I can’t resign—I quietly quit! Remote work brings more employment challenges

We have written before about the great resignation—four million people per month leaving their jobs, and often leaving the workforce altogether. That statistic has led to a worker shortage that has employers scrambling for employees to fill the more than 11 million unfilled jobs in America.

But an added phenomenon has arisen among those who decide to stay at work, which economists are calling “quiet quitting.” According to a Gallup poll, more than half of employees in America engage in “quiet quitting,” defined as clocking in and doing the bare minimum at work—refusing to work overtime and shying away from tasks they don’t like.

Disturbing statistics

The Gallup poll found that 34% of employees are disengaged from their work. The more distressing number is that 18% of workers are actively disengaged from work, loudly expressing their dissatisfaction in the workplace or on social media. Less than a third of workers describe themselves as excited or enthusiastic about their work.

The survey suggests that COVID-19 did more than simply keep us away from our offices for the past two years. Rather, the major upheaval in the labor market and the disruption in the workplace are making workers question their relationship with their jobs. Employees have seen coworkers fired and others quit, and they have lost confidence in their own employment.