Quiet Quitting vs. Setting Healthy Boundaries: Where's The Line?

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In the summer of 2022, we first started hearing buzz around a new term: “Quiet quitting“.

Quiet quitting is a term that essentially means an employee who does the core responsibilities of their role, but doesn’t go above-and-beyond for their company.

I think it‘s safe to say we’ve all met quiet quitters throughout our careers — heck, most of us have been quiet quitters during times when we felt less engaged by our work, and opted for the out-by-five approach rather than staying late to pursue projects outside our scope.

There are parts of the quiet quitting approach that I believe are fundamentally healthy … but there are other aspects that hint at employees who feel unengaged, unmotivated, or unsupported in their roles.

So I‘d like to revisit the concept of quiet quitting and figure out why roughly 30% of full-time employees say they’re quiet quitting in 2024 — and whether that’s actually a bad thing.

What is quiet quitting?

Quiet quitting is a term that took off on TikTok in a video by content creator Zaiad Khan.

In the video, which currently has 3.5 million views, the Tiktoker explains what quiet quitting is: A rejection of hustle culture and a reclaiming of work-life balance.

Shortly after, other TikTok users shared their thoughts and experiences with quiet quitting – the hashtag now gaining 97.6 million total video views.

So while the term includes the word “quitting,” it actually has nothing to do with it.

Quiet quitting involves completing your work responsibilities without going above and beyond. This looks like logging out at 5 p.m., not seeking additional tasks or projects, and taking regular time off.

For some quiet quitters, it’s a form of rebellion. For others, it’s an odd term to describe something they’ve done for decades.

How many employees are quiet quitting in 2024?

HubSpot Blog Research found one in three full-time employees say they’re actively quiet quitting in 2024.

Here’s how this breaks down by generation:

32% of full-time Gen Z
37% of full-time millennials
35% of full-time Gen X

What‘s more interesting, though, is the respondent’s viewpoint on what quiet quitting actually means: Over half (55%) of full-time employees think quiet quitting is equivalent to setting healthy boundaries at work, while 45% say quiet quitting reflects an employee’s work ethic.

That’s about an equal, 50-50 split.

So I took to LinkedIn and sent out a poll: Do most people think quiet quitting is a bad thing … Or do they think it’s healthy?

The Results Are In Favor of Quiet Quitting … So What Are The Benefits of Quiet Quitting?

A whopping 71% of the respondents on my LinkedIn poll stated that quiet quitting is a good thing.

To be clear: Quiet quitting, a term originally coined by Zaiad Khan in a TikTok video with 3.5 million views, initially began as a reclamation of work-life balance, and a rejection of hustle culture.

Source:: HubSpot Blog