Quiet Riot: What Employers Need To Know About Quiet Quitting

After seemingly endless lockdowns, COVID-19 mandates and social distancing requirements, employers are gladly welcoming the return to business as usual. Yet, the same cannot be said for all employees, as we are now seeing a rise of "quiet quitters."

Although quiet quitting is not new, what was once fringe has become a viral phenomenon. The behaviours associated with quiet quitting fall on a wide spectrum, but there appear to be two main types:

1. Performing at Bare Minimum. The first type of quiet quitting occurs where employees do the bare minimum that is required to satisfy the essential duties of their job. This means that a quiet quitter would, for example, start and end work no earlier or later than what is mandatory, refuse to take on additional tasks not directly defined in their job description and/or refrain from doing any work outside of set hours, even if such work is necessary to complete a task in a timely manner.