Gallup research suggests that 59% of employees are quiet quitting or actively disengaged.
This has been a growing problem since the pandemic, a once-in-a-lifetime event that caused many people to rethink their lives and priorities.
And which happened in between many other once-in-a-lifetime events like financial crises and wars.
All this upheaval has left many with a feeling of malaise. Which means people want more from their jobs—and their employers—to compensate for it.
So let’s see how you can reengage employees who are quiet quitting:
Reflect on leadership
If a large number of employees appear to be quiet quitting, it’s time to reflect on what the common denominator is. And that’s often leadership.
Are employees unhappy with their managers? Or the way higher-ups choose to run the company?
Attitude is contagious, which means if your managers come across as disconnected, it can have a negative impact on employees.
It can also be demoralizing if managers put too much pressure on employees or don’t understand their issues.
Managers need to listen to their employees’ concerns and take them into account whether they’re about their roles, the company, or the manager themselves.
It’s only when leaders take employees’ concerns onboard that the organization can really make a difference on employee disengagement and quiet quitting.
Support employee wellbeing
Employee wellbeing plays a huge role in engagement. What steps do you take to ensure your employees are happy and healthy at work?
44% of employees felt stressed for most of their previous workday. This is a huge percentage and shows that businesses aren’t taking employee wellbeing seriously. With numbers like this, is it really any wonder that quiet quitting is so common?
Reflect on deadlines
Are you being realistic with the deadlines that you give your employees?
Contrary to popular belief, not everyone works well under tight deadlines.
When deadlines are too tight or there are too many at once, it can put a lot of pressure on employees. This increased pressure can cause them to disconnect or experience task paralysis, where they don’t know which task to focus on so don’t do anything.
Feeling overwhelmed is a direct route to burnout and quiet quitting.
Pay more
Pay is one of the main reasons for employee disengagement. And when you look at how much house prices have gone up compared to pay, it’s really no surprise. Our money just doesn’t go as far as it used to.
So if what an employee earns doesn’t help them reach their financial goals, there’s a possibility they may become disconnected from their role because they feel like the things we’ve always been taught to strive for—such as having a house and financial security—are impossible. So why bother putting any effort in?
Consider if how well you pay your employees aligns with the market rate and living situation in their location.
For instance, in the UK, we have the national minimum wage and the national living wage. The national minimum wage is what businesses are legally required to pay. The living wage is a higher rate based on the cost of living.
You could also offer financial advice or financial literacy classes. But beware of doing this if you pay under the market rate because it could backfire. Learning they’re being underpaid can encourage quiet quitting among employees, if not outright quitting.
Offer peer-to-peer support
ERGs are a great way to connect like-minded employees. Whether team members bond over shared backgrounds or experiences, it deepens their ties to your business.
You could also offer support, mentoring, and coaching through these groups.
In addition, ERGs can help combat loneliness in the workplace and offer employees workplace progression opportunities through the ability to network beyond their everyday colleagues.
With stronger relationships across the organization, employees will be less susceptible to quiet quitting.
Consider your company culture
If employees’ values don’t align with yours, they’re far more likely to find themselves disconnecting or quiet quitting.
It’s increasingly important to employees that their values are in line with those of their employer. But it doesn’t always happen.
To see how your employees’ values compare to yours, send out an employee feedback survey. This will help you determine what really matters to them and whether you’re on the right track.
You could ask them for ideas on a charity you could contribute to, activities you could take part in, or causes you could get involved with.
Make sure you genuinely try to make a difference with your social impact efforts, rather than just changing your company logo or paying lip service to issues. Both employees and the outside world will see through it pretty quickly if you’re not walking the talk.
Reflect on company priorities
What do your company priorities look like? Are they out of date?
For example, what an oil company should be prioritizing now is very different from what it was looking at 20 years ago, or even 10 years ago. In 2024, they need to look more at eco-friendly pursuits.
Businesses also need to think about what true diversity and inclusion looks like, and practice what they preach to get the most out of their employees and prevent quiet quitting.
Get their feedback
The only way to know how employees feel is to collect their feedback. You could do this through focus groups or employee surveys.
By keeping your finger on the pulse of employee sentiment, you can head off quiet quitting before it starts.
Conclusion
Just because there’s a current trend for quiet quitting, that doesn’t mean it’s out of your hands. Instead, make your employees feel supported and you’re halfway to reactivating disengaged employees.
Want a little help along the way? Workrowd’s suite of tools can help you combat quiet quitting and boost engagement across your organization.
With a central hub for company culture, automated surveys, and real-time analytics, you have the power to drive real change.
Curious to learn more? Drop by our site or send us a note at hello@workrowd.com to learn more.
