Podcast: How ‘Quiet Quitting’ Is Changing the Workplace | The Wall Street Journal Podcasts

You’ve probably heard or seen the term “quiet quitting” (QQ) being shared across various social media platforms and publications, including this 8-minute Wall Street Journal podcast.  And while there are varying and confusing descriptions of QQ, three main points to sum up this latest workplace buzzword are: 1) Unlike the name suggests, quiet quitting is not about employees resigning and leaving their companies. 2) QQ has primarily been described as workers who are performing effectively and meeting the expectations of their jobs but have chosen not to go above and beyond those expectations. 3) This new term has been fueled by the fact that many workers have reprioritized their work and life and desire to spend more time on non-work/career pursuits that are important to them. But while quiet quitting is the latest of many buzzwords to land in the workplace, it is not a new concept.  The notion of “going beyond what is expected” has been commonly referred to as “discretionary effort” or “organizational citizenship behaviors” (OCB) in both the practitioner and academic research on employee engagement and retention, including my 2007 research study, Linking the Employment Value Proposition (EVP) to Employee Engagement and Business Outcomes: Preliminary Findings from a Linkage Research Pilot Study. Rather than get bogged down in new buzzwords, organizational leaders and managers should ask: how do I create a workplace that inspires each worker to do their best work and feel fulfilled? The answer starts with knowing what workers value and what’s important to them. To help managers uncover some answers, I am resharing this INSEAD article by Chengyi Lin that includes 18 questions managers can draw from and integrate into their one-on-one discussions with the individuals on their team.