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Original poster

Any other quiet quitters?

107 replies

SupremeCommanderServalan · 17/04/2023 15:09

Am struggling working in a toxic workplace. I've been trying and failing to get out, having applied for countless jobs in the past couple of years. But the reality is I'm burnt out. So I need to look at coping strategies and quiet quitting is one of them. Does anyone want to join me, or what to share any tips?

OP posts:
Newgirls · 25/04/2023 19:58

That sounds so isolating 😞

Newgirls · 25/04/2023 19:59

That sounds so isolating

CharlotteStreetW1 · 25/04/2023 20:07

Playing devil's advocate..

I think I'm sitting next to a quiet quitter which when I've got the heaviest workload on the team is pretty upsetting. Ironically her boss is much the same so she's under no pressure. It means it falls to my boss to pick up the slack and then trickles down to me. I actually watched her stretch out a ten minute job for the whole morning today. Or maybe she and her boss are just lazy bastards.

I love my job and the firm so much, I've even put off retirement to stay, but a little help wouldn't go amiss.

As a matter of interest, are you all wfh?

Kyse · 25/04/2023 20:10

Yup. As part of a team we were given a task. I've brought it up numerous times that I do way more and nothing changed
For example there are say 6000 tasks, each takes about 30 seconds, sometimes a couple of mins
I do 200. Everyone else? Maybe 10, at a push
So I've stopped. I do the same as everyone else and my manager is losing her mind that we aren't getting through the tasks. I wonder why Hmm

Not my issue, we all get paid the same and she can't say to me I'm doing less work because I'm doing the same amount as everyone else...
doing 200 just makes me angry when nobody else does it, it doesn't gain me anything. I get no recognition for doing more

VerySneakySir · 25/04/2023 20:12

CharlotteStreetW1 · 25/04/2023 20:07

Playing devil's advocate..

I think I'm sitting next to a quiet quitter which when I've got the heaviest workload on the team is pretty upsetting. Ironically her boss is much the same so she's under no pressure. It means it falls to my boss to pick up the slack and then trickles down to me. I actually watched her stretch out a ten minute job for the whole morning today. Or maybe she and her boss are just lazy bastards.

I love my job and the firm so much, I've even put off retirement to stay, but a little help wouldn't go amiss.

As a matter of interest, are you all wfh?

Why don't you read the thread and then you might see that I am not WFH. Full time in office and have an enormous workload which I will always continue to complete. But I'm not doing anyone else's work for them. They can fuck right off hth

Newuswr · 25/04/2023 23:55

@TeenLifeMum good luck in your interview. I also had one today, don’t think it went great but have another lined up next week.

@Kyse wow, that’s such a large discrepancy between outputs. But you’re right, no point doing 200% more work than everyone else!

Original poster
SupremeCommanderServalan · 26/04/2023 05:58

I am trying to go 'grey rock' as much as possible so that I'm not actively engaging at work, but also to stop me calling other people out.

I have set aside a chunk of the bank holiday weekend to look at my CV, but beyond that, I don't know how to deal with the fact that I am burnt out when it comes to getting another job.

OP posts:
VerySneakySir · 26/04/2023 06:45

Maybe a bit of quiet quitting will give you some time and calm to deal with job hunting @SupremeCommanderServalan.

I can't quit yet, so need to just deal with it for a while. But I won't be putting in the herculean effort I have been. I've stayed late and started early and missed family events to work when nobody else has had to, so that will be stopping. Also I'm not panicking if something out of my control goes wrong and I miss a deadline. It isn't life and death anyway.

PortiasBiscuit · 26/04/2023 06:48

You get paid to do a job, if you’re not doing the job you’re not “quiet quitting”, you are skiving!

and your workmates are suffering because of it!

VerySneakySir · 26/04/2023 06:50

Oh bore off. There is a difference between doing your job and going the extra mile. Quiet quitting is just no longer doing the extra things

VerySneakySir · 26/04/2023 06:51

I really wish people would read the thread or at least the previous few posts before they dispense their 'wisdom'

Doyouthinktheyknow · 26/04/2023 06:53

I think I need to channel a bit of this ethos. My natural work ethic is being very conscientious and always going the extra mile but my job is destroying my mental health and I have no work life balance.

I want to leave but am too scared to tell my boss🤦‍♀️

We have just had another directive from above which makes my job impossible so I’m going to push back. Support my team if they won’t give me the staff we need and stop trying to do everything else they expect. And I’m going to start looking for other jobs. Stop going in early and leave on time. Small steps but I need to start somewhere.

GreenwichOrTwicks · 26/04/2023 06:55

iI am doing this because I am working in a school and find it perplexing how people do lots extra, mown shout out but continue to do it. They also try to shame others by being competitive martyrs (eg ‘ if you don’t do a school trip someone else has to’ -no -no-one has to!
A large part of the problem of people who have only b ever been in education and sheep-like accept whatever extra they are told to do.
Meanwhile I put maximum into the classroom experience for the pupils by refuse to do piled on extra that did nothing for the kids’ actual learning

GreenwichOrTwicks · 26/04/2023 06:56

Sorry for typos

Officebasedquitter · 26/04/2023 07:17

I quiet quit my current job as soon as I started. It’s public sector and there is no progression for my specific role. I am at the top of my pay scale so there is no incentive to do anymore than my job role.

I work at a naturally fast pace but I won’t do extra hours unless it will benefit me one day. I don’t take on additional projects. I won’t work during my breaks. I leave my work laptop in the office overnight and refuse to answer anyone calling my personal phone.

I fulfil my role, the one I was employed to do, brilliantly. But anything else is off limits. Incidentally my boss hasn’t noticed that I quite quit because I never moan about anything in the office. I happily do the drudge part of my job when others complain because it is my job. I’m not stressed and am very rarely sick, mostly due to QQ. There is a skill to QQ well I think.

Timeforchangeithink · 26/04/2023 07:41

I hadn't realised QQ had an actual name! I'm doing it or at least trying very hard to. I am seeing the benefits to it but also how it's affecting the slackers in the team, which doesn't actually give me any pleasure but is making things much better for me.

Original poster
SupremeCommanderServalan · 26/04/2023 07:57

For me, so far QQ is stopping myself from going above and beyond in a way that I usually would - working weekends, not taking breaks etc because otherwise I would be getting signed off through burnout. There is no point in my attempting that workload I now realise because even if I worked 24/7, it wouldn't be enough. So instead I have been quietly letting my line manager set my workload, and it has made a difference.

OP posts:
Biscuitlover456 · 26/04/2023 07:57

Not sure if I qualify - I’m in my notice period right now as I quit my job due to it negatively affecting my wellbeing (an actual quitter!). I have decided that during my remaining weeks here I will be doing the work of one person, at a normal pace. I have a big post-it stuck to my computer instructing me to slow down in case I forget :)

cakewitch · 26/04/2023 08:09

I quietly quit a few months ago. Small family business that begrudge every single penny they pay out in wages, I feel unnapreciated, and unmotivated. Got another job lined up but I'm waiting till I get paid this month till I hand my 2 weeks in.. they'll be lucky if they even get that out of me.

Toleaveornot · 26/04/2023 08:23

Anyone tempted to actually quit?

I'm also in a horrible pressurised environment and feel utterly worn out and depressed. I have good experience and a good CV but not really getting anywhere with job hunting right now (I feel partly because I don't have the time or headspace to do it properly).

Would love a bit of a breather and a fresh start but don't want to screw myself over.

TeenLifeMum · 26/04/2023 08:27

@Toleaveornot yes but can’t afford to. If I get a new job out of my interview I’ll have 3 months notice period to work. I’ve started looking at how leaving and having 2 weeks unpaid leave between roles will affect my nhs continual service and pension. I need time to recover from my current situation and bullying. Job applications are a job in themselves - 7 pages of essential criteria to evidence is mad.

ThirdCultureKid · 26/04/2023 08:34

I joined this club at the beginning of last week.

I do like my job, managers and my workplace - but realised they were very very happy to let me work well above my pay grade, hours and carry the heavier caseload. I was totally ok with this until I was totally taken for granted with no consultation at all because I was a 'super team player' and a 'work horse'

I tend just to get my head down and do the work i have been given without question. I was shaken out of my complacency and took the time to have a look at the teams allocation stats over the last year I realised I was running on average (at a higher approval rating) 3.7 cases to every 1 for every other same hours, grade, experience case worker - I was a absolute mug!

On three separate occasions this week alone I have had to marshal myself from jumping in to offer to pick something up or swap a case out rather than keeping both, which is what I would have normally done. I now have a comparable 1 to 1 case load with the rest of the team.

I think my manager realised but was at a loss to how to bring it up so I was scheduled into a never before heard of 'check in call' on Friday.

I was very very clear to show I was managing my case load and very much ahead of the targets. I just let him squirm because he wanted to ask why the fuck I was not picking up all the extras without tipping his hand. He went with that he had noticed 'I was less available than I normally am'. I acted all confused and I reiterated that I am managing my allocated caseload, I work my hours and I am engaged in the team so i couldn't understand what the issue was? I could see he was super frustrated at the end of the call.

In totally unrelated news: later today there is a department wide meeting to discuss why we suddenly have a backlog. 😆

Greenfairydust · 26/04/2023 09:10

''@PortiasBiscuit · Today 06:48
You get paid to do a job, if you’re not doing the job you’re not “quiet quitting”, you are skiving!

and your workmates are suffering because of it!''

Read the thread and try to understand it before mouthing off...

That's not what is being discussed here.

People are not talking about not doing their job.

They are talking about the fact that they no longer go above and beyond their hours/job requirements or pretend to have any real interest in the routine corporate slog/office politics, which is very different.

Many of us have had enough of exhausting ourselves always trying to do more only to be treated poorly by employers or pretending to buy into the fact that we should all be ''passionate'' about work and that it should be our main life focus.

Newestname002 · 26/04/2023 09:33

ThirdCultureKid · 26/04/2023 08:34

I joined this club at the beginning of last week.

I do like my job, managers and my workplace - but realised they were very very happy to let me work well above my pay grade, hours and carry the heavier caseload. I was totally ok with this until I was totally taken for granted with no consultation at all because I was a 'super team player' and a 'work horse'

I tend just to get my head down and do the work i have been given without question. I was shaken out of my complacency and took the time to have a look at the teams allocation stats over the last year I realised I was running on average (at a higher approval rating) 3.7 cases to every 1 for every other same hours, grade, experience case worker - I was a absolute mug!

On three separate occasions this week alone I have had to marshal myself from jumping in to offer to pick something up or swap a case out rather than keeping both, which is what I would have normally done. I now have a comparable 1 to 1 case load with the rest of the team.

I think my manager realised but was at a loss to how to bring it up so I was scheduled into a never before heard of 'check in call' on Friday.

I was very very clear to show I was managing my case load and very much ahead of the targets. I just let him squirm because he wanted to ask why the fuck I was not picking up all the extras without tipping his hand. He went with that he had noticed 'I was less available than I normally am'. I acted all confused and I reiterated that I am managing my allocated caseload, I work my hours and I am engaged in the team so i couldn't understand what the issue was? I could see he was super frustrated at the end of the call.

In totally unrelated news: later today there is a department wide meeting to discuss why we suddenly have a backlog. 😆

I LOVE this! Particularly this:

In totally unrelated news: later today there is a department wide meeting to discuss why we suddenly have a backlog.

You handled the checking in time with your manager so well

Do let us know how the department went de meeting goes.

I do wish I'd known about quiet quitting when I was working and giving 200% but earning less than market rate for the job I was actually doing - and seeing newcomers get paid more for doing less! I'm out of it now, thank goodness. 🌹

Toleaveornot · 26/04/2023 09:35

TeenLifeMum · 26/04/2023 08:27

@Toleaveornot yes but can’t afford to. If I get a new job out of my interview I’ll have 3 months notice period to work. I’ve started looking at how leaving and having 2 weeks unpaid leave between roles will affect my nhs continual service and pension. I need time to recover from my current situation and bullying. Job applications are a job in themselves - 7 pages of essential criteria to evidence is mad.

Yes some of these application processes are ridiculous. Great that you're getting responses though and best of luck with the interview.