Gen Z’s quiet quitting, dispensing with going above and beyond

One of the ways that members of the work force born, before the 1990s, could find their excessive burden supersized? There’s an international trend among members of Generation Z that involves minimizing work involvement. In “Quiet Quitting”, an individual only does what is specified for the job. Going above and beyond or doing the things that many see as a way to enhance one’s career, are “out the door”.

From the New York Post:

“You’re not outright quitting your job, but you’re quitting the idea of going above and beyond,” explained one TikToker whose viral video helped kick off the fad. “You’re still performing your duties, but you’re no longer subscribing to the hustle-culture mentality.”

Basically, you’re not actually quitting, you just start doing the bare minimum.

In one tongue-in-cheek video skit, a young woman models “quiet quitting” by sitting down at her desk at exactly 9:00 a.m., declaring it “Maple Muffin Monday,” gossiping and taking many breaks to discuss “The Bachelorette.” She then laughs at her 500-call goal for the day — “instead we’re doing 50.” And when her boss asks her to do some additional tasks, she replies, “Susan, it’s 2022: We’re acting our wage, so don’t give me extra work.”

Queue the “Yass, queen”s in the comments section — and the unemployment application in her near future. But perhaps because of just how expansive our welfare safety net has become, many of these young people aren’t particularly perturbed by the prospect of facing employment consequences.

“If I’m supposed to go above and beyond, so should my pay,” one guy’s viral TikTok argues.

“You’re lucky that an employee does their job. I’ve done so little at work before that it wasn’t ‘quietly quitting,’ it was technically robbing.”

Another TikTok user recounted how after she “quiet quit” her job, she “used all the free space in her mind no longer worrying about work” to start doing “Queer History walking tours.”

“In doing less, I made life better for everyone around me,” she concluded. “Do less! Do less! Do less!”

Some of these videos are downright absurd. But the frustrations motivating this broader movement aren’t.

Real wages are falling. Housing, groceries, gas and other necessities are increasingly unaffordable, thanks to inflation. And the economy has been mediocre at best and calamitous at worst in the early years of this generation’s careers.

The New York Post has additional information, and links to TikTok videos, here. The New York Post has another article explaining the apparent origin of this movement.

Category: Society