Origin Dictionary / OD-181
Quiet Quitting
The manager heard “I am leaving.” The employee had only said “It is six o’clock.”
01Dictionary Meaning
Quiet quitting is an informal term for remaining in a job while limiting effort and tasks to what the role requires rather than going beyond them.
02What People Think
Anyone who stops going above and beyond must have stopped caring about the job.
03What’s Underneath
Quiet quitting is an informal label for staying employed while limiting work to the role’s requirements. The employee may stop volunteering for extra projects, answering optional messages after hours, or supplying enthusiasm beyond what the job demands. The phrase does not mean that a resignation has taken place.
The disagreement often sits inside the phrase going above and beyond. An employer may view repeated extra effort as normal commitment, while the employee sees additional time and responsibility that have gradually become expected without a corresponding change in pay, support, or the agreed role.
The label can also be used for disengagement, so it is worth describing the actual behavior. Meeting clear obligations, doing less than those obligations, and refusing an undefined extra are different situations. Without a shared understanding of the job, both sides can use the same phrase while arguing about different things.
04The Game
What work was actually agreed, what extra effort has become assumed, and how is that extra recognized? Can expectations be made explicit before a boundary is treated as a performance problem?
05One Line
Sometimes the quiet part is the limit that was never discussed.
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M2Mature Individuals
Look at the gap between agreed work and unspoken expectations.
References 1
- Quiet quitting
Cambridge Dictionary