NJ experts on ‘quiet quitting’ — how it could be a win-win at work

The term "quiet quitting" may be relatively new, but Taylor Stadtlander with Stress & Anxiety Services of New Jersey has been advising her clients to take this approach for a while now.

"The lines have really been blurred due to more and more people working from home," Stadtlander, a licensed clinical social worker, told New Jersey 101.5.

The trend, which is picking up steam on social media platforms such as TikTok, especially among young adults, doesn't have anything to do with getting yourself off an employer's payroll; essentially, it means you stop going above and beyond at work, and simply do only what the job description requires of you.

"That is absolutely going to be beneficial, for people to not feel like they have to be 'on' 24/7 when it comes to their work," Stadtlander said.

Making the move, however, requires a mindset shift, she said — it counters the "hustle culture" that's ingrained in so many of today's workers.

While folks doing the hiring worry what such a trend could mean for their overall workforce output levels, proponents of quiet quitting argue that the approach could actually improve one's relationship with their job, and therefore improve productivity among individual workers.

"Not everyone lives to work; many simply work to live, and quiet quitting just means they are tired of pretending they are the former," said Michael Sturman, chair of the Human Resource Department at Rutgers University.

In the short term, he said, managers of quiet quitters won't be getting the immediate responses and extra effort they may have come to depend upon. But it could end up producing a worker who's performing better when they're on the clock.

Still, Sturman said, the move is not guaranteed to come without consequences. A company, for example, can use the drop-off in output to let someone go.

"If you are a manager that thinks everyone below you needs to 'put in their dues' and do whatever you want whenever you want, then yes, quiet quitting may be a real threat to the way you may be used to running things," Sturman said.

Stadtlander recommends that workers set office hours for themselves, even at home — answer emails only during a specific time frame, and perhaps put the phone away during a certain time of day or night.

Dino Flammia is a reporter for New Jersey 101.5. You can reach him at dino.flammia@townsquaremedia.com

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