Quiet Quitting Not New But on the Rise in the U.S.

While the phrase “quiet quitting” might sound new, what it really means—a level of worker disengagement—is not, and according to a report published by polling company Gallup earlier this year, it’s getting worse among employees in the United States.

As explained in a video released by Gallup, quiet quitting occurs when an employee only strides to complete the minimum requirements of a job, without going beyond any typical call of duty—and it’s nothing new.

“While the buzz of quiet quitting has taken hold in recent months, it’s a workplace mindset that Gallup has been studying for years,” said Gallup managing consultant Heather Barrett in the video.

For the sake of its study, Gallup broke employees down into three categories: engaged, not engaged, and actively disengaged.

“Many so-called quiet quitters fit Gallup’s definition of being not engaged at work,” Barrett continued. “This means they are psychological unattached to their work and company, and they put time—but not energy and not passion—into their work.”

According to the report, despite trending up in recent years, employee engagement in the U.S. saw its first annual decline in a decade in 2021, dropping from 36% engaged workers the year before down to 34%.

This pattern continued into 2022, as 32% of full- and part-time employees working for organizations reported being engaged, while 18% were actively disengaged. Active disengagement increased by two percentage points from 2021 and four points from 2020.

The ratio of engaged to actively disengaged workers in the U.S. according to Gallup is 1.8-to-1, down from 2.1-to-1 in 2021 and 2.6-to-1 in 2020. This is the lowest ratio of engaged to actively disengaged employees in the U.S. since 2013, almost a decade earlier. The record high ratio of 2.7-to-1 was recorded in 2019.

The downturn is particularly noticeable among younger workers. The percentage of engaged workers who are 35 years old or younger dropped six points from 2019 to 2022. The lack of encouragement, expectations, and growth opportunities, as well as an overall feeling of not being cared about as person, were cited as reasons for the disengagement.