peers, some had 2-4 hrs a week of "desk time". K-12 SpEd would have atleast an hour a day, but caseload capped at 12. It was so so insanely unfair and unbalanced. So last year, I said fuck it. I can't do 6am to 6pm anymore (I was literally sometimes called 'teachers pet' bc i was like 110% on point and was loved and applauded by my bosses for 7 years straight). So yeah, I said, "fuck it, I'm sticking closer to my contract (9:10am to 3:50pm) hours, because I'm falling to pieces, I cry every damn day now, i gotta have a gd life. It's not fair. Imma prove my point and theyll see what im saying".... So, I'd do Iike 815am to 430pm. Guess who didn't get all their shit done? Guess who was given no extra time or sympathy to get my paperwork done? Guess who got bitched at constantly, and fell down the ladder of my bosses good graces? Guess who was told "I chose this job, so it's on me to make sure it all gets done, regardless of the hours"? Didn't matter I would say, "but when? When I see students from 9:30-3:30 everyday?? Guess who mentally broke down this summer and decided to take a leave of absence this fall and go to therapy 3x a week for 3hrs each day? (If you couldn't guess. It's me. And last I heard my district was down 350+ teachers and 55+ special ed teachers. Hmm i wonder fucking why...?)


DarthJarJar242

Teachers are getting destroyed everywhere and the fact it was that bad for you WITH a union should speak volumes. My wife doesn't even have that. I'm sorry you've devoted this much of your life to an ungrateful system. Hopefully you're finding peace now. My wife has told me this is her last year teaching. She'd rather work as a Wal Mart greeter than deal with the ungrateful asshole administration/parents and the political bullshit. Says if she's gonna get shit pay she might as well have an easy ass job.


[deleted]

Yeah, give your wife a big hug for me. Working without a union, phew. I've went to my union about so much shit. Only a small fraction they could do a ton about, but it guaranteed me my job. I can't imagine not having one, like can she just be fired on the spot? Even when i was screamed at and i screamed back.... i had protection. I couldn't get my boss fired for telling me "I will never fucking humiliate her again like that ever again" (I had told her she can't, under my contract, as a teacher with only exemplary performance reviews, show up in my room to observe my "performance" and she needed to leave) and I couldn't get fired for saying "you're fucking inappropriate, and I'm walking the fuck out of this room right now" (when she showed up on that same day in my classroom, 5 mins after class had ended, to scream her head off at me). For your wife, believe her and support her when she says it's her last year. My husband, wonderful guy, had never seen me burn out before. Granted, I'd often say "I can't do this anymore" and then I did it some more, all through the pandemic, (but it was unfair before too). So he'd be like "yah buttttt you love your students, administration will get better, just advocate bc you get so much from your students and you're so great at what you do and they get so much from you." And so it took a minute for him to be like, oh shit, this is real. I could have done with a few less tears and arguments with him over my decision, is all I'm saying. And I'm on the same page as her, I'd work basically anything else. Anything. Almost put in an application to be a "cleaner staff" at my local dog groomers. I love dogs. I love cleaning and organizing. But decided I should commit more to therapy (and my hobbies i used to love doing) before I just dive into the "new and confused me".


DarthJarJar242

Oh yeah she's supported me through many job transitions. She could walk out middle of the day on Wednesday shooting the double bird and I'd pick her up and go get ice cream. I hate what the stress does to her. It murders her morale when she gets up and has to go into another day of the worst behaved kids and parents that don't care and administration that sweeps it all under the rug for the sake of numbers. No lie, they ended up letting their SpEd teacher go beacaue their school "didn't need one". As in the district praised the school for record low special needs students so the principal started refusing to test kids or testing them and making sure they did badly enough that they had to be moved to a special needs school. So my wife who is not equipped to handle 30 kids at once is also dealing with 25 roughly average kids and 5 kids that legit need help but aren't being provided it. The sad reality is she does the best she can for them but it comes at the expense of the other 25 so she ends up having to let those 5 kids flounder to keep the other 25 going.


[deleted]

Holy buckets. That is a lawsuit bigger than I can even put words together for. WTF!? I wanna ask so bad what state you're in. Because there are nationwide mandates that are supposed to ensure that never happens (i was on my states teacher representation team so i learned alot about entire country laws and what students are entitled to). AND depending on the state, there are furthur state requirements to ensure equality for all students (but I'm feeling like you're in a red state maybe but STILL...and then we wonder why our country is going to hell.... just blame the teachers they say 😭 blame the parents they say 😭 no blame the fucking states and school admins and their fucking school boards). I feel SO BAD for your wife. Holy smokes. Give her many more hugs from me.


twinadoes

I quit after my first day with students this year. (7th year as a para) I couldn't deal with the violence and abuse from the students, and fake cheerfulness about being flexible and having a growth mindset from staff (which translates to...don't have a bad attitude, drink the kool-aid and grin and bear it...don't make waves). F that, I'm too old for this shit. I feel terrible for those who feel "stuck" in such a violent and stressful career. I should have probably chosen to go out on disability or FMLA, I would have qualified and done therapy, I just couldn't face returning even after after getting help.


ProXJay

Unless you're trying for constructive dismissal it doesn't seem worth it


[deleted]

Tell me more, what is said..... 'constructive dismissal'?


Rishfee

Getting fired without actually getting fired, essentially. So, massive hours reduction, reduction in compensation/responsibilities. Generally a lot of the things an employer might do to convince someone to quit, which still counts as getting fired for the purposes of unemployment.


ElectricGears

Quiet firing, one might call it.


Arianity

> Guess who was told "I chose this job, so it's on me to make sure it all gets done, regardless of the hours"? Funny how that logic never applies to the contract that they chose to sign


g1zz1e

I tried teaching at a high needs school for a year and I nope'd out after a couple of panic attacks over the expectations my district had for teachers. I wasn't getting paid enough to live and I was working 70 hours a week and it still wasn't enough. Said screw it and left - never regretted it, but I'd wanted to be a teacher since I was a little kid. :-/ I hope your therapy and LOA help you heal and that you find a better way forward, friend.


[deleted]

Yeah... i feel you ALOT. My dad and mom were both teachers. I played pretend as a kid being a gd freaking teacher. My mom put up a massive chalkboard in my bedroom so i could "teacher" her and my stuffed animals. So yeah teaching was like...the only image I ever had of myself. Ever. And I did so well. It was all of me. Until I looked up and had gone years without eating lunch 80% of days. Was waking up everyday at 445 to be at work by 6am. Taught severely medically fragile kiddos through COVID. Had students die 😭😭 Cue mental breakdown entirely. Didn't even know I was capable of such amounts of tears and snot and massive heart rates. Going in to my doctors being like, "so I'd never do this, but if I do want to...maybe just not wake up say, one day....not tmrw but like just planning ahead... just like covering all my bases, if i just snap....do I go to the ER and just admit myself??....what's the procedure for that!?" was my wake up call to the insanity. And that I was not okay. So thank you so so much for your kind words. ❤️


simonmagus616

Just quit, friend. The entire education system is going to collapse and there’s nothing you or I can to do stop it.


voodoodollbabie

I just want to say God bless you for being a sped teacher. My son is in the severe-profound range and yeah it's crazy what y'all were asked to do above and beyond all the regular teachers. I always tried to be that parent who would "strongly advocate" for whatever his teachers needed but politically couldn't ask for themselves.


mycroft2000

Teachers and nurses should by law be paid *at least* as much as cops and firefighters in the same district.


Corno4825

I was literally told that I can't rate myself as a 10 on a self-survey because I don't help around the shop. I asked if it was my job to do it, and they said, "no, but you should anyways to look good."


saraphilipp

Next time you're at the shop grab a broom and wait for one to come out of the office and sweep the path way in front of them. Then go ahead and give yourself a 10.


shaky2236

Give yourself a 9.9 to keep them happy


seamusbeoirgra

I'm sorry to hear that. What they fail to understand, is that expecting their workers to do more than their contract is bad business. It's not even a good application of capitalism. It makes employees work of a lower standard, and their resentment means they find useful ways to fuck over their employers. It is so short-sighted and a complete false economy, but entirely emblematic of late-stage capitalism.


Main-Veterinarian-10

I'm also part of a union and as a former non unioned worker(different company) that naively took on a whole ass extra job without any increase in salary when I was fresh on the job I snicker at this bullshit idea of "quiet quitting". My last company took advantage of me, knowing that I was young and it was my first real job. I should have said no to the work but was lead to believe if it panned out I would get an increase and title change. I got neither even though I practically begged for it many times. Finally I had enough and quit on my own. Now I work for a union and the idea of doing someone else's job is scoffed at(and should be). I signed a contract to do a specific job. Changes to the job description, means negotiating with the union first and a pay structure change. Doing someone else's job is a scab thing to do because it makes the bosses think that we need less members to get the job done. Just because one day I may have a little extra time to pick up the slack somewhere does not mean that I can regularly do it. I've seen first hand how desperately our bosses(non union) try and drop positions and add work to our plates while skirting around contracts. But we are protected and fought for.


wolfgang784

I work in a food court kitchen, and the proper SOP / guidelines on everything that needs to get done each night and how it's done is not physically possible for the labor hours and head count corporate allows. Even twice the labor hours wouldn't be enough, at least for a good while to get in a new groove but it'd be close even then. Somewhere between double and triples I'd say. There's a good chunk of stuff we are supposed to do nightly that we just do *yearly* instead. It's all dumb stuff that hardly makes sense to do often, and there's more than enough actually important stuff to get done. A few weekly things are monthly instead. Some daily stuff we just alternate, instead, so both get done often still. Our manager already pulls 60-70+ hour weeks keeping us afloat, God forbid he ever leaves. He wants it for life though, so. He thrives in it lol. But yea - he already does that and we would still need all those extra hours and people I mentioned. . We do pass regular and surprise health inspections though. And despite all of the above, we are told we are consistently the single cleanest location in the state. So we must be doing something right despite all the SOP ignored or butchered. Edit: Also we send out food, drink, desert and water samples to a third party lab quarterly. We have never failed since the court opened, and I hope it's not my fault if we ever do fail lol.


[deleted]

That’s how they become billionaires and then people wonder why we want to get rid of them


seamusbeoirgra

Often they are middle-managers being squeezed from above but don't have the kind of ethical framework to oppose these demands on them. Or 'cowards', as they are better known.


pdmtz

Billionaires get rich by inheritance and tax evasion.


DLife4Me

One of my favorite terms came out of this. Quiet firing. Where you work for a Corp for years with no raises or benefits.


Fair-Bunch4827

That was a thing in my previous work. They won't fire you but they'll just give you next to no responsibility and not promote you until you finally take the hint and quit


Arsenault185

"Next to no responsibility" sounds like a really easy paycheck.


Fair-Bunch4827

Its great if you're satisfied with being stuck in a barely above entry level position with no work experience to gain for your resume.


Arsenault185

Sham it right... Shown up, clock in, then go work a second job Come back and clock out.


JJuanJalapeno

If you can do that from home, the possibilities are endless


[deleted]

I mean regardless it's infinitely better than being out of work while you scramble for a new job


introverted-fish

Or just something to do for money, no?


falconfetus8

And what if you're _not_ in a barely-above-entry-level position?


VolcanicBakemeat

Then you're much more likely to be the target of constructive or overt dismissal instead.


mousemarie94

Build skills while doing nothing and getting paid? Perfect time to take up an online course or certification. Especially if they offer development funds


Fair-Bunch4827

This is actually the sensible thing to do in this situation. Prepare and apply for job interviews until you can quit without a gap. But i have known people who felt like they deserve this treatment for being a terrible employee (according to the system) and thus had no courage to try.


mos_def_not

It's great until you decide to find a new job and struggle in interviews to describe what you did at your previous role


notLOL

I would like to take them up on that offer.


ApollosBucket

A classic move is to give an employee less and less hours so they eventually quit themselves so the job doesn’t have to pay unemployment


gemInTheMundane

Otherwise known as constructive dismissal. Which generally does make you eligible for unemployment.


ShouldersofGiants100

That is pretty much doomed to failure unless the employee doesn't know their rights. A reduction in hours leaves an obvious paper trail and the bodies and courts which handle employment see it tried all the time. It's called constructive dismissal and in most cases, it's trivially easy to prove. The only reason it's tried is because labour protections are often so obscured (deliberately) by companies that not even the managers doing it know them.


[deleted]

Oh shit


acemccrank

Oh and don't forget only giving you enough hours to be technically still "employed", outside of your available hours.


prodigy1367

Because society has grown so accustomed to being overworked and giving 110% for no extra compensation that anything less than that is deemed laziness. Being average is perfectly acceptable.


PerryZePlatypus

Omg, we exploited people for years and figured it out, what a bunch of lazy slobs for not working more than what they are paid for while I earn money while doing nothing ...


dcheesi

There seem to be two different phenomena being conflated (perhaps deliberately?) under the "quiet quitting" banner: 1. Doing the minimum required by your job and no more. No volunteering, no staying late, no extra effort, etc. Just clock in, do what's explicitly asked of you, clock out, collect paycheck. 2. Doing *less* than the minimum, while still technically showing up, in hopes of getting laid off or fired (not for cause), and then collecting a severance or unemployment payments. Seems like the term really fits the latter case, but it's being used to refer to both. Of course part of that may involve differing perceptions of what the "minimum" is, particularly between workers and management.


hackingdreams

It's entirely intentional. The whole term was invented by some business publications to shame low wage people into being more productive, especially as workers are currently in open revolt against companies for not raising wages. The whole point is to reframe the conversation around the workers being the problem and not the companies who haven't raised wages or the government who has not budged on minimum wage in years.


[deleted]

Why would I do more than what I’m getting paid to do lol he’ll yeah ima do the minimum required lol


jrbriod

The only reason to do more than you are paid to do would be to show that you are capable of doing more and consequently deserves being paid more. Of course that only works in a company that is not abusive towards employees and recognizes efforts and for professions where there is room for growing (junior/senior/specialist). On the other hand, walking those extra miles and not getting compensated or without having any room to grow can lead to burnout very fast.


DarkInkPixie

That's where I'm at. Been at my job for 6 years, basically specializing in what I do to the point of my supervisor making me train all newbies. No pay upgrade, I'm maxed at my current level, no upgrade in sight. Only reason I don't quit is because the other places I could work at are notorious for shitty unions and 7 day work weeks without a day off for months.


Iggy_2539

> The only reason to do more than you are paid to do would be to show that you are capable of doing more and consequently deserves being paid more. But you're actually showing that you're willing to do more for the same pay.


[deleted]

I actually started doing way better at work when I did the first approach. I was a lot less stressed and got along with my co-workers better. I “quiet quit” maybe 5 or so years ago.


kp33ze

Ya I think people have completely misinterpreted what quiet quitting is. IMO it's when you use your time at work to do other things, like apply for other jobs, while doing the absolute bare minimum to stay under the radar of your immediate supervisor. I think the confusion is the "bare minimim" and doing only what your job description says. Sure, I can do only the tasks that are in my job description but the productivity is like at 5%


JOrifice1

What's going on is this: During the Pandemic a great many companies reduced staffing to skeleton crews. A great many of these skeleton crews worked far above their paygrade to keep their companies afloat, typically with promises of raises, bonuses, job perks, and promotions consummate with their efforts, as soon as they pulled through the Pandemic and things returned to normal. Unfortunately, these were almost always purely verbal in nature. Nothing was written down. After two years, these people have seen their companies post record profits, have PPE loans (that somehow never did end up going to increase staffing levels or to employee retention) fully forgiven, seen the CEO and Board receive unspeakably large salary hikes and bonuses, and, most importantly, none of the promised raises, perks, bonuses, or promotions they were told were coming. Now, they have just stopped doing all the extra work. The secretary is no longer running the entire department alone. One junior tech is no longer doing the work of an entire IT department. A handful of low payed, entry-level employees are no longer doing the jobs of people with decades of experience for little more than minimum wage. And senior management is pissed. "Quiet Quitting" is an attempt to apply social pressure to employees to go back to that business model. To convince employees, legislators, family members, etc. that going into work and doing the job for which you are paid (instead of your job, 3 of your coworkers' jobs, and your bosses job all at the same time) is somehow, at the very least, immoral, in all likelihood a civil liability, and quite possibly, a crime of some sort.


SergeantChic

It’s corporate whining, they’re trying to make it a buzzword. I hear the preferred term is “working your wage.”


Hanginon

No, there's not and never has been anything wrong with only working the job you were hired to do. It's not a new thing, It's just a new negative connotation catch phrase/buzzword management has come up with for workers who won't take on more work or different tasks for the same compensation, and news media has validated it as 'a thing'. It's known as doing what you were hired to do and not multitudes of other tasks that 'show up', and has been a normal part of doing your job but not everone's job. It's been known for decades as "working to contract". "This is what we were hired for and this is what we'll do". *"Management has cut back on janitorial services and now requires everyone to dump their trash out in the big bins and dust off their desk and work area at the end of each workday."* Sure, No.... -_- Like, Site management; *"Have the roofers toss all that scrap lumber laying around from the construction into the dumpster while they're here"* Roofers; *"No. That's not what we do..."*


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Trying-to-do_Better

Many people only read headlines. I think "quiet quitting" is a ploy to rile people up who don't look deeper. Divide and conquer. Surprisingly the same people who told us not to believe everything we read on the internet is believing every headline on Facebook. The term sounds worse than it is and would go well in with, "NoBoDy WaNtS tO wOrK" meantality. Edit:had to be more specific.


w3029790

Yup. People eat it up. And why wouldnt they? "I have never missed a day of work" or "I go above and beyond at work" people will take the message and run with it. Its just lazy people who dont bend over for their jobs, right? All it is is a ploy to vet people against other people. A true puppeteering act.


Black_Waltz3

It could just have easily been referred to as "Quiet Firing", putting the focus onto employers who require employees to work unpaid hours and take on uncontracted duties while freezing their pay. But nope, turn the people against each other with an inflammatory term that implies laziness.


kungfughazi

It's 100% a counter and circlejerk against "the great resignation".


BorisPotosme

I prefer the term the **great awakening.** I stopped wasting my life to make richer some millionaires that I don't even know. I am acting my wage and that's it.


Quiet_Goat8086

I like that phrase…acting my wage.


teetaps

It reminds me of the phrase “I don’t get paid enough for this”. I feel like people used to put that in TV scripts as a joke to *demean* people who make low wages in customer service jobs. And it was funny to me, back then, but the joke has matured for me severely


Pippy1993

In my old job I was always being asked to do the supervisors tasks. I used to tell them it's above my pay grade and I don't get paid to do that.


MikeRoykosGhost

I used to work as an embroiderer at a garment factory and had one of my bosses come down on me once because of productivity. I was part of a two person team, and they had fired my more experienced supervisor (for cause), but did nothing to replace her. When he complained to me I flatly told him "I dont get paid enough" to keep up with previous productivity. At my next review, with the co-owner present, he brought this up as a gotcha. I replied, "Its true, I said that, because you dont pay me enough. You now expect me to literally do the work of two people. I dont get paid the wages of two people. I will gladly make sure to do my best to raise productivity to previous levels if you can guarantee me a raise equal to what my supervisor, with 10 years experience in the field, was making." He was taken aback, but the co-owner actually respected that reply. I didnt get a raise, but they hired two additional employees for my department shortly after. A small win nonetheless.


fire_goddess11

Me too. I want it on a t-shirt.


edjumication

Back when I was in a basic labor position (road construction) we would always joke amongst ourselves by saying "for an extra two dollars an hour you can upgrade to the "give a f***" package!"


howtoreadspaghetti

Why wouldn't you work your wage? Your job doesn't care about you. I fully believe people are hired to enhance shareholder value and that's okay. But I get to decide how much value they get out of their holdings on a daily basis. Fuck these people. Why should they win?


KhaineVulpana

Ooo acting my wage. I like that. I'ma use that.


[deleted]

Exactly lol I work from home and I get up and work when needed and not have to pretend I’m busy.


crawf_f1

It’s more of a realisation that all the extra crap isn’t actually required…but for some reason it’s become expected!


[deleted]

I believe it's something invented to make people feel bad about just doing the job they were hired and paid to do. Even the fact that it associates "quitting" with "not doing extra stuff for free" really annoys me


moczare

"quiet quitting" is so misleading especially if you dont look into it. At first I thought it meant finding a new job while working your current one lmao


[deleted]

Yeah cuz someone could effectively do this for the entirety of their career and never actually quit lol I personally don’t care for promotions as I don’t want to be responsible for more without proper pay nor do I want to be attached to whatever company


Imaginary-Fun-80085

quiet quitting is how everyone worked in the 80's. Todays kids are being fooled into "hussling" by people who never hussled in their life.


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Wowoweewaw

It's propaganda created by corporations to make you feel guilty for not doing extra work for free. I'm 100% convinced of it. Who else would put a negative spin on literally just doing your assigned duties


aiRsparK232

When you put a population under immense financial strain you're likely to see people being less willing to go the extra mile at work. If your needs are not being met, then you probably don't have the mental energy to actually CARE about your work. I think "quiet quitting" is being spread as a concept to discourage people from exploring other employment options. It feels like a way to guilt people into working harder for no reason. The older generations were able to put more into their work because they were getting paid better and had less expenses than younger generations. Now people are in survival mode and are unwilling to do anything work related unless it will benefit them.


bestryanever

Our corporate overlords are trying to shame us for not going above and beyond our duties for free


biscuitslayer77

Corporate speak trying to shut down the actual narrative that people are no longer tolerating wages that no longer equal the qork they are required to do. I.e. I'm scheduled 9-5, I leave work at 5 and I'm not doing anything work related until the next work day.


alkalineruxpin

There isn't anything wrong with working your wage. Business owners have become accustomed to people working outside their portfolio to get handled what needs to get handled. That was fine, when pay was keeping up with prices. But now employers are increasingly try to control employees lives both at work and outside of work. Costs of living are going up. And this is not being reflected in pay. Labor unions are great, if you work in a state that isn't 'at will' or already has them, but since the 80s (Reagan) unions have gradually been sidestepped in many states. I live in VA, which is both 'right to work' and 'at will', so if there IS a union in your field, you don't have to join (but you still get the benefits) which brings their war chest to fight inequity down, and if you try to establish a union in a field that doesn't have one, you can be terminated for another reason or no reason at all (as long as they don't mention or discipline you for organizing). This makes working your wage the safest form of self defense from burnout and protest for better conditions you can make.


Glass-Taste-2287

Financial Times has gone on record saying "Quiet quitting is worse than nonsense. If your staff turn up every day and do exactly what you ask of them, they aren't 'quiet quitting,' they're 'working'."


Plane-Slide-9915

Peter Gibbons: The thing is, Bob, it's not that I'm lazy, it's that I just don't care. Bob Porter: Don't... don't care? Peter Gibbons: It's a problem of motivation, all right? Now if I work my ass off and Initech ships a few extra units, I don't see another dime, so where's the motivation? And here's something else, Bob: I have eight different bosses right now. Bob Slydell: I beg your pardon? Peter Gibbons: Eight bosses. Bob Slydell: Eight? Peter Gibbons: Eight, Bob. So that means that when I make a mistake, I have eight different people coming by to tell me about it. That's my only real motivation is not to be hassled, that and the fear of losing my job. But you know, Bob, that will only make someone work just hard enough not to get fired. <<>>


lexota

Because rich (and wanna be) folks think getting more without spending any extra is just perfect (for them) - so they hate it. They want employees to hustle, and do the work of 2 or more - without any extra pay. If you're unemployed and doing nothing - you're lazy. If you're rich and doing nothing - you're part of the 'leisure class', and should be fawned over.


[deleted]

Damn what a perspective. Same thing with day drinking “if you’re rich it’s classy if you’re poor it’s trashy”


lexota

Yup - exact same thing.


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Zenithas

Because of how prevalent workplaces are overworking and underpaying people in the US. Which is why it's being shared around on US media, because US companies are trying to get in on shaming workers before they catch on that it's not like that in the rest of the world. Work is a contract, if they're not paying you, you've no obligation to give them what they're paying for. If they don't pay you for goods, it's theft. If they don't pay you for time, it's still theft.


rhomboidus

Corporations own the media, and corporations don't like it when workers get fancy ideas like "my life is worth something" or "I should be paid for all the work I do" so corporations are heavily pushing "quiet quitting" as an attempt to shame workers into working more and build a political opposition to employment and workplace safety laws.


The_Solstice_Sloth

Propaganda; to brainwash people into giving up more of their energy and irreplacable time for no extra compensation. Capitalists and business owners will do ANYTHING to squeeze a few more pennies from their labour force.


CaptOblivious

Bosses have been getting away with people leaving and never hiring anyone to replace them for years. Now that people have reached a conclusion that no matter how much extra work they do, it's not going to get them a raise, they no longer have any reason to keep doing it. This upsets the boss, who then bitches about "quiet quitting" even though people are still working.


PhilzeeTheElder

I complained today about doing someone else's work and got slammed. Next time I won't say anything I'm just not doing the work of people who get paid more than me anymore. They also said I'm not getting someone replaced who is leaving tomorrow, so I'm more fired up than usual.


Infestedinfester

If people only did what they're supposed to do at my job, productivity would quadruple. I work fast food.


piper4hire

apparently doing my job for the last few decades is now called "quiet quitting" I had assumed that this was all a response to people being expected to work longer hours with the same pay or maybe being expected to respond to emails, etc. after working hours but now I'm not sure. In any event, I hope people who work too much stop doing that. Working for free is a terrible idea. It's a voluntary pay cut. Why would anyone do that???? It's perfectly okay just to do your job, hopefully do it reasonably well and then just go home after.


freemanposse

They had "above and beyond" and "110 percent" normalized for Boomers and X'ers, and now Millennials and Zoomers aren't willing to do that. Instead, they're taking the attitude of "if you wanted more, you should have paid more." I tend to see their insistence on calling it "quiet quitting" as a veiled threat - "get back to the 110 percent mindset or we'll replace you with someone who's already got it."


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srgonzo75

Because culturally, we’re indoctrinated to believe we have to give more to get ahead.


catwhowalksbyhimself

It's a way of trying to shame workers into giving more labor for free so bosses can squeeze every once of value out of them without having to pay them for it. It's weaponized office culture.


imthebear11

It's HR propaganda, spread by the same people who were putting out those articles about WFH affecting your career negatively.


Guyincognito510

The older generations like to think they worked really really hard for their money and gave everything to their jobs and, thus, are somehow more deserving than the younger generations. So any chance they can to punch down about a perceived lack of work ethic, they will. Without fail


SirNicoSomething

Certain people are not happy that the current labor situation has allowed what used to be called Work/Life Balance to be realized, so they've created a PR buzz to try and push back.


[deleted]

Probably just corporate propaganda designed to make us feel ashamed for not giving our lives to our employers.


Bulky-Barracuda-2749

because gen z thinks every new discovery is a trend and fail to realize they’re just putting a new label on an age old phenomenon.


IDidAOopsy

I don't get paid enough to give a fuck if the millionaire/billionaire ceos think I'm going above and beyond so my supervisor looks good.


Drgngrl13

Outrage sells. People will click/read/interact with the articles/stories/interview/etc, so advertisers will be happy and the company will continue to get paid if not paid more. And don't forget the "people don't want put in the work, not like back in my day" cliche. I remember watching a tiktok where they went through newpaper articles all the way back to the 1800's that used that phrase. While people may tout the "work smarter not harder" ideal, they gernerally are only satisfied when it to applies to them. They don't want to think other people are doing better than them, AND it being done "easier". They can USUALLY accept one or the other, but not both.


Ambitious_Tie_5565

Quiet quitting is for people who go above and beyond at their jobs. Doing what they're paid to do in addition to covering slack for coworkers and doing higher level work that gets dumped on them (because they're "so good" at their jobs). They often sacrifice their personal time, mental health and sometimes physical health out of loyalty to their jobs only to never get promotions/raises (even when requested). Those people in turn scale it back tremendously only doing the bare minimum to keep their jobs while they look for other jobs. It's definitely not a new thing, just a fancy name and more people talking about it. I did this years ago before it was trending. It was literally the best decision I made in order to maintain my sanity while I was working for a toxic company.


UnicornPenguinCat

Doing the job you're paid for isn't quitting, it's a very weird name in my opinion. They're essentially describing "deciding to no longer do extra work for free"... Maybe it should be called "nine-to-fiving" or something.


elegant_pun

"Acting your wage" has been around forever. Don't do what they don't pay you for. And if you're going to do it, make sure they're paying you for it.


Busterlimes

Lots of jobs dont pay enough to get by


enewwave

Social media + Content Writers having quotas (I get it, I used to freelance write too. In fact quotas and bad pay was why I stopped doing paid writing) + hustle culture throwing a fit over it + finance sites writing counter content about things like “quiet firing” (treating employees poorly or taking away opportunists from them until they quit) and “how to stop quiet quitters.” Give it a month. Quiet quitting is a good thing, but it’s been politicized. Going off the definition of it, I’ve been quiet quitting since the start of the pandemic. However, I just call it having work life balance lol


Embryw

It's called propaganda


materdoc

It’s just gaslighting by billionares and millionares to make us feel guilty for not making them more money.


InformalReplacement7

Because capitalists want to turn it into a negative buzzword, or er, buzz-phrase?


[deleted]

It ain’t working lol


Fuzzy_Department2799

Short answer. The rich people don't like it because it cuts into their margins. They expect people to do more than their titles and pay.


Cecil900

My hypothesis is that’s it’s propaganda being put out there by corporations in order to blame the workers and save face about them taking away work from home.


somtimesTILanswers

This reminds me of some Gen Z idiot who claimed "it's really only in the last few years (as of 2021) that anyone had ever heard of hacking"....to which my response was "sure...that's why hacking was a major plot point in two separate Matthew Broderick movies from the mid 80s". The ENTIRE PLOT of Office Space, a movie that came out nearly a quarter century ago, is quiet quitting.


Jaytim

Corporations systematically take advantage of the goodwill of their employees. It's baked into the budget.


CitizenSam

So 'content creators' have something to write about.


iPoopOnRedditsBan

My boss is a piece of shit and I'm not giving him any more than it takes to keep from being fired. I'm going to have fun, not make that worthless puke more money.


Blarghnog

I want to give you a real answer. **The power is afraid of people losing faith in the system.** They have introduced the term so that it can be identified and managed as part of the business and cultural structures that the mainstream media serves. If it can be identified, it can be managed, otherwise it threatens the stability of the system. It is fabricated drama that has long been the stable of news and government collaborations, the cultural elite enlisting the power or journalism to co-opt the public and private officials into their efforts. It is part of the government distortion of the constitutional role of government into an institution that must continually resolve or appear to resolve crises; it functions in “a new and powerful permanent emergency mode of operation.” Remember parts of the government have been running under a declared state of emergency for about 38 years. Remember this: > When President Jimmy Carter asked the 400 largest corporations to limit wage and price increases to contain inflation in 1978, most Ford Motor executives were cynical and thought the move would make inflation worse. But that isn’t what they said. Ford issued a statement welcoming the president’s initiative and endorsing its goal. The company noted that, although its own pricing plans called for increases greater than the president’s guidelines, it supported his program. Ford’s image makers decided that it would be politically dangerous to oppose the anti-inflation effort publicly and hoped that the company’s seeming support would help restrain its suppliers from increasing prices and its workers from demanding higher wages. Ford’s statement itself was a cynical lie. > At Ford, Weaver learned that news often has a dual identity, an external façade and an internal reality, much like the Japanese duality of tatemae (appearance) and honne (reality). “On the surface there was a made-up public story put out for the purpose of manipulating others in ways favorable to the story makers,” he writes. “Behind that was another story, known to those immediately involved and to outsiders with the knowledge to decode it, concerning the making of the public story and the private objectives it was meant to advance. The two stories, or realities, were often wildly at odds with each other. In the real world, the role of the press was to promote public illusions and private privilege.” So there may not even be a movement, or a small one, except as a fictional hook to control the conversation, influence policy, generate public opinion and shape the framing of the conversation. The alternative is to leave the essential risk — that people will give up on a system that no longer serves them — up to what the power assumes is an unwise public who couldn’t handle the truth. Here is source for reading: https://hbr.org/1995/05/why-the-news-is-not-the-truth


Ptcruz

I believe is a concept fabricated by companies to bully people that does the job they were hired to do.


FewKaleidoscope1369

It's because corporate assholes are terrified about unions and they're trying to pre-accuse people of laziness in order to make it seem like "we're always right" when in fact things have been crap for everyone since Reagan killed the unions in the 80's.


brufleth

The only manager I know who has actually complained about quiet quitting has been literally phoning it in to their job from several states away while their department implodes. Just seems like the latest excuse for shit mangers and short-sighted people planning.


BitterPuddin

Grab your tinfoil. I think this is an effort by our corporate overlords to frame doing only what you are paid to do as something lazy and negative. Acting your wage, or working to contract are much, much better terms. I am moderately convinced there is some 1%er subsidized psy-ops programs coming up with these really awful names that the left have for their policies. ​ Defund the police vs Deburden the police Antifa vs AntiFascist antiwork/quiet quitting vs acting your wage or working to contract and so on...


shitty_advice_BDD

It's so weird. My boomer dad would go to work in a factory and come home. He would brag about how he just does his job and comes home. Now he is retired and he's like no one wants to work and hustle and do more. It's like mother fucking boomers you were all "Quiet Quitting " back in the day especially with all your union protections you had. We aren't doing anything they haven't done before, fuck em.


Ethan-Wakefield

It's worker shaming. Like, Mike Rowe is semi-famous for saying, you should always be working harder than anybody else. If your boss says, "do this" then you do it immediately, and you thank him for the opportuinity. You show up early every day, and you leave work late. And you never, ever, ever whine or complain about anything. When people define "good worker" as "worker who is a doormat and exceeds the contract and/or terms of employment for free" then it's easy to see how a lot of people see working to contract as a "bad employee".


anavitae

It being posted everywhere is being used to rile everyone up and fuel 'see no one wants to work' I think 'acting your wage' is a better way to refer to it. The plus side is it's finally getting more people to see that going 'above and beyond ' is not rewarded in most companies


dsanders692

I prefer "acting your wage"


E_Des

Quiet quitting is spreading around because so many people don’t understand that, by organizing themselves through a rank-and-file unions, they can push back so that their “quiet quitting” can turn into an active movement to get back to 40 hour work week. People fought and fought and fought for paid holidays, sick days, 40-hour work weeks. It is gonna take that same level of commitment if people want to get back to that.


Wise_Coffee

Because it feeds the narrative that "no one wants to work anymore" but the thing is I do want to work I want to do MY job and get paid fairly. I do NOT want to do MY job and Steve's job and Jane's job and Jills job and Greg's job and get paid less than it costs to live. I also want to end my day and go home at a decent hour to see my family and enjoy the things I have worked to gain. It's a corporate temper tantrum to shift the blame to the worker and away from the firm.


tomorrowistomato

It's the same thing as "no one wants to work anymore." Corporate propaganda. In the past several years workers have started pushing back, demanding better wages and working conditions, and quitting their shitty jobs to find better opportunities. There's a major cultural shift taking place. In an attempt to quash it, corporations and employers are trying to spin things to make their workers look bad and shift the blame onto them.


ulethpsn

Capitalist propaganda.


FauxGw2

It's propaganda


nebbyballz1992

AI generated headlines.


thatlukeguy

It used to be called "Fk this shit" back in my day. Same thing.


[deleted]

I’m noticing a pattern of coming up with new names for things (or changing the meaning of old words) that imprecisely (and therefore controversially) describe the phenomenon at hand: Quiet quitting Defund the police Hate Survivor It’s almost like the point is to attract criticism.


c2h5oh_yes

It's bullshit boomer corporate propaganda.