In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic and with shifting employee attitudes, organizations are faced by an invisible but significant challenge — quiet quitting. Not technically an actual resignation, but an emotional disengagement by an employee from work beyond contract.
A manifestation of unhappiness, overwork, and an expectation of better work-life balance. To HR professionals, it is the key indicator of deep-seated system imbalances within the organization.
Quiet quitting is by no means new, but is made more apparent by the ubiquity of social media, as well as by sweeping work culture changes. Quiet quitters only do the bare minimum that is required of them by job designation, avoiding overtime, side tasks, or emotionally exhausting tasks.
Passive resistance is at the heart of it, as it conveys dissatisfaction without directly challenging management or providing notice. Hence, it is more difficult for employers to observe and alter.
Some reasons for this pattern are:
Work life Imbalance & Burnout: Feeling overburdened by unrealistic expectations, employees can disengage.
Lack of Recognition: When extra work is not rewarded, motivation is lost.
Ineffective Management and Communication: Ineffective leadership can shatter beliefs as well as commitment.
Limited Career Progress: When employees have no development opportunities, they stagnate.
Toxic Work Culture: Psychologically unsupportive workplaces induce withdrawal.
Quiet quitting poses risks to productivity, innovation, and corporate culture. Conventional engagement models and performance management metrics are subverted by it. HR must view it as a system of feedback — that is, an expression of what is missing from the employee experience.
To counteract quiet quitting, HR specialists need to do the following:
Implement transparent and empathetic leadership practices.
Promote mental health, flexible work schedules, and wellness programs.
Encourage two-way dialogue and regular check-in meetings.
Create systems of recognition that recognize consistent effort.
Provide career development and learning opportunities.
These interventions minimize disengagement while promoting higher levels of belongingness, as well as purpose. Quiet quitting is only the expression, but not the issue. It is an expression of unfulfilled employee needs for more purposeful, respectful, and balanced workspaces. By getting to the underlying causes, HR can make this challenge an opportunity — an opportunity to develop a trust-oriented, purpose-driven, and sustainable performance culture.
Muhammad Faaray Ashrafi
Karachi
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
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