Just like how there are two sides to a coin, the workplace has its go-getters and after-hours hustlers bringing in energy and extra effort; there’s another side too, a quieter one, doing just the bare minimum. This is quite quitting, a form of mental resignation rather than an actual exit from the job. Employees are not outrightly quitting their jobs but instead mentally stepping back from full participation. Everything is passive, ‘there, but not really there’, with employees doing only the bare essentials, from attending meetings on mute to replying to emails and avoiding any extra initiative.
For some, it may be a healthy boundary. In a system that may take more than it gives, they have simply stopped overworking themselves. But just like a yawn is contagious, behaviours in groups are emulated too by observation. When one team member stops volunteering or contributing beyond the basics, others’ behaviours may also start to reflect the withdrawal. Team morale and productivity begin to go down, gradually changing the team dynamic from proactive to passive, affecting overall work output.
This makes it essential to address quiet quitting from all fronts, psychological, managerial, and cultural before disengagement becomes the default work mode. HT Lifestyle reached out to experts to understand how quiet quitting can be addressed, keeping all the essential aspects in mind.
Reasons behind quiet quitting
Quiet quitting may be brushed off as laid-back or lazy, and sometimes even a lack of ambition, but there are deeper psychological reasons behind it, from unmet emotional needs to a sense of disconnection from work.
Charu Prabhakar, Clinical Psychologist and Assistant Lead Psychologist at Lissun shared that this disengagement, where employees are mentally resigning without formally quitting, has its roots in deeper psychological factors.
Charu shared the reasons behind quiet quitting, segregating them as individual and organisational:
Individual factors:
- Burnout and emotional exhaustion.
- A mismatch between career goals and job roles.
- A desire to maintain work-life boundaries.
- Personality traits like low conscientiousness or sensitivity to injustice.
- Feeling powerless to change organisational culture.
Organisational factors:
- Lack of recognition or growth opportunities.
- Inconsistent communication.
- Micromanagement or passive leadership.
- Perceived unfairness or lack of psychological safety.
Charu explained how quiet quitting over time can impact the very bedrock of workplace culture. She said, “Quiet quitting can also impact workplace culture. When an employee disengages without explanation, it creates confusion, speculation, and mistrust. In such cases, confirmation bias can take hold, and employees begin interpreting organisational behaviour through a negative lens, reinforcing feelings of dissatisfaction and potentially triggering further disengagement. Such environments make employees feel undervalued or unheard, leading them to emotionally withdraw. Addressing quiet quitting requires multi-level interventions, like conducting stay interviews to understand what makes employees stay or monitoring engagement metrics for early signs of withdrawal.”
What can organisations and team leads do about it?
Workplace behaviours that indicate quiet quitting
First of all, workplace behaviours need to be observed to clearly understand quiet quitting. Vishal Chopra, Founder and CEO of Umwelt.Ai, shared five signs of quiet quitting that one can spot :
- Decreased meeting participation: Employees who formerly participated enthusiastically in meetings now remain silent or participate very little in team meetings.
- Lowered taking of initiative: A visible reduction in offering to take up new initiatives or stepping forward for extra responsibilities that were formerly taken up with enthusiasm.
- Lowered responsiveness towards communication: Tardiness in reply to emails, messages, or collaborative requests, which are signs of emotional alienation from team communication.
- Internal quality deterioration without obvious cause: Deliverables satisfactory at entry levels but with a lack of attention to detail or perfection level evidenced heretofore.
- Boundary rigidity: Resistance to rigid compliance with job descriptions, with resistance to lending a hand with tasks somewhat beyond their own specific job functions, without such deviation within their job having ever been a requirement.
How can organisations prevent disengagement?
Shreyas Oke, AGM–HR and ODT, Arkade Developers, shared how leaders need to be emotionally intelligent to be able to address quiet quitting in the team. First of all, both employee expectations and organisational goals need to align, and that can be achieved by communicating and setting clear expectations.
He explained, “Leaders should communicate the organisational mission and values regularly so that workers can identify the connection between their personal contributions and the overarching goal. The emotional detachment can be caused by a mismatch; robust inner communication can help reverse that. Simultaneously, it is critical to establish genuine relationships with teams. The employees will have a sense of ownership when they feel noticed, appreciated, and part of the decision-making processes. Attempts to address quiet quitting should not be about forcing employees to be productive; it should be about re-engaging them emotionally. Quiet quitting can be a sign of underlying weaknesses in the organisation that need to be identified and not rejected. It is necessary to have a system to find out why workers lose engagement: it can be anonymous surveys, leadership positions, one-on-one discussions, and even behavioural tools such as PRISM or DISC.”
Inclusivity is important to make employees feel heard
People often voluntarily sideline themselves, contributing less, when they don’t feel heard, seen, or valued enough. Especially for the queer community, when workplaces are not inclusive, disengagement may be common. While LGBTQ members’ stories are celebrated in June for Pride Month, unless inclusivity becomes a year-long foundation, employees may continue to feel excluded and gradually withdraw from the workplace culture, participating less.
Sonica Aron, Founder and Managing Partner at Marching Sheep shared how inclusivity helps everyone feel accepted and be their true selves, feeling valued.
She said, “Inclusion in the workplace doesn’t always come through grand announcements or one-off events. More often, it shows up in the small, consistent things that employees experience, feel, and remember each day. It’s in a manager checking in with a simple, ‘How can I support you?’ or a policy update that protects everyone’s rights. True inclusion is using someone’s correct name and pronouns without making it awkward, ensuring all-gender restrooms are available and accessible, and extending insurance and benefits to same-gender partners. It’s also about keeping jokes and labels out of workplace conversations, and most importantly, asking people what they need instead of assuming. You don’t need a DEI title to make inclusion happen; you just need empathy, consistency, and the willingness to ask, ‘Are we really making everyone feel welcome?’”
Note to readers: This article is for informational purposes only and not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always seek the advice of your doctor with any questions about a medical condition.