10 Workers Share Their Brutally Honest Takes On Quiet Quitting

“I resent the term ‘quiet quitting,’ as a person who is protective of their time outside office hours. This doesn’t make me a bad employee, it makes me a better one. I’m very good at my job, and am able to do it better than some in fewer hours, and I don’t suffer from burn out because I make sure I get time to switch off. Measure my performance on the work I do, not the time I’m available. This term really is corporations responding to the mass realization that they can’t bully and trick 1 person into doing two people’s jobs any more.” — AlterEdward

“I do what I get paid to do. I do my hours, no more no less. If I have to work overtime I’m claiming every single millisecond of it. It’s a job. Not my life.” — publicworker69

“Quiet quitting was coined by corporate to make it sound bad and put employees who do it in a bad light. Simply put, it means doing exactly what you agreed to and what you are paid for. This is not quitting by any dictionary I am familiar with. This is plain and simple doing your job. Corporate ‘culture’ has it you have to work more than you agreed to, more than your contracted hours, more than you are paid for, to impress the employer, to ‘show you care’ and other bullshit like that. People are gradually waking up to the realization that this is all unacceptable. If we flip this on its head, why doesn’t the company pay me more than we agreed? Or why doesn’t it cut an hour or two off my day’s shift? I’m sure any corporate linguist could find a variety of reasons to respond to that, and those are the exact reasons why the employee should not work past their hours and pay. So no. ‘quiet quitting’ doesn’t exist, purely because it has nothing to do with quitting.” — legrenabeach

“The phrase ‘you get what you pay for’ applies to employers too. They shouldn’t expect to get premium production at a discount.” — useyourownnamebitch

“People who work hard and efficiently are punished with more work than they are paid for. No thanks. I signed up for specifically what I wanted.” — PossiblyWithout

It’s funny to me how people think this is a new thing. The term for it is new, but people everywhere have always been doing it.” — GrandMil

“Has anyone here ever worked somewhere, had a supervisor quit, then had to do the supervisor’s job, but while being told they can’t actually make you officially the supervisor yet, just so they don’t have to give you a pay rise? I’ve known several people who have had this happen to them, and they get strung along with the promise that eventually they will have the title and pay rise. No one should fall for it. So, yes. I wholeheartedly support Silent Quitting and Acting Your Wage.” — Stevotonin

“Quiet quitting sounds like come corporate bullshit to make workers feel ashamed of not giving life and limb for a damn company. Acting your wage is something a lotta people could use. Don’t get me wrong if you work in a cutthroat industry where you need to put out 110% to chase the bag, go for it but when you’re working at mcd’s for minimum wage you’re better off saving your energy for some courses or even a trade school. As long as your workshare is done, you’re not lazy for not doing more than you’re paid for.” — rb26enjoyer

“We should also include in the conversation ‘quiet firing’ which is where they keep adding more and more tasks with no pay raise.” — TheGrumpyre

“I think the pandemic really reset people’s priorities. A lot of people were working from home or unemployed, and spent time with their families, or relaxing, or on self improvement. After a couple years of that, we all realized that maybe working those extra hours every day isn’t that important. Their jobs kept going on, even though they were putting less effort into them. I’ve noticed a big change at my office. If I stay until 5:30, there’s only a couple cars left in the parking lot. It used to be busy there until 6 or 7 most days! And the place is pretty empty on Fridays, everyone is ‘working from home.’ People seem to value their personal time a lot more, and I think it’s a good thing. Work to live, don’t live to work!” — Veritas3333