Quietly quitting the rat race to live life on their own terms

The Culture Matters gathering hit a hot topic hard this morning: quiet quitting.

“Quiet quitting” a new term, so the meaning is still being bandied about. It sounds like society realizes there are two types of people who have quietly altered how they work in this post-pandemic era.

One: quit working but stays in the job. They're the worst. They work hard at not doing their work. One example could be someone who plans to retire in a year (or three!). They plan to coast along the whole time doing nothing. Another example is the guy who takes three days to do a report someone else finishes in an hour. Those people have quietly quit, but they're not the ones the term refers to.

Two: does their job but quit the rat race. They want to do a decent job for decent pay, as agreed upon with their employer. No more and no less. They are not interested in giving up their evenings and weekends for the far-off promise of a promotion. That carrot does not work.

They certainly are not going to give up their personal lives, hobbies, health, sanity, family time, education, and time on this earth to work until burnout just so an executive gets his bonus. They quit the rat race to live their lives on their own terms.

"Quiet quitting" refers to group two.

Since they are still doing their job--most even doing it well-- the negative connotation of "quitting" is harsh and inaccurate.

From now on, let's call them the Rat Race Rebels.

The thing is, employees have employment agreements of some kind. The deal is you do X tasks for X dollars. Rat Race Rebels are doing X tasks, and they expect X dollars. No more, no less.

The #RatRaceRebels are not under-performing their jobs. They are not actively disengaged at work. In fact, they may be quite engaged while they are working. They are fine teammates while working on a team. But, they don’t necessarily want to spend their off hours with their work teammates and boss. They leave work at work. Wherever that is.

If you want them to do A, B, and C on their personal time, you need to pay them for it.

That sounds pretty reasonable, doesn’t it?

Of course, some companies are clear that A, B, and C are included in X dollars. Financial services, for example. It seems everyone knows what to expect when they join a Wall Street firm.

There are plenty of companies who just expect the extra work. They might throw in a $10 coffee gift card now and then or put the employees’ names on a slide at an all-hands meeting. Rat Race Rebels aren’t falling for that any more.

What does your company do?

There’s a big company in town who always makes the Best Places to Work lists yet is known for treating new employees poorly. It is commonly known that if you make it there five years, your 401(k) match kicks in, and they’ll never fire you. Their culture is awful, impersonal, unemotional—and everyone knows it. In the past, people jumped at the chance to work there. People accepted the poor culture in exchange for the future security.

The Rat Race Rebels are not going to accept it. They won’t interview for jobs there, and they will quit unless something changes. Rumor has it turnover has risen in the last two years. Leaders need to understand what their employees need now, or risk higher turnover and long time-to-hire continuing.

“Quiet quitting” is just setting boundaries. It has been done for years. The new part is employees being open about it.

The Rat Race Rebels say “no” and don’t feel guilty or ashamed. They don’t hide the fact that they drove their kids to school in the morning or are playing in a softball league or have a side hustle as a travel agent—or all of those!

Leaders need to understand their people. Pay attention and adapt. There are great things about the Rat Race Rebels if you pay attention.

Gallup's newest survey released September 6, 2022 said Quiet Quitters make up 50% of the US workforce. They lump both groups together and refer to them as disengaged employees. They are not all disengaged, so be careful how you treat them.

If you treat the Rat Race Rebels well, they may become the high performers your company needs.

You won’t get them free, but by being fair, you are more likely to get a less burned-out employee who isn’t bitter about working long hours for a project. Since they do more than work, you will get more ideas and creativity, which are better for decision-making and problem-solving. You may find the Rat Race Rebels who get self-esteem outside of work to be less reactionary and less emotionally triggered by others. You can benefit by learning more about them and working with them to update the employment agreement.

Don’t give up on the Rat Race Rebels. They haven’t quit on you. Don’t quit on them.

(If you need help understanding your people, check out our Culture Services. Our Culture Evolution process might be just what you need right now to keep the Rat Race Rebels and improve or exit the real quiet quitters in group one.)