Quiet quitting and quiet firing are the new HR trends for passive-aggressive conflicts in the workplace.
Quiet quitting is a newly-coined term that refers to employees who perform the bare minimum in terms of their job requirements, i.e. they stop going above and beyond in their role. It can be seen as an attempt to re-enforce the work-life balance created during Covid when working from home was the norm.
Quiet firing on the other hand, is where an employer restricts opportunities in the hopes that an employee resigns. Quiet firing can include bypassing an employee for a job promotion or excluding employees from meetings. Quiet firing has the potential to lead to workers compensation, general protection and unfair dismissal claims.
Busy or overworked managers might be more likely to quiet fire an employee because they do not have the time to invest in company culture. Employees however, might be more likely to quiet quit if they suspect they are being quiet fired.
BetterHR suggests managers meet at least monthly with their employees to provide feedback to employees and set short-term and long-term career goals.
This can include conversations around additional training, rewards and recognition programmes and annual salary reviews.
Additionally, employee sentiment surveys and exit interviews can be important tools to understand why employees quiet quit and recalibrate the workplace culture.
BetterHR’s advisors can assist you in developing HR policies and procedures to keep your employees engaged and avoid unnecessary legal and recruitment costs.
