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Key points
- Quiet quitting is a recent but perhaps pervasive phenomenon as a means of coping with burnout or unrealistic work demands.
- Instead of quiet quitting, you might be better served by job crafting.
- Job crafting involves intentional focus and alteration of job tasks, work relationships, and mental perspective.
The term “quiet quitting” seems to refer to doing only the bare minimum required for one’s job to cope with what is perceived as unreasonable or unstainable work demands. Due to numerous factors, many people are feeling the need to quiet quit, either because they feel burned out or are on their way there. The phenomenon has revealed how much a successful workplace relies on unidentified contributions that are not formally part of people’s job descriptions. Stressed and burnt-out employees are refusing to take up the slack. This reaction makes sense, but is it ultimately satisfying or sustainable for you?
Job Crafting
An alternative is what psychologists call “job crafting.” Here you carefully consider how to adapt your job to better align with your strengths, interests, and values. More specifically, you consider three domains: tasks, relationships, and perspective.
For tasks, which ones do you find most and least rewarding? Are there ways to adjust the amount of time you spend on each of these two sets? Are there tasks you would enjoy or find satisfying that are not part of your job description but would be valued by those with whom you work? Examples include planning social, wellness, or team-building events, or taking responsibility for ensuring that particular needs are met that otherwise fall through the cracks because they do not belong to anyone’s job description. The key is making sure that such expansion of your tasks is based on your interests, and would be something you would experience some sense of satisfaction from doing.
What about your work relationships? Are there opportunities to interact with your co-workers or the beneficiaries of your work that you might find enriching? Perhaps these opportunities would involve learning more about how your work affects others, and what they appreciate about your work. Maybe there are opportunities to be the one to address currently unmet needs, such as mentoring new team members or being the liaison to some external individual or group with whom your organization has connections (or would benefit from connecting with).
Perspective refers to how you think about your job. Why are you in your particular work role? What needs might it serve, for both you and others? Are there ways to make your work more meaningful—again, for you or others? How can your current job help you develop in ways that lead to where you want to go professionally? In what ways could you use your current role as a training ground for landing your next job and being successful at it?
The 'Big 4' Universal Human Needs or Motivations
In a previous post, I described the “Big 4” universal needs and motivations psychologists have found across cultures and history. Job crafting can directly aid in meeting these needs or motivations. One such need is contribution or calling. That is, people need to feel as though their life has meaning or purpose, and adapting your perspective on your job may increase the meaningfulness of your work.
The second universal need we might call choice or control, and job crafting centers on taking control of your job and better suiting it to your interests, strengths, and values. The third universal need could be termed competence or capability, and this need may get a boost from focusing more on work tasks that play to your strengths, regardless of whether those tasks are part of your official job description. Last, connection or community refers to meaningful relationships. Job crafting specifically involves intentional cultivation of more rewarding interactions with others during work hours.
Job crafting involves greater personal investment in your job, which frequently results in going above and beyond your official job description, so it may seem to run counter to quiet quitting. It is. However, the reason for doing so is for your own satisfaction and growth. Yes, the organization will likely benefit from your job crafting, but your motivation is internal and personal, and you will reap the benefits. If you are at the point of experiencing burnout or quiet quitting, what do you have to lose by trying job crafting? A web search of the term reveals many practical descriptions and suggestions to get started.
