Are You a Victim of Quiet Quitting? Look in the Mirror for Answers. If your business feels like you have a revolving door, it's not external market conditions. It's you.
By George Deeb Edited by Jessica Thomas
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
The past year brought about several post-Covid workforce trends. The first was the Great Resignation, with an estimated 20% of workers planning to quit their jobs in 2022. Most recently the topic of "quiet quitting" has made headlines — it's a concept popularized on TikTok wherein employees do their work but don't go above and beyond.
To me, it's clear that these are both problems with the employers, not the employees. If employees were happy, respected and engaged in their jobs, they wouldn't feel the need to quit their jobs, either outright or in mindset while still employed. Here's how to diagnose if you have any problems that need fixing in your business and stem the tide of resignations.
Related: 5 Ways to Respond to Your Quiet-Quitting Employees' Cry For Help
Using unhappy workplaces as a case study
Let's look at some industries where quitting seems to be at an all-time high: K-12 education and restaurants. These are two industries I know well: My wife is a second-grade teacher, and I own a business serving the restaurant industry. In both of these industries, it is pretty clear to me why people are quitting; they are being asked to work their tails off with very little reward, whereas it's relatively easy for them to switch industries and make materially more money elsewhere. These industries also have something else in common, which is that new ideas are often shot down and met with red tape barriers.
Why would anyone want to work in those environments? Some people feel they have no other options based on their skill sets, and others have a passion for giving back to their communities without making compensation or job satisfaction their ultimate drivers. This is not a great position to be in for the employee or employer.
So how do we fix this? We start with the common sense realization that 20% of workers are not resigning from the workforce overall, they are resigning from you. There must be something you are doing that they are unhappy with that needs to be resolved. That could be something like low compensation levels, their mundane day-to-day tasks, your company culture, lack of upward career mobility, a bad boss or lack of job flexibility. If you're experiencing high levels of employee turnover, it is time to look in the mirror and start auditing everything you are doing, taking into account what employees are looking for post-Covid. Let's dig into that a little bit deeper.
Study compensation levels
Going back to our case study above, can restaurant workers really live on $15 per hour? That amounts to about $30,000 per year in a world where inflation is off the charts. After taxes, that is only around $2,000 per month. Let's say half of that goes towards rent, and that leaves the other half, or $33 per day, to cover all their other living expenses. That math simply doesn't work. Not to mention their job is in person when many of their friends are likely working more flexible work-from-home roles.
The same reasoning applies to teachers. They are teaching our kids and setting up the future of our country. It disgusts me that movie stars and athletes are making $25 million per year, and teachers' starting pay is around $50,000 for doing a ton of work, dealing with hostile parents and working in dysfunctional workplaces where the rules keep changing each year. In my opinion, teachers should receive a material bump in pay to justify those working conditions.
So, what do these examples mean for you? Stop thinking of your industry in a vacuum, and stop using historical pay levels as a baseline benchmark. You might need a drastic salary increase to retain and attract new talent in today's market. Employees will seek out work in other industries if they are unhappy with the compensation levels in theirs. When studying average pay by role, do so across industries. I didn't talk about studying benefits packages here, but you should do that as well to make sure you are in line with the market. A good benefits management company can help you benchmark yourself versus other employers.
If you determine you cannot profitably afford market rate salary increases, you may have a material problem on your hands. Hopefully, raising your prices to better afford market-rate salaries will help you fund these increases. God knows my restaurant bills have been going way up, as restaurants are paying their staff more to try to retain them. But if price increases are not digestible by your customers, you might need to face the hard fact that your business model may be broken, and may not survive without a material change in the model metrics.
Related: 8 Ways to Avoid Your Employees Quiet Quitting on You
Study job flexibility
Many people now prefer working from home after Covid made it ubiquitous. Don't get stuck in the Stone Age and require everyone to be in the office every day. A flexible or hybrid work arrangement gives staff more flexibility to save on commuting time, parking costs, gas costs, car costs and enables them to be more available to their families. You don't need to see them to know if they are doing a good job. You will see their success in the data coming from their work.
Study company culture
If your staff is grumbling behind your back that they work in a "toxic work environment," you have a major problem on your hands. Survey your staff, either directly or through an HR consultant. Ask what they like and don't like about the business, and then lean into your strengths and repair your weaknesses. Calculate your net promoter score among your employees, not just your customers, and shoot to keep that number at 8.5/10 or higher.
Study management
You might have one experience with a manager on your team, but their direct reports might have an entirely different one. Be sure to complete 360-degree reviews of your employees so they have a chance to speak openly about their boss at the same time their performance is being reviewed. Nothing will get a person looking for the door faster than being micromanaged, disrespected or verbally abused by a bad manager. You might need to part ways with someone you like for the greater good.
Related: Most of Generation Z Is Happy to Continue 'Quiet Quitting'
Study career paths
People want to stay at companies where they can see upward mobility in their careers. They will give you a couple of years in their current role, but what comes next? Is your company growing to create new layers of management for them to grow into? If so, great. If not, the employees might get bored and decide to find a new challenge. Ensure all employees have visibility into how their responsibilities and compensation will increase over time to give them "hooks" to want to stay.
Study day-to-day tasks
Nobody wants to work in a job they don't enjoy. So ask yourself: Would you enjoy that job? If not, figure out what it would take to make that job more enjoyable. If it's eight hours a day of mundane, brain-numbing tasks, figure out how best to make the role more stimulating — maybe sharing mundane tasks across a broader team that is doing more strategic tasks for most of their work.
The concept of the Great Resignation and Quit Quitting is hogwash to me, as the focus is on the employees, not the employers. These people need to work to pay their bills. You just need to figure out how to make them want to work for you and not be looking for the door. After doing this internal self-study, if the mirror is not broken, keep up the great work. If you are staring at a bunch of broken glass, it is time to start fresh and rethink everything you are doing.
Related: 'Quiet Firing' Is Taking the Workplace by Storm. What Is It?
