What Is Quiet Quitting?
Quiet quitting is when an employee stops going above and beyond at work and instead does only the minimum required to keep their job — without formally resigning. They still show up, but they have mentally checked out.
The term went viral in mid-2022 after a TikTok video explained the idea of refusing to do more than your job description strictly requires. It quickly became a shorthand for a wider problem: workers who feel their effort is not fairly rewarded, and who respond by quietly pulling back rather than speaking up.
According to Gallup's State of the Global Workplace report, at least 50% of the US workforce can be described as quiet quitters — employees who meet their basic responsibilities but show little enthusiasm or initiative beyond that. Globally, only 23% of employees report being actively engaged at work (Gallup, 2024). The economic cost is staggering: low engagement costs the global economy an estimated $8.9 trillion per year, or about 9% of global GDP.
Main Points to Remember
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Don't Give Up Slowly Stop slowly losing interest and feeling detached. Instead, communicate directly about what you need professionally. Pulling back your effort silently hurts your professional reputation and reduces your power for future career steps.
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View Your Energy as Limited Cash Manage how much you produce each day like it's a limited resource that should only be spent on things that give you good professional results. Thinking of your capacity as a tool for high quality stops you from burning out and makes sure every hour you work brings a clear benefit to your career.
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Set Smart Boundaries Based on Value Change from just defending your time to planning your work so that you focus on the most important results, not just looking busy. This way, when you say no to small tasks, people see it as a sign of your high standards, not a lack of drive.
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Take Control of Your Role Stop being an employee who just feels treated unfairly and start being the person who designs their own job by constantly talking about better terms. Taking this control replaces the negative feeling of just punching a clock with the strong feeling of being a top performer who steers their own path.
The Problem of Fairness and Taking Charge
The biggest problem for successful modern workers is the Fairness Conflict: feeling a strong need to do excellent work while feeling like the company isn't giving back enough. Many people are afraid to ask for boundaries because they think it will make them look lazy. So, they start doing less work slowly and emotionally pulling away.
This "slow fade" of not caring and holding back effort is a career trap. It damages your reputation, cuts off future opportunities, and leaves you feeling like you just show up to collect a paycheck. Quiet but nothing changes.
"The quiet quitter thinks they are protecting their time, but they are actually shrinking their market value. The employees who get promoted, retained, and rewarded are the ones who communicate their limits clearly — not the ones who disappear behind them."
To succeed long-term, you need to switch from quietly pulling back to Setting Smart Boundaries Based on Value. Top performers treat their energy like a limited resource. They renegotiate their roles so their hard work leads to clear career gains, not resentment.
This shift replaces passive frustration with active control. The breakdown below walks through the step-by-step approach to make that change. If a difficult manager is part of what is driving the disengagement, it is also worth reading about how to handle a micromanaging boss without quitting.
Turning Internal Struggle into Real Career Power
| The Problem/Common Mistake | The Smart Move | The Result/Signal Sent |
|---|---|---|
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Holding Back Effort Quietly
Not giving extra effort and avoiding extra teamwork as a hidden way to protest work that isn't paid for fairly.
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Directly Adjusting Your Job Scope
Clearly review and agree on what you are responsible for, making sure your work matches the key goals that matter most to the company.
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Protecting Your Name: Changes how people see you from someone who is checked out to an expert focused only on the highest value work. |
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Stuck Anger
Holding onto bad feelings because you think you aren't getting enough back, which causes you to slowly lose interest.
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Being Open About Your Limits
Speak up about needing clear limits as a way to guarantee you can keep performing at a high level.
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Feeling in Control: Replaces anger with a sense that you are in charge, showing leaders that boundaries help you stay excellent long-term, not that you lack drive. |
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The "Just Showing Up" Mindset
Accepting a negative view of yourself as someone who does the bare minimum, which hurts your future chances and reputation.
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Planning Your High-Value Work
Develop a plan to say "no" to tasks that don't matter, making sure all the work you do complete is important and noticed.
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Gaining Leverage: Makes you known as a top performer who manages their time on purpose, instead of just reacting to whatever comes up. |
Action Steps
Check Your Actual Workload
Why: To move from feeling angry to being in control, you need to see exactly what you are spending your time on compared to what truly matters to the company.
What to Do/What to Say: Make a simple chart for your week. Mark each task as "High Value" or "Low Value" and how much energy it takes ("High" or "Low"). This shows you clearly where your fairness problem is.
Tip: Don't present this as a complaint. Call it a "Review of How to Be More Effective" to show your boss you want to focus on the things that bring in the most money for the company.
Propose Boundaries Linked to Results
Why: You avoid looking lazy by directly connecting your need for time off to protecting the success of your most important projects.
What to Do/What to Say: "To make sure the [Project Name] launches perfectly, I need to block off my afternoons (1 PM to 4 PM) from urgent, non-related requests so I can focus deeply."
Tip: Never say your boundary is for a "personal need." Always present it as a "rule needed to keep my work quality high" for the company's benefit.
Ask Directly About Fairness
Why: To stop the cycle of bad feelings, you need an open conversation about the "return on your effort" before you decide to give up emotionally.
What to Do/What to Say: "I’m putting a lot of extra work into [Specific Goal]; I need to understand how this connects to my next promotion or the company's reward system."
Tip: Use the term "extra effort" to gently remind your manager that what you’re doing goes above and beyond what is strictly required.
Stay Visible in Important Ways
Why: To keep your good professional image while working less, you must make sure the little work you do is seen and high-impact.
What to Do/What to Say: In required meetings, always share one "Key Idea" or a "Solution-Focused Question" in the first ten minutes. Then, you can switch to just listening for the rest of the meeting.
Tip: If you work remotely, silence looks like absence. Quickly summarize the meeting's next steps in a public chat channel to show you were engaged and present.
Looking at Quiet Quitting Through Different Lenses
Fairness Theory: The Core of Fairness
The Idea: People are motivated by feeling that their work effort matches what they get back (pay, praise, job safety).
The Problem: If you put in a lot more effort than you get back, or if you see others getting more for doing less, you feel an "unfairness stress."
What This Means: Quiet quitting is often a logical, automatic way to reduce your effort so it matches what you think the job is worth to you.
From Holding Back to Smart Planning
The Strategy: Do a personal "Fairness Check" to figure out exactly where the balance is off (like no freedom, low pay, or no praise).
The Risk: Just silently checking out or losing interest causes you to feel worse because of the anger you hold inside.
What This Means: Start an open discussion using terms of professional exchange to turn the relationship into a real working partnership. If you are not sure what you actually want from your career, building a career vision board can help clarify what success looks like for you before you have that conversation.
Tools to Get Your Career Back on Track
For Clarity
Career Guidance ModuleAn AI mentor using guided questions to help you set clear goals and find things you don't see in yourself.
For Documentation
Journalling ModuleWrite down your wins every day; an AI coach will find and tag your skills so you don't forget them.
For New Direction
Career ExplorationDeep look at your resume to suggest other career paths, finding skills you might not realize you have.
Common Questions
What does quiet quitting mean?
Quiet quitting means doing only the minimum required by your job and psychologically detaching from work, without formally resigning. Employees still show up but stop volunteering for extra projects, skip optional meetings, and withdraw emotionally from the workplace. It is less about laziness and more about a silent protest against feeling undervalued or overworked without recognition.
How common is quiet quitting?
Very common. According to Gallup's State of the Global Workplace report, at least 50% of the US workforce can be described as quiet quitters. Globally, only 23% of employees report being engaged at work (Gallup, 2024). That means roughly 77% of workers worldwide are either coasting or actively checked out. Low engagement costs the global economy an estimated $8.9 trillion per year.
What if setting boundaries makes me look like I have stopped caring?
Focus on Visibility of Success. You don't need to talk a lot to show you're involved — you need to be dependable. Send short weekly "success reports" to your boss showing what you accomplished. This proves engagement through results, not just presence.
What if I'm changing careers and feel tempted to do the bare minimum?
Do a Learning Review instead of rushing through tasks. The urge to quiet quit often comes from feeling unsure in a new role. Spend 30 minutes each workday deliberately learning. Making growth more important than output reduces the stress that triggers emotional withdrawal.
What if I want a promotion but can't keep working unpaid extra hours?
Switch to Strategic Work Planning. Negotiate with your manager to trade low-value tasks for one high-profile project that accelerates your next promotion. You don't need more hours — you need higher-leverage work. Frame it as loudly committing to growth, not quietly stepping back.
Is quiet quitting bad for your career?
Yes, over time. While pulling back can feel protective, it signals to managers that you are a low-priority asset. During layoffs or restructuring, employees who are least visible and least impactful are often cut first. The better path is to set explicit, strategic limits while staying highly visible on the work that matters most to the business.
Change Your Career Plan
Instead of fading away and damaging your professional reputation, choose Setting Smart Boundaries Based on Value to turn your internal stress into a clear, high-impact career plan. By taking back control, you fix the Fairness Conflict, replacing "stuck anger" with the confidence to ask for rewards that match your goals.
Ready to make the change?
Take the first step toward a job that respects your time and helps you grow.
Stop slowly disappearing and start leading the career you want.
