I haven't noticed that people try to be more productive and do their best when in fear of layoffs. You? Moreover, I would say that they are more likely to decide on quite quitting.
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Quiet quitting isn't a new thing. It used to be called 'work to rule'. And there is NOTHING wrong with it.
A person is hired for a job, it is not wrong for them to only do the job they were hired for.
I think many are fed up of being tasked with doing more, with less, whilst having the looming threat of being let go hanging over us constantly. Maybe it's just me, but I'm exhausted from trying to keep all the plates spinning. 3M pays me to do my job, not the 3 people's worth of work it's asking of me.
The part below about be desensitized is very true. It’s like being threatened with a divorce/breakup year after year, after a while you just hope it happens. Honestly, it’s kind of freeing from a work-life-balance perspective.
Quiet quitting will definitely accelerate.
I'm a long time employee who's been retired a few years but can share a bit about the workplace psychology over the years when layoffs threatened. I spent close to 20 years in lower level leadership (never made it to the vaunted LG15 and up, but happy nonetheless).
People ramping up and working longer hours right after layoffs were being rumored was common during the few times Desi cut staff in the 1990s, pre and post imation spin. Given that 3M HR was a relatively benevolent group of caring people who were supportive of employees, layoffs took months to go through the legal processes. A below average employee could somehow avoid the axe by giving their best for several months, making sure the boss saw them working late. I remember employees staying past 6 until the boss went home, only to leave once they saw the boss' car drive off.
A strange but predictable thing happened when Mcnerney came in with his GE ways and forced ranking. Given the 5 to 1 (best to worst) ranking system, some employees who survived with a 3 (average) during their most recent review would slack off for months, taking long lunch breaks, leave early if the boss was away on business, etc. The calendar of forced ranking timing was well-known by all. In the months leading up to the next round of "calibration sessions" suddenly these employees would ramp it up, stay late, make their accomplishments visible to the boss, etc. The poor sap who just did a solid job day after day and went home at a decent hour were the ones most likely to get zapped with a 2 (below average) and be dumped at the next cutback.
Other than the great recession when a bunch of people got laid off due to terrible economic conditions, I don't recall too many quiet quitters.
This all changed when The Roman Empire came to incompetent power about 5 years ago. The number of official and unofficial layoffs has to be getting close to 8 to 10. People have realized that the slow down (quiet quit) followed by hurry up (to make oneself look good) doesn't work when layoffs are not due to big time economic events like covid or mcnerneys forced ranking, but rather a slow, steady, and irreversible decline of this once great company. Surviving one round means more work on your plate before the next round. People have become desensitized to this Roman Madness and have checked out.
The only solution is to dismantle this company into several pieces and hope to find future leaders more competent than Mike and Vale.
Glad I'm gone and can enjoy retirement because this is painful enough to see from the outside
Good luck to all
the more experienced production employees are having to step up more again, the 90s and noughties workers love this quiet quitting, it's the new buzzword in the center, please help us