Do Your Employees Quietly Quit?

Recently Gallop provided a poll stating that at least 50% FIFTY PERCENT of the current workforce has “quietly quit” their jobs. What is quiet quitting? It is when your employees do “just enough” to retain their job and collect their paycheck. All enthusiasm is gone, all “going the extra mile” is gone, and at best a neutral attitude towards ones workplace is displayed.

As a top 1% recruiter in the nation, I assert that 50% is actually low. Realistically at least 95% of the people with whom our team confidentially contacts about new positions tell us that they will “listen”. If you are thriving in your workplace, would you be willing to listen??? I’ve been happily married for over 30 years and I promise you IF a dating service reached out to me, I would NOT “listen”. Would you??

Employee retention and preventing quiet quitting is a complex discussion with no simple canned program but I can tell you for sure that it all begins with (drum roll please) ….. relationships! When companies have turnover, people lose clients, or employees quietly quit, it all began at a point in time when the relationship began to deteriorate. Your job as a business leader is to stay connected. Your job as a parent is to stay connected. Your job as a spouse is to stay connected. Your job as a friend is to stay connected.

If I were coaching someone that was experiencing employee retention or attitude issues, I would begin with a safe heart to heart talk about their thoughts, goals, and experiences in our environment. The key word is “safe”. When you reach out to people not to attack, put on a PIP, or criticize but instead to understand, you would be surprised to see light come back to their eyes. Next time you have this issue, maybe give this strategy a practice. It certainly can’t hurt.