Like many things in life, when a new title is given to an existing situation it heightens its importance in people’s eyes. On this occasion I am talking about “quiet quitting” a phrase you’re likely to have not heard of until last year, but I can assure you that you’ve experienced it in some way.
So what does it mean, a common definition is “Where an employee puts no more effort into their job than is absolutely necessary”, or to coin a more familiar term “Work to rule”. Its where discretionary effort is no longer given as the person prioritises other things, for example their work/life balance.
I hope that you’re now more aware of what it actually is and that it's nothing new, but why was it a hot topic and why has it gone cold recently?
Let start by understanding some details that made it hot:
Who does it affect – It can be anyone, but the most concerning people are those whose discretionary effort has been relied upon to effectively make ends meet. Too often the fingers are pointed at those who’s effort falls below that required, this is not quiet quitting, this is poor performance management and welfare support.
Why are they affected – Many different reasons can lead to quiet quitting, most are dissatisfaction with work, location, fairness, how someone perceives they are treated and pay, whilst others can be outside of the company such as the economic climate or personal situations.
How does it affect resource planning – For too long time in motion studies or methods such as systems thinking have discretionary effort embedded within them. It has not been called out why historic performance cannot be relied upon for the future (there’s a lot AI needs to understand about this within the data it requires).
Can it get worse - Some quiet quitters may leave the company while others will remain but continue to work to rule, neither scenario is as terrifying as it first seems, but neither should be left unchecked as problems build over time and become huge mountains to change, much better to address things before they become a problem.
The worst case scenario – Disruption to normal working hours, in other words strike action, which has its resolution at the highest level of management and workforce representation that are unlikely to understand, or prioritise, about the nuance of staff welfare as the economic situation is more prominent in their minds and concerns.
This is a complex situation and one that any single person is unlikely to be able to resolve, but there are things can be done to aid that resolution or even minimise its impact:
Within Resource Planning - We need to consider the resourcing picture with discretionary effort removed, that way we can understand its added value and what can be done to retain it. This difference needs to be commuted in both financial cost as well as staff wellbeing and impact to customer service levels. Remember replacing staff needs to be considered, as well as requiring more to undertake the discretionary effort lost. Don’t forget the planning basics that sit under “shrinkage”, planning and understanding availability is as important as availability, who hasn’t experienced a back log of annual leave or training for example?
It’s extra work and may fall on deaf ears by some, but sharing best and worst case scenarios along with the reasons and what can be done to avoid the worst is core to the value add from resource planning, the solutions.
Within the Operation – Ensure good management including pastoral care is in place, plus clarity and honestly when explaining situations as you have to be realistic over what is within anyone’s remit to offer as a solution.
Protect the things that staff value, it may not appear to support the immediate bottom line or customer service delivery as measured, but we know it has a long term impact on all of them.
Why has this gone cold in some people’s minds now, has it just gone away, or did we resolve it?
I wager that the only difference is there are other things to discuss, sexy new subjects such as CX and AI, new promises of a better world that someone or something else will deliver for you. It’s normal for the world around you to continually change and for sales pitches to move on and “experts” and “influencers” to change subject when they get to the nitty gritty and the solutions, but its your job isn’t it?
Stick at it, “quiet quitting” is a new name for something that has been around for a long time, decreasing budgets and higher expectations are key to why this matter went hot for a while, but don’t let it go cold until you know it’s in hand, don’t be another part of the call centre “industry” that finishes little and just adds to its spinning plates.
For more insight and cost effectve solution focused solutions conact us at Select Planning, as help is not far away.
Commentaires