quiet quitting

Quiet quitting means doing exactly what your job requires and nothing more, without actually quitting. No unpaid overtime, no answering emails at midnight, no volunteering for extra projects.

What quiet quitting really means

Despite the name, nobody leaves. A quiet quitter shows up, does the work in their job description, and logs off at the end of the day. Supporters see it as setting healthy boundaries after years of burnout culture. Critics see it as disengagement, or argue it’s just a new name for simply doing your job.

Examples

• “I’m quiet quitting: no more weekend Slack messages.”
• “Is it quiet quitting if they never paid me for the extra work anyway?”
• “Half my team is quietly quitting after the bonus cuts.”
• “Managers blame quiet quitting, workers blame bad management.”

How common is it?

In a September 2022 report, Gallup estimated that quiet quitters made up at least half of the U.S. workforce, based on a survey of more than 15,000 employees that June. Gallup defined them as people who aren’t actively disengaged but aren’t going beyond the minimum either.

Where quiet quitting comes from

The phrase exploded in July 2022 after Zaid Khan, a 20-something engineer, posted a 17-second TikTok about it that was viewed millions of times, as Fortune and NPR reported. Khan popularized it, but he didn’t invent it: Dictionary.com found the phrase in a tweet from April 2022, and nobody has a verified claim to coining it. Merriam-Webster dates it to 2022.

Related terms

• Acting your wage: matching effort to pay.
• Quiet firing: the employer’s version.
• Loud quitting: open, active disengagement.
• Rage applying: applying to lots of jobs out of frustration.

More workplace terms in our work and money slang guide.