Quiet Quitting And Rage Applying, What Is It About?

In the past few years, quiet quitting and rage applying have caught the attention of employers all over the world, even here in Malaysia.

What are those buzzwords? If you’ve never heard of these terms before, you might be confused as to why employers are so worried about these two buzzwords.

What is quiet quitting?

Also known as ‘lying flat’ in China, quiet quitting is typically seen as a lighter approach to quitting compared to outright leaving a job. When an employee ‘quiet quits’, it means that they are doing the bare minimum of their duties.

Although the term ‘quiet quitting’ might be new, the idea is actually nothing new in the world of human resource management where it is also referred to as employee disengagement.

In many cases, quiet quitting is a symptom of larger structural problems within a company. If not addressed, it could lead to substantial problems with productivity and morale – especially as the unaddressed workload begins to be passed on to more engaged employees.

Why do employees ‘quiet quit’?

There are five common reasons why employees quiet quit;

• Excessive workload

One of the most common reasons why employees start ‘quiet quitting’ is because they are disgruntled with their workloads. These once very passionate employees get burnt out by the sheer amount of work they have to do. This causes them to be exhausted, which in turn will lower their productivity and willingness to put extra effort into their duties.

• Poor compensation

Another major reason why employees ‘quiet quit’ is because they feel like they’re not being fairly compensated for the work they do. The Department of Statistics Malaysia recently revealed that a lot of Malaysians are grappling with low pay, with 46% of Malaysian earning less than the median wage. Their logic is that they are only doing what they are being paid for, hence why they only do the bare minimum.

• No work-life balance

Proper boundaries between work time and personal life can force employees to resort to extremes to lay down some boundaries. This usually is a remnant from the ‘work-from-home’ era, where employers are more comfortable overstepping their employees’ boundaries, such as reaching out to their employees after working hours. Do it too often, and it can lead to employees feeling burnt out, which then will cause them to take more extreme measures, such as quiet quitting.

• Unclear expectations

A popular saying that ‘quiet quitters’ like to espouse is “this is not the work that I’ve signed up for”. For a lot of employees, the decision to quiet quit starts from the fact that they are always given responsibilities and duties that are not in line with their job description.

• Poor communication

Last but not least, quiet quitters might be reacting to the fact that they cannot properly express their frustrations towards something that is bothering them at the office. In this case, the fault does not lie entirely with the employee, as the employer is also responsible for creating a safe space for the employees to feel comfortable enough to voice their concerns.

Which leads us to rage applying

And all this, leads us to a much newer phenomenon, which is rage applying. Which is when a disgruntled employee starts applying to multiple job openings just because said employee is angry.

Rage applying is usually done as a form of revenge towards an employee’s workplace, as they feel that they are under appreciated at their current working place and might find greener grass somewhere else.

Now this, leads to more problems in the office, such as;

• A higher turnover rate

When a person rage applies, chances are they will leave the office if their needs and concerns aren’t addressed. This will lead to the team being short handed for quite some time, until they can sort out a replacement for the employee.

• Leads to a lose-lose situation

Most of the time, rage applying does not lead to a favorable outcome for both the employee and and the employer. As mentioned above, for the employer, they now have the momentous task of trying to replace an employee who is fully integrated into the team, which will take effort and time. While, for the employee, rage applying usually leads to them accepting the first offer they get, and it might not be the best solution for them.

Both employer and employee need to work together

In the end, knee jerk reactions rarely lead to happy endings, so perhaps it’s time for both employees and employers to recognise that working together to achieve an amicable solution is the best option for both parties.