quiet quit

verb

variants or less commonly quietly quit

quiet quit also quietly quit or quiet quitted; quiet quitting also quietly quitting; quiet quits also quietly quits

intransitive verb

: to do the minimum amount of work required for a job : to engage in quiet quitting

"Several of my clients who have quiet quit have been doing the work of two to three people, while slackers on the team have gotten away with doing nothing," [Jennifer] Brick said.

—Jon Jackson

"When I was working during Covid, it felt safer to quiet quit than to leave and look for another job. It was a turbulent time."

—Georgia Gadsby

Those who are quiet quitting say they are doing their job; they're just establishing boundaries.

—Liz Carey

"Blue-collar workers don't get to quietly quit," [Steven Haynes] said. "They're tied very heavily to daily performance goals."

—Mitchell Schnurman

Examples of quiet quit in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Trends that emerged in the post-Covid labor market, from quiet quitting to heated disputes over return-to-work policies, laid bare a stark reality: Many employees are dissatisfied with the experience their jobs offer. —Harvard Business Review, 20 Oct. 2024

Without clear direction, support, or avenues for growth, employees are left adrift, prime candidates for the quiet quitting phenomenon. —Naz Beheshti, Forbes, 15 Feb. 2024

But the novelty of quiet quitting soon wore off and was replaced by paranoia. —Orianna Rosa Royle, Fortune, 11 July 2023

Yet some companies solved their quiet quitting problem even before the term was born. —Sheryl Estrada, Fortune, 26 June 2023

While quiet quitting results in a lack of motivation from individuals and quiet firing promotes unhealthy communication between employee and employer, over-employment exacerbates the problems tenfold. —Pat Calhoun, Forbes, 4 May 2023

The much-ballyhooed labor resurgence appears to mirror quiet quitting on both of these counts. —Matthew Gavin Frank, Harper's Magazine, 1 May 2023

Word History

First Known Use

2022, in the meaning defined above