“Quiet quitting”

[Fromthelions]

I’m thinking this might be the best approach. I used to be very ambitious but I work in the public sector and there’s just no way to do a good job with such little funding. I haven’t got the enthusiasm to start over in a new sector. I am responsible for 4 elderly relatives who are in their 80s and have a teenage son, which is a lot of emotional labour and ‘being available.’

aibu to just dial it in at work? I will still do my best in working hours of course, but no more going the extra mile, no more volunteering for extra training or responsibilities, and perhaps most importantly, no more defining myself by my job. I don’t want to talk t about it when I’m not in work.

does anyone else feel like this? Has anyone else done it? Do you feel freer?

Doesn’t sound like quitting to me, just sounds like getting some work-life boundaries?

As for experience - yes, I think I have that. I worked myself into the ground in a public sector role in my 20s before realising that there were no trophies for the hardest worker / person with least of a life; nobody cares, it gets you nowhere, if anything you actually lose respect by being the saddo slaving away at all hours, and I was ruining my health and burning out.

So I quit, retrained, and am now back in a public sector role where I deliberately leave at least 24 hours before answering e-mails, and never say yes to more than 75% of requests. Because to play the game well is ALLL about expectation management. If you give people 100% all the time, they come to expect 100% all the time, any less is failure. Give them 75%, and you pleasantly surprise them from time to time, have more to give when you want to impress, and generally lead a more balanced life.

Wow, that sounds good. I like the sound of only saying yes to 75% of requests. I still want to please too much I think

Yes. private company, but i’m doing what i’m requested to do, the end. Rejected promotion- i can do my current job easily , i don’t need the extra stress.

Why do you need random people's permission?

Have a think about why that is.
Whoever you’re trying to impress could walk away from their job and out of your life tomorrow without a backward glance.
Remember, managers like hard workers not because they are impressed by your inherent personal worth, but because you make their job easier for them.

Sounds great! If you’re in teaching, what are you planning to do? I need to take a leaf out of your book.

Not teaching but a similar kind of ‘vocational’ role that requires postgraduate training but is relatively low paid.

But this is what I’m planning anyway: work my hours and no more, the a lunch break OR account for that in my other hours, definitely leaving the emails for 24 hours and not responding to all requests. Management is a joke anyway - they take credit for successes and blame me or my team for failures. Cannot be arsed.

I’m also going to give up trying to mentor junior colleagues. It feels mean but I just don’t have the capacity to look after anyone else

I actually volunteer to help other colleagues a LOT, because I moved into a niche role but still have a lot of different skills.

Nobody takes me up on it, but I get a bit of kudos for offering to pitch in.

I don't see what leaving emails for 24 hours before responding has to do with quiet quitting. That's just dragging your feet.

I truly believe that over-achieving in a job role stops you being promoted. I’ve seen it too many times. Why promote someone who they can get to essentially work at a higher level for a smaller salary? It shouldn’t be like that but I’ve seen it time and again. Fly under the radar, do a good job, but only the job you’re reimbursed to do.

...... Erm ...... She's asking for opinions not permission

This is so true! There was a position going where I work hiring a manager recently. It was actually sad watching the ones who wanted it work overtime & take on projects which they had to do in their own time. This went on for 6 months while senior management made up their mind on who to “promote”. All they got was a round of applause & a pat on the back while they watched a new hire take the role..

It’s about teaching other people to respect your time.

In my role, people often email with questions and requests because it’s easier for them to ask me than it is to figure something out on their own. Once they realise that it will likely be at least a day before I reply to them, they stop asking.

Also, if people learn that you can and will reply to them in a matter of minutes or hours, they will start relying on that and getting annoyed if you haven’t got back to them that same day. On a day when you have an important task you have to focus on, the last thing you want to be doing is firefighting in your email inbox. You have to train people into respecting your time and that means showing that you will reply at YOUR convenience, not theirs, and they have to factor that in.
Obviously if something is genuinely important, you can respond in a more timely fashion. But that’s your call.

Still nothing to do with quiet quitting. What you describe is a completely different matter unrelated to what hours you decide to work.

I mean fair enough, OP’s post didn’t sound like quitting to me either.

That’s work to rule not quiet quitting