{"id":93618,"date":"2026-04-16T18:47:48","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T23:47:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bricktowntom.com\/blog\/?p=93618"},"modified":"2026-04-16T18:47:48","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T23:47:48","slug":"quiet-quitting-is-a-downward-spiral","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bricktowntom.com\/blog\/04\/quiet-quitting-is-a-downward-spiral.html","title":{"rendered":"Quiet Quitting is A Downward Spiral"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Wow, this \u201cQuiet Quitting<\/strong>\u201d movement is the meme of the moment. Even WSJ and NYT did stories on this \u201cmovement\u201d. You know, this isn\u2019t exactly new. We had this same thing way back in my working days. We called it coasting<\/strong>. I guess that isn\u2019t catchy enough so the whippersnappers felt the need to invent a new term. But the idea is the same. You do enough to get by and avoid taking on more work than necessary, especially if it isn\u2019t compensated. \u00a0<\/p>\n

How did it come to this? Basically, employers demanded too much from their workers. Employers had more power than workers for many years and they abused it. They expected employees to do extra work and be available after hours. And be happy about it. This isn\u2019t new. I babysat my boss\u2019 kid when I was an engineer<\/a>. Now, that\u2019s going above and beyond the job description.<\/p>\n

Then the pandemic hit. Many workers transitioned to remote work, but they spent even more time working. It became very difficult to separate work and life. Workers got fed up. The pandemic also pushed everyone to reevaluate their lives. Now, we realize that life is short and we don\u2019t want to spend all our time working. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate dropped to a 50-year low<\/a>, 3.5%. Finally, workers have some power. Employees can work a bit less and try to have a better work-life balance. The boss has to take it because it is so difficult to find new workers right now. But…<\/p>\n

Quiet Quitting is a bad idea<\/h2>\n

Quiet quitting might be the right move if your work\/life balance is horrible. Nobody wants to work all the time. That will lead to burnout. It\u2019s better in the long run to have a good work-life balance. I worked 60+ hours per day when I was a young engineer. The result was I got completely burned out and quit my engineering career<\/a>. If I managed my time better from the beginning, I might have lasted longer.<\/p>\n

So why do I say quiet quitting is a downward spiral? That\u2019s because it is. You shouldn\u2019t embrace quiet quitting unless you plan to move on. Here are the reasons.<\/p>\n