Unless you’ve had your head buried in the sand the past few months, you’ve probably heard the phrase “Quiet Quitting” pop up on social media, online, or in casual work place conversation. In July, a TikTok user by the name of zaidleppelin got a ton of views of a video he posted about the phenomenon.
In essence the video explains how Generation Z otherwise known as “Gen Z” (those born between 1997 and 2012) is over killing themselves at work and going above and beyond what is required. As such, “quiet quitting” is the answer to hustle culture that has seen many, particularly since work from home became a thing with the onset of Covid, extend work hours into the evenings and weekends.
What is Quiet Quitting?
Admittedly, the term “quiet quitting” is defined broadly with no one agreed upon definition. In a nutshell, it is defined as the opposite of working hard, taking on extra work, and grinding it out to prove to your boss that in the work-life balance equation, your clear priority is on work. It is essentially a response to the classic work model we’ve all understood on some level that is modelled as the one (read only) clear way to get ahead at work, and get that promotion, pay raise and/or bonus.
Thus, there is no actual quitting of a job here but rather placing an emphasis on the “life” portion of the work-life balance equation. To some employees this means saying no to late evening overtime work or working on the weekend, and being available at all hours of the day and evening. Still to others perhaps on the more extreme side of “quiet quitting”, it means doing the least amount of work while at work but still getting paid a full regular pay for doing so.
Naturally, a backlash has started to develop in response. In the Wall Street Journal article, The Backlash Against Quiet Quitting Is Getting Loud, Arianna Huffington and Kevin O’Leary both lay out the case against quiet quitting, some would argue from the Boomer perspective:
“Quiet quitting isn’t just about quitting on a job, it’s a step toward quitting on life,” wrote Arianna Huffington, founder of health and wellness startup Thrive Global, in a LinkedIn post that has garnered thousands of reactions. Kevin O’Leary, co-star on ABC’s “Shark Tank” and chairman of O’Shares ETFs, called quiet quitting a horrible approach to building a career: “You have to go beyond because you want to. That’s how you achieve success,” he said in a CNBC video essay.
How do I feel about Quiet Quitting?
Being a tail end Gen X’er myself, my perspective on this has changed over time. When I entered the corporate work world, long hours were the norm. There was an expectation that you were available on the evening and weekends: if client work needed to be done it needed to be done. I worked many an evening with little sleep and many weekends in the office (remote work was not a thing and when it became available in its early more primitive form, it was highly frowned upon).
When I moved into the tech space, long corporate firm hours became even longer. “Always be hustling” was the mantra of many a tech company of that era. I spent late evenings and weekends behind my laptop or in an office (albeit with catered meals and ping pong tables all designed, in part, to keep you working longer and at the office longer) with colleagues all grinding it out. On top of this, I spent countless hours on the “road” traveling and on airplanes criss-crossing the country, spending weeks a month away from home living out of a suitcase.
I did all of this regardless of whether I felt I was adequately compensated for my time. In my corporate firm life, although bonuses in my industry were common, my firm did not give out a bonus regardless of hours billed and how you stacked up to those who worked less hours. When I moved to tech, bonuses were common and equity (stock) in the tech company was a given. Mind you, there is no guarantee that your stock options will perform. I’ve had stock options for which I was handsomely rewarded, and stock options that I let expire because they were “under water”. Regardless, my colleagues in tech hustled and grinded it out harder than those in my previous corporate firm life who were already burning the proverbial candle at both ends.
As such, my younger self has some sympathy for what the Huffington’s and O’Leary’s of the work world are saying in response to the rise of quiet quitting. I put in the time so why shouldn’t my younger colleagues? I had to climb the corporate ladder through long hours and so should the next generation, or so it goes.
However, as I’ve aged comfortably into middle age, my perspective has changed. Fundamentally, I believe it has to do in some way with financial independence or F.I.R.E.
F.I.R.E and Quiet Quitting
F.I.R.E. for those who don’t know, stands for Financial Independence Retire Early. Although F.I.R.E has increasingly branched off into different versions such as FAT F.I.R.E., Coast F.I.R.E., Barista F.I.R.E., etc., F.I.R.E. is generally understood as the financial movement characterised by frugality and in some instances, particularly in it’s earliest incarnation, extreme savings and investment.
By saving more than 50% of their annual income, and in some instances as much as 70-80% or more, F.I.R.E. proponents aim to retire early and live off of sustained 4% withdrawals from their accumulated wealth. The genesis of the F.I.R.E. movement is largely credited to the 1992 book Your Money or Your Life by Joseph R. Dominguez and Vicki Robin
Thus by reaching the F.I. (Financial Independence) of F.I.R.E., you no longer need to work or in other words, work is optional. This creates freedom and flexibility from the daily grind of a job, particularly one that you may not enjoy at all or enjoy as much as you once did.
I recently achieved financial independence. From the perspective of financial independence, I’ve been practicing a form of quiet quitting before the term was even coined to describe it.
Given that I am work optional, if I don’t like the terms of my employer-employee relationship, I could quit. I am no longer willing to kill myself for my job. I am no longer willing to be on call at all hours of the day and well into the evening and early morning, as I used to be early in my career when I had no financial cushion. I am no longer willing to sacrifice my physical health for the health of a corporation’s bottom line.
I no longer check my Slack messages or emails in the evening or weekends or as much as I used to as I’ve consciously redrawn my work-life boundaries in financial independence. I figure if it’s important and high enough a priority, my CEO or a colleague will call or text me. So those Slack messages and emails can wait until tomorrow or Monday.
Instead of starting my day at 7am in my office chair like I used to, I wake up at 7am and before I even sit down at my desk with my coffee, I’ve taken a morning work around my neighbourhood or worked out, and I’ve checked my portfolio and read the news. I get started at about 9am and I clock out at 5pm.
My allotted vacation time is 3 weeks a year or so the contract says. However, I do my job and take the time off I need, which this year and last has been well beyond the 3 weeks permitted by my contract. I also don’t take the abuse I used to take at work earlier in my career where I was in some instances verbally and physically abused by my boss. Now, if I feel I’m disrespected, I stand my ground and firmly make it known I won’t stand for it.
Now, I recognise I do this from a place of some privilege. I’ve worked hard, had luck on my side, and managed to save and invest a healthy chunk of my sizeable income to become financially free with work now being optional. But the point of all of this is that financial independence and the F.I.R.E. movement has given me the flexibility to safely and comfortably quietly quit.
When I was early in my work life, I didn’t have the financial resources to quit quietly. If I was fired or demoted or laid off, I still had rent (and eventually) a mortgage to pay for and day to day expenses. All the more power to those younger Gen Z workers that are quietly quitting, but I’m not sure what impact that may have on their career or earning potential (particularly for those who opt for a quiet quitting that has them doing the least amount of work or avoiding doing the most amount of work during their 9 to 5 job). This is not even to say what impact any future recession may have on those quiet quitters that aren’t financially free or even at the very least have a rainy day fund to see them through the hard times of being potentially fired or laid off work.
In the end, the F.I. of F.I.R.E. is so powerful because it empowers you and gives you options. For some, like me, it means I can quit quietly while I continue to work for the time being before I retire early.