New data from Gallup adds to the debate over “quiet quitting”
With only 32% of employees saying they are “engaged,” Gallup says that quiet quitters could make up more than 50% of workers in the U.S.
However, even as it notes increased disengagement, Gallup’s findings raise questions about the quiet quitting concept. The polling and analysis company titled its article on the findings: “Is Quiet Quitting Real?” and notes two other important issues — workplace dissatisfaction among younger workers, and the role of management in that dissatisfaction.
Gallup’s findings — a real problem among younger workers
The new analysis by Gallup finds that the problem of quiet quitting is most applicable among young workers. The company’s polling finds that the percentage of engaged employees under the age of 35 dropped by six percentage points from 2019 to 2022, while at the same time, the percentage of actively disengaged employees in that age cohort increased by six points.
The lack of support has emerged as a factor: younger workers have dropped 10 or more points in the percentage who strongly agreed that someone cares about them, someone encourages their development, and they have opportunities to learn and grow. Gallup also finds that fewer than 4 in 10 young workers who did remote or hybrid work clearly knew what was expected of them at work.
“The overall decline was especially related to clarity of expectations, opportunities to learn and grow, feeling cared about, and a connection to the organization’s mission or purpose — signaling a growing disconnect between employees and their employers,” the Gallup analysis says.
Or is it about management, not employees?
Even with strong data showing dissatisfaction, some have dismissed the quiet quitting concept as a construct of social media, which often features content that is dismissive of younger people. The problem, many argue, is with management, not workers. Just as the Gallup findings point to a perceived disconnect from the organization, more than from work itself, others are finding that poor relationships between workers and management are the root of the problem.
“In reality, quiet quitting is a new name for an old behavior,” writes Jack Zenger and Joseph Folkman in the Harvard Business Review. “Our data indicates that quiet quitting is usually less about an employee’s willingness to work harder and more creatively, and more about a manager’s ability to build a relationship with their employees where they are not counting the minutes until quitting time.”
Using surveys that measure leadership and the work environment, Zenger and Folkman find that quiet quitters were only 2% to 4% of the employees whose managers fell above the 50th percentile of ratings by employees. In the lowest ranking percentile (1st through 9th) of managers, the rate of quiet quitters was 14% of employees.
Related: Quiet quitting: Is it more than just a better work-life balance?
Other observers have note that gender and racial roles may contribute to this controversy. “The notion of quiet quitting suggests a norm where people have to perform extra, often undesirable tasks outside of their job description, and where not doing that additional work is considered a form of “quitting” your job,” writes Tayo Bero in The Guardian. “The debate around quiet quitting also raises important questions about who is actually doing much of this unpaid labor. Women, for example, are disproportionately asked and expected to take on work that no one else wants to do.”
Women of color often are expected to do “above and beyond” work, Bero says, and are less likely to be assigned work that is recognized and appreciated by higher-ups.
Gallup’s analysis calls for an increased emphasis on engagement — by managers. “Managers must learn how to have conversations to help employees reduce disengagement and burnout,” the article says. “Only managers are in a position to know employees as individuals — their life situation, strengths and goals.”