Spike in ‘quiet quitting’ rocks job industry as pandemic fades

Half of U.S. workers responding to a recent Gallup survey now consider themselves “quiet quitters” — employees who do the minimum necessary to keep their jobs.

The percentage of disengaged workers has risen steadily since 2019, according to Gallup.

Experts attribute the spike to large numbers of managers quitting during the pandemic, a struggling job market and the unhappiness of young people with remote work.

“Life changed dramatically with COVID, and now, as employees are returning to the physical workspace, they are having to learn how to reengage socially, while having the stress of paying more for clothes, gas and food,” said Karen S. Elliott, a labor and employment attorney at Richmond, Virginia-based Eckert Seamans.

The concept of quiet quitting is also known as “working your wage” or “phoning it in.” Some analysts call it the “80-20 rule,” where 20% of employees do 80% of the work.

According to economists, it’s an old trend in the labor market — but one that was poised for a surge as more Americans sought better work-life balance even before the pandemic.