Quiet Quitting isn’t Queenly
Date: 13 September 2022
Media: Today Extra, Channel Nine, National Australian Television
Story: Quiet Quitting
Hosts: David Campbell and Sylvia Jeffreys
Guest: Sue Ellson
Today I was interviewed on Channel 9‘s Today Extra by David Campbell and Sylvia Jeffreys. Be warned, quiet quitting is a bit of a buzz word at the moment and it is not the best way forward.
For many people, we are in a time of ‘peak chaos’ and it is tempting to look at what we can control and what we do at work as one of the options to help us cope.
If you are struggling, I encourage you to take a bird’s eye view and look at your whole life (not just your work life) and if you need some extra support from a financial counsellor or a social worker or even some training on assertiveness so you can speak up, now is the time to consider those options.
It may be time to review what you are doing on the job and have a confidential discussion with your supervisor (prepare some notes beforehand) and work out ways you can move forward.
I would also like to encourage everyone to have more fun at work too! <
At a time when we are celebrating Queen Elizabeth II who has had the same job for over 70 years, remember that she had many advisors, assistants, personal coaching and supports in place to help her carry out her role.
Many of us have been trained to complete tasks, but not how to manage who we work with, how to have difficult conversations and how to ensure their is a fair value exchange.
I hope this short clip encourages you to pause for a moment and work out what would work better for you in the future! Let me know if you have any questions.
Thank you Natacha Maloon for the invitation and Joe Ferma for the camera work.
Transcript
Welcome back we’ve been hearing about this term Quiet Quitting and it’s been a bit of a buzz term among upper circles these last few months the new trend has seen thousands of Aussies give up on their jobs we’re basically doing only the bare minimum so why is this concept taking the workforce by storm right now. Career Expert Sue Ellson joins us now from Melbourne to discuss so thank you for your time why does quiet quitting seem to be taking off at the moment.
Oh look I think the algorithms on social media are designed to really pick up trends and take them off and a lot of people are at that point of what I would actually classify as you know Peak Chaos with their lives with so many different things changing and when a concept like this comes along a bit like The Great Resignation we heard previously people pick it up and and feel like this is a way I can control a part of my life. So let’s say people do pick up on this and do want to reduce their workload without telling their bosses they want to adopt quiet quitting could this backfire on workers?
Absolutely a lot of people are noticing there’s a difference between the people who work from home or the people who are at the workplace and there’s already a lot of adjustments going on so if somebody sees that somebody is slacking off even more than they were previously yes that’s going to have an impact but also I found that a lot of people will end up spending that time quiet quitting doing tasks that they don’t really need to do so if they were just focused on the task they could still sort of perhaps reduce some of their demand on their workload but actually find life a little bit simpler the thing is a lot of people are feeling this extreme burnout at the moment. So what would be your advice to someone who is feeling tempted to really pull back on their duties and their productivity at work? What’s a better way to address the burnout?
Look I think you should look not just at your work but of your whole life and I think that for a lot of people financial stress is one so see a financial counsellor some people need more personal help so maybe a social worker rather than a psychologist who can actually put some things in place. One of the best things I did at the beginning of my career was some training on assertiveness so being able to have those conversations with your supervisor and say look you know this is how I’m feeling my tasks have increased here’s what I’m doing now that I wasn’t doing 12 months ago it’s not actually part of my position description, can you suggest other ways that we can manage this more effectively, are there other resources available, I need to take half a day off every week for a little while, you know there’s conversations that could be had that could open up lots more opportunities but I think as employers they also need to be aware that some people will feel uncomfortable with those conversations so they need to be accessible as well. So you think some employers should step up now and try and address this in their workplaces Sue?
Yeah absolutely and I think there’s a lot, like where’s the fun? I mean I remember work being a fun place to go to and I think we’ve become very serious with all of this technology and those water cooler conversations have often disappeared and that was where we had a sense of belonging and I’ve worked with one employer and they’ve got young people on the team and they’ve actually chosen to come into the office because they feel more supported and encouraged in the office than they do working from home so there are employers who are getting it right this same employer has invited me to go to paint and Picasso or something with other pinot and Picasso so to do some painting exercise this Thursday and you know they’re the sorts of things that we can incorporate just to make life a little bit more interesting and to just feel a bit more relaxed at work as well. Interesting Sue Ellson we appreciate your time thanks for joining us today.
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