Quiet Quitting—Chicken or Egg?

by Robin W. Lindsay, MD •

In a May 2023 article by Jim Harter, “Is Quiet Quitting Real?” Gallup reported that at least 50% of the U.S. workforce is quiet quitting. Quiet quitting refers to employees who do the bare minimum to remain employed. The trend is prevalent among younger workers—Gen Z and younger millennials—who report that they feel unsupported, that managers do not care about their development, and that they lack opportunities to learn and grow. As a mom to three Gen Zs (13, 18, and 21) I’ve had many summer family dinners to discuss these themes and their friends’ experiences as they enter the workforce. It is not uncommon for them to hear from older individuals about how lazy their generation is and how they have no loyalty to their employers. This can have a profound impact on young people, especially when they hear it repeatedly.

It is easy to say young people are lazy, only care about work–life balance, work just to pay for their lifestyle, are always looking for the next job, and are never satisfied with their current job. Why invest in a group that does not seem to care? Alternatively, why should a group that feels unsupported and disrespected work hard for you?

The conversations with my kids got me thinking. Is quiet quitting unique to the young? Many of the causes of quiet quitting are strikingly similar to concerns known to negatively impact job satisfaction in healthcare. Physician burnout rates continue to hover around 50% and are associated with diminished motivation and lack of engagement. Quiet quitting in healthcare can negatively impact patient safety and organizational culture (BMJ Open. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2023-077811). Research from the Mayo Clinic suggests that if doctors and nurses love at least 20% of their work, they are far less likely to experience physical and psychological burnout. The 2023 American Medical Association’s (AMA’s) Physician Practice Benchmark Survey demonstrated that more than 30% of physicians are thinking of leaving medicine. The increase in early and mid-career faculty leaving their surgical careers after more than a decade of school and training is particularly concerning.

So how do we design work people enjoy? Marcus Buckingham, in his June 2022 article, “Designing Work That People Love,” wrote about the results that his firm, ADP Research Institute, found in their 50,000-person international study (https://hbr.org/2022/05/designing-work-that-people-love). He found that the most powerful predictors of performance and engagement were three items:

• Was I excited to work every day last week?