Quiet quitting

[Floofydawg]

I've had enough of my job. Am 54, tired, burnt out and sick of the corporate bullshit. My workplace is becoming toxic in terms of the expectation on people. I want out, but with 20+ years service I want a payout. I'm quiet quitting - has anyone ever been successful in getting redundancy by doing that? I've even considered getting signed off with stress. I'm not sleeping, and it's not good for my health.

This, in spades. It is harder when you get older and have been working for 40-odd years. Perhaps some of the younger posters will understand at some point.

Good for him, my son and daughter have a great mindset too, in their 30s and already are doing a 4 day week, recognising they want a better life work balance, I applaud them both.

Good luck OP IMO there is nothing wrong with working a 4 day week and putting in the hours you're paid for, if they don't like it then f them

Working your contracted hours is fine - surely that's what you're paid to do?

But quiet quitting implies turning up but actually not doing your job, and if that's the case, be careful you don't get fired.

That's not what quiet quitting means though.

Quiet quitting means doing the job you're paid to do but not going above and beyond. It doesn't mean collecting the pay and doing nothing.

When Tory rags decided that they wanted to make it a villainous act rather than doing what you are paid to do. Millennial bad, Boomers good etc etc,

So work your hours then and that should help you with some of the resentment you are feeling. Are you working extra because someone has actually said it or because that's the culture, think you implied the latter - well don't, nothing will happen. They won't make you redundant for doing your hours.

I feel much the same as you OP, but I'm 63 so official retirement is a little closer. However, it's still another 4 years away and I'm not sure how much longer I can go on. For context, I have health issues as well - I suffer from rheumatoid arthritis, have survived cancer, but also have another auto immune condition that needs constant management and frequent medical intervention involving time off work (weeks, not days). This condition means I am highly likely to suffer further cancers in the future if not properly managed.
Quite frankly, I've had enough of my company's expectations and just want to quit the rat race whilst I am still physically capable of enjoying whatever time I have left.
I can't change jobs - my age and health record are against me and no employer in their right mind would want to take me on. I went part-time (3 day week - full days) about 5 years ago as I was struggling to work full time, manage my health and provide support to my aged mother, who was suffering from dementia. However, the company I work for still has the same expectations regarding the amount of work I can manage. My mother died about 18 months ago, but I couldn't physically go back to full time work after she passed away.
Yes, it sucks!

I'm in my 40s and have never gone the extra mile, I get to work on time and leave on time.
Nobody expects anything else from me and knows not to even ask.
I see the other mugs already working when I arrive even though they're not getting paid yet and I see them staying behind no longer getting paid and working their little brown noses socks off for no extra pay but we all get paid the same at the end of the day.
I do exactly what I'm paid to do I've never had a disciplinary for only doing my job.

Not in my experience. Incompetent people seem to get promoted out the way into another team, or get 6 figure payouts, glowing references and fall into another role. Rinse and repeat

Sad state of affairs where working to your contract is framed as a form of “quitting”. Expectation of going over and above - providing unpaid labour to your employer, and making yourself ill in the process - is the norm. No job is worth more than your health. Most employers don’t give a fuck about you and will suck the life out of you if you let them.

I agree.

I feel very similar to you OP and I suppose I'm doing some quiet quitting too. I'm 55.

I'm in Education and have stopped bringing work home with me. I leave my laptop at school so I'm not tempted to switch it on in an evening. I've Taken off all my educational groups off my social media. I do still arrive at work at 7,30 but I leave by 4pm.

I say no a lot now.

I'm not buying any more resources for my classroom.

I do my job, but the bare minimum. I don't offer to do anything after school eg nothing for the PTFA.I don't volunteer for anything that isn't directed time.

After nearly 30 years I'm done. I work 4 days now too.

Plan is to retire in the next 2-3 years and get a job doing admin that I can leave at the door when the day is done.

Inspired by this thread I'm having a late start tomorrow and taking a little time back from my very long day today. The email backlog can wait.

I think you may well find that they start thinking how great it would be to have a dumb keen youngster prepared to work all hours in your role, maybe for a lower salary too. And so you leaving would be a win-win. Before they offer you money though, they might try to make things unpleasant for you in the hope that you resign (like suggesting you go down a grade for example), so be prepared to ride that out. Eventually I think it would be fair enough to say - 'if you want me to leave that's fine, but I'm not going without some money. Otherwise I'll sit here until retirement and work as per my job description during my contracted hours thank you very much.'

They can definitely make you redundant if they want to, regardless of whether the work is still there, just needs a little cosmetic restructure and a new job title for the poor sap who takes over.

Working your hours is fine and I definitely am of the opinion that everyone should do this, going above and beyond should be something you do every now and then not something everyone does all the time. However, I wouldn’t be hoping for redundancy and I hate this tendency that people have to go off sick at the drop of a hat. If you don’t like a job any more you should try and get a new one.

Good stuff Floofy.

A contract works both ways, you're paid to work your contracted hours. The company wouldn't let you work less hours for the same money so why should they expect you to work more hours for no money?

I hate this tendency that people have to go off sick at the drop of a hat

That's a big assumption to make about me at the drop of a hat. I'm stressed and knackered with some pretty shit menopause symptoms. But I'm not off sick.

And I can only assume that the 'get another job' brigade are much younger than me and haven't experienced ageism in the workplace.

Companies pretend to be nice by offering 4 days but they get a really experienced member of staff knowing she puts loads of hours and effort into her job and they can get away with giving her 80% of what she is worth til she burns out!
Same old same old greedy corporates.

Work your hours only and if they complain say you are working your contracted hours.

Book yourself a holiday lovely and have a good think about your options. Sorry the B's have milked you dry! Xxxx

That sounds a horrendous culture. No-one can keep that up for long. 🙃

Floofy I was on your original post from December. How many days are you having to travel in now? Sorry it hasn’t got any better.

Hi, it's about twice a month which isn't terrible but it's the expectation around workload on top of that which is just too much.

I do sometimes think four days is the worst part time because you just end up getting the full five days work. When you work three days there has to be some sort of adjustment.

You’ve had some good advice above about documenting how unreasonable it is to expect full-time work in part-time hours and then negotiating if they start performance management.

@Floofydawg Have you considered dropping to 3 days but upping your daily hours slightly? I worked Monday Wednesday Friday, Fridays were quiet and I got loads done. Monday started with a clear deck and Wednesdays meant people only had to wait a day for a response.

The additional hours each day meant I did more than 60% so the drop in net pay wasn’t as much as dropping a full day.

Weeks with a BH Monday were great as I finished on a Friday and didn’t go back in until the Wednesday. I know there is a slight penalty with BH falling on a Monday but I felt the benefits out weighed the negatives.