GEMMA'S STORY
Gemma has ‘quietly quit’ her job, a move linked to a trend that first went viral on TikTok.
The phrase was popularised by a user in a July 2022 video, spawning an online phenomenon. This user define this phenomenon as followed : “You’re not outright quitting your job, but you’re quitting the idea of going above and beyond,” he explained.
“You're still performing your duties, but you're no longer subscribing to the hustle-culture mentality that work has to be your life; the reality is it's not, and your worth as a person is not defined by your labour.”
To Gemma, quiet quitting has captured the zeitgeist: employees feel overworked and underpaid in the wake of the pandemic and amid the rising cost of living. “I think a lot of people are fed up,” she says.
“They’re realising they’ve put in a lot more effort than their salary shows: no one should be driving themselves to burnout for a wage that causes personal stress or worry.”
Quiet quitting has generated intense media attention, with mass coverage exploring the workplace trend.
In many ways, it isn’t a new phenomenon: coasting, clocking in-and-out while getting the bare minimum done, has long been a facet of the workplace. For various reasons, discontented workers have always found ways to disengage from their job and still collect the pay cheque.
Source: BBC worklife