Social media is no stranger to sparking new trends. When one dies, five more pop up. However, do these trends impact your home life? They certainly might, as there are always creative people coming up with new ideas that can either help or hinder you at home. When it comes to work, on the other hand, you don’t typically see fads affecting your work style or environment. Recently, though, there is a new trend popping up all over TikTok, Twitter, Facebook, etc. that has some employers worried: quiet quitting.
The gist behind the trend is workers only putting forth the baseline amount of effort into their job; nothing more than what is needed. The concept has existed for forever, as some people are not happy working the job they are stuck with and would rather not push themselves by going beyond what’s required. In the view of a worker, this is certainly an understandable mindset to have, as they may only be getting paid minimum wage or are treated poorly by their higher ups.
You know those jobs that high school and college students take to get some extra cash? Working the register at Walmart, flipping burgers at McDonald’s, washing dishes at a local restaurant – all dead end jobs that provide very little to no growth for the employee. These are the kinds of jobs I imagine quiet quitters are talking about.
Coming from someone who has worked one of these jobs right out of high school, I despised it. Would I say I was “quiet quitting” though? Not necessarily, as I like to think I put in a lot of effort there, I made friends out of the coworkers there, and I was treated kindly by my bosses. What made me hate it was how it felt like a waste of time to me. $7.50 an hour for this job was too little for the workload, which eventually led me to do less and less everyday. Had it been something I was passionate about where I had respectful bosses and was getting paid a living wage, then there would be zero reason to practice quiet quitting.
Even with that being said, would anyone want the contractors building a house to do the bare minimum while making sure the house is structurally sound? Would anyone want the doctor in charge of their mother’s kidney transplant to show any indication of laziness in the operating room? There is a hazy line with this trend and the kinds of workplaces it should be practiced in. Could this slippery slope lead people into hazardous situations for the workers, patients, businesses, and customers involved? I certainly think so. What people decide to do in the workplace is their decision, and they deserve the repercussions most of them may get.
Alex Ross
Alex Rossis a third-year Communication student at Lock Haven with a focus in Journalism. This is his second year as an active member of the Eagle Eye and has been the Arts and Entertainment editor, News editor, and an active writer. He focuses on writing reviews for the A&E section, but has written stories for news, sports, and opinions. Outside of the newsroom, Alex enjoys record shopping, reading classic literature, and analyzing films. Alex hopes to work for a film or music news site as a writer or editor after graduation.
