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Quiet Quitting: The new trend sweeping America as WFH sees some people work harder than others

A new form of quitting is attracting people to maintain a balance in their work life and personal life, by working for less hours and not making jobs center of their lives

NEW YORK/WASHINGTON, DC: "Quiet quitting", a new workplace trend that has taken off on TikTok, has workers attempting to establish clear work-life limits in order to reduce stress, but without actually leaving the company paychecks. The concept is, you stay on your job without leaving it, but you give fewer hours to it and do extra things outside the work life. The new trend of "quiet quitting" has sparked more than 3 million video views on TikTok as some young adults reject the notion of going over and beyond their careers, labeling their lack of passion as a form of "quitting."

The videos range from thoughtful ramblings on work-life balance to condescending jokes. Some people set strict limits on overtime in order to prioritize family. Many people want to separate their careers from their identities and want to do something beyond their work field. There are many who don't want to end up being in the corporate world and want to try something adventurous and new. And now, this group of young professionals has started hashtags "quite quitting" on TikTok to promote this form of work culture.

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According to Gallup survey data, employee engagement in the United States is declining across generations, but Gen Z and younger millennials, born in 1989 and after, reported the lowest involvement of all during the first quarter, at 31%. According to Jim Harter, Gallup's chief scientist for the workplace and well-being research, workers' descriptions of "quiet quitting" line up with a huge group of survey participants he classifies as "not engaged"—those who will show up to work and do the bare minimum but not much more. About 54% of workers born after 1989 who were polled by Gallup fall into this category, Wall Street Journal reported.

Clayton Farris, 41, said that after hearing about the new phrase circulating online, he realized he'd already been doing it by refusing to let work worries govern over him the way they used to. “The most interesting part about it is nothing’s changed,” he said in his TikTok video. “I still work just as hard. I still get just as much accomplished. I just don’t stress and internally rip myself to shreds.”

Paige West, 24, said she stopped overcommitting herself less than a year into her previous job as a transportation analyst in Washington, DC. Work-related stress had become so intense, she claimed, that her hair was falling out and she couldn't sleep. She stopped working more than 40 hours per week while looking for a new job, stopped attending extra training, and stopped attempting to socialize with coworkers. “I took a step back and said, ‘I’m just going to work the hours I’m supposed to work, that I’m really getting paid to work,’” she said. “Besides that, I’m not going to go extra.”

Zaid Khan, a 24-year-old New York engineer, posted a quiet quitting video that has received three million views in two weeks. Khan explained the concept in his viral TikTok video, "You're quitting the idea of going above and beyond. You’re no longer subscribing to the hustle-culture mentality that work has to be your life,” he said.

The hashtag is also trending on Twitter. Some users seem to be appreciating the new concept however, many didn't approve the trend. “Quite quitting is legit #Everyone should try it, lol bless your running a start up. Been doing it for years!", a user wrote. While another criticized the trend and wrote, "Quite quitting will eventually lead to loud layoffs". "Whoever came up with the term "quite quitting" needs to be dragged out into the street and spanked. This is called expecting a healthy work/life balance. Which everyone should expect. We should work to live (comfortably I hope), not live to work", another wrote.