The revolution of Quiet Quitting, led by carefree Generation Z, and the start of Loud Leaving.

Employees who are labelled Generation Z are also being labelled as the founders of the Quiet Quitting revolution that is impacting work cultures from office to office across the world. It’s the buzz word around water coolers.

Defined as employees working within defined work hours and engaging solely in activities within those hours, this way of working is not focused totally on quitting and is instead also championing a new work-life balance where employees are not at their desks well into the evening.

The social media channel, TikTok has been blamed for the rise as videos of influencers such as ChampageCruz promoting the trend. The video portrays employees doing the bare minimum to get by at work, not caring about their job. To date there are over 10.5 million videos online about Quiet Quitting.

It’s employees in their 20s who are not following the Millennial’s lead by going the extra mile to make a good impression on the boss. According to a study by McKinsey, 40% of employees are somewhat to almost certainly likely to leave in the next six months, many of these through Quiet Quitting. And why should they go the extra mile when this generation are predicted to have 18 jobs across six careers? The generation are doing what they’ve been contracted to do, no more, and moving on.

This study also revealed the top reason for leaving is a lack of development. Now more than ever, employers must prioritise Learning & Development in order to retain its workforce.

Backing up this research is data from the digital employee experience platform, WorkL which highlights that this age group score low when asked if ‘they are being developed at work’. Over 2,000 Generation Z employees were asked in August 2022 this question and scored 63% compared to the average of 65% across other age groups.

The same data shows that Gen Z men are the most likely to have a bad relationship with their manager and the Flight Risk of employees is now at 26%, meaning that over a quarter of workers are looking to leave in the next three months.

Another work buzz word that is beginning to gain momentum is Loud Leaving. This is a term used to describe how employees are being vocal to their colleagues, to let them know that they are leaving on time and not staying late in the office. This is especially being used by managers, who ‘Loud Lead’ to encourage their teams to leave on time and to not normalise late working.

Data from WorkL backs up this trend. When asked if employees are happy with their hours they work, employees scored an average of 75% compared to 74% last year.

There’s no doubt that working from home has been a factor in Quiet Quitting gaining momentum. Many Generation Z employees began their careers working from their kitchen table during Covid, making their own work-life rules. The sudden return to the office, be it 2-3 days a week, has been a shock adapting to office expectations that this generation of employees are just not interested in working up to. Cue Loud Leaving. This movement is something that I personally adhere to in our office at WorkL. Leaving on time and making a point to our employees that I am leaving, encourages the team to leave on time and not feel bad for leaving the office before their colleagues.

Lord Mark Price is the Founder of WorkL - At WorkL, we’re here to measure, track and improve employee experience, culture and performance. Flexible surveys, data analytics, instant action planning for managers and employees as well as training packages, will all help quell Quiet Quitting and I hope, encourage Loud Leaving.

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