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We’ve seen a lot of changes to the traditional office space in the past few years. We’ve already seen hybrid workplaces take over as plenty of businesses discovered that they didn’t need to be tied to an office five days a week to keep productivity high. Many others toyed with the idea of moving to four-day workweeks altogether in hopes of improving morale and drawing in new employees.
Still, there’s a new boogieman creeping into corporate lingo to take the place of the Great Resignation: quiet quitting. While it’s whispered in hushed tones or said with open scorn, we need to be clear about what “quiet quitting” really is. Simply put, this phrase just means that workers are no longer willing to go above and beyond for companies or departments where they feel like they’re being taken advantage of. Employees are still logging on or coming into the office to do their jobs, but they’re no longer working through their lunch breaks, staying late for projects, or answering calls and email on the weekend.
According to the person credited with pushing the term into the cultural zeitgeist, quiet quitting means “you’re still performing your duties, but you’re no longer subscribing to the hustle culture mentality that work has to be your life. The reality is it’s not, and your worth as a person is not defined by your labor.”
The COVID-19 pandemic and many companies’ responses to dealing with the aftermath have put a lot of things into perspective for their workforce, and based on stories collected by Buzzfeed on the topic, it’s no wonder that many (especially younger) employees are feeling this way. Or, this could be in response to the fact that while productivity is up, wages have remained stagnant despite increases in the cost of living.
While there are a lot of corporate culture and policy issues that each business can address, Keypoint Intelligence has been keeping an eye on a lot of this since the pandemic—starting with our The Future Office survey that looked at the pandemic’s effects and now moving onto our new Future of Work study to help us all progress in the aftermath of all these dramatic changes to work as we know it. The study was conducted online in September 2022 with our respondents coming from differing levels of work flexibility (working from home full time, working at the office full time, and those split between these locations). Our goal was to explore how work is changing to identify future trends, such as:
- Work location and adjustments for hybrid work
- Printing patterns, documents, and device types
- Remote service protection and cybersecurity
- Digitization of processes vs. a preference for paper
- Buying printing supplies and environmental considerations
- Importance of scanning and the devices used as well as documents scanned
- Meetings and collaboration tools
Keypoint Intelligence Opinion
When it comes to office culture, the genie’s out of the bottle and granting wishes remotely. There’s no going back to the 9-5 grind where most of us were putting in extra hours and effort in a single office for platitudes (if we got any recognition at all). But this isn’t something to mourn or bemoan.
The office has changed and is moving forward with innovations in collaborative tools, cybersecurity initiatives, and other means that let us work wherever possible. That said, companies that want to continue to see their productivity grow need to remember that their employees are human beings. Their wants and needs are going to play a part in if they stick around and give it their all, or if they’re going to start doing what they’re being paid for and nothing else. Rather than wring your hands about staff quiet quitting, it would be better to see what it is you’re giving to those that make the company’s success happen. After all, you really only get what you give.
Log in to the InfoCenter to read our full 2021 The Future Office Survey - Working Through the Pandemic Continued and the 2022 Future of Work Survey - Adjusting to Hybrid executive summary. Or you can find associated reports and forecasts through our Office CompleteView Advisory Service. If you’re not a subscriber, just send us an email at sales@keypointintelligence.com for more info.
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