The first Great Resignation in 2021 led thousands to quit work;  the second Great Resignation is now underway. It’s a mindset called quiet quitting, in which workers are psychologically resigned to stay on the job and do as little as possible. Thus the great divide between workers and management widens daily. As a leader, what can you do? Try to bridge the gap with charitable event team building.

 

Survival strategy vs. slacker mode

When you’re trapped in an airtight environment what do you do? You limit your movements in order to conserve oxygen until First Responders come to the rescue. But what if you feel that your only hope of survival is to rescue yourself?  Among some of these smothering employees the first response is quiet quitting.

 

Johns Hopkins University’s HUB Magazine provides insight into this trend:

“We’re seeing this phrase being used in two different ways. One concept is removing yourself from the climb-the-ladder mindset or decelerating the career ambition to focus more on other aspects of life. This is often considered as a rebalancing. …The other way that the term quiet quitting is being used is less positive in nature. In this context, people are not happy with their job or employer and may think, ‘My job is awful, I don’t like my company, so I’m going to quit putting in effort, but keep the paycheck.’ In this interpretation, people are doing the bare minimum, perhaps a step short of actively trying to get fired.”

 

The message from quiet quitters is getting louder and louder, but it’s frequently misinterpreted or misunderstood. Is quiet quitting a desperate cry for help with mental illness issues or is it perhaps an X-ray of a seriously toxic work environment?

 

Sloanreview.mit.edu suggests: “Exhaustion, frustration, confusion, mistakes, outbursts, and burnout: These are the consequences of jobs that lack clarity and boundaries — the things that happen before people quit or get fired.”

 

Carpe diem or die!

What millions of employees once suffered silently is now utterly unbearable, thanks to the tipping point we call COVID-19. They’ve roused from the slumber of  paycheck-driven subsistence and are now seized by purpose-driven zeal for a more meaningful life.

 

Hope-driven industry hopping

So, as another consequence of this global upheaval, thousands of suffocating workers are bailing out before the oxygen runs out. This trend, called industry hopping, is built on the hope that another career will offer them the sense of purpose they’ve longed for since the world turned upside down.

 

“Following the Great Resignation, millions of workers are shifting to new roles. Some are seeking better pay or flexibility; others are job hopping to accelerate their career progression. However, a swathe of workers are changing their vocation entirely. According to a July 2022 global survey of nearly 2,000 workers by McKinsey & Company, 48% of those who quit their job in the past two years have moved to a different sector,” reports bbc.com/worklife.

 

Humanized event team building

Fickle, slothful, and entitled? Hopeful, purposeful, and courageous?

As a leader, what’s your spin on the motives of these young employees?

If your patience is shrinking as the gap between you and your staff widens, you may need to bridge the gap by trying something different like charitable event team building.

 

Note: nobody’s suggesting that you play some mindless, meaningless game while your ship is sinking—far from it! In fact, in nautical parlance, strategic event team building can “right the ship” by reinventing some of the team dynamics among your crew.

 

For example, a charitable team building event can:

1. Shift your focus from the pressure of business deadlines to the therapy of giving to people in your hometown who need help. Veterans, hospital patients, overseas military personnel, young students—so many people in need; so many ways to be a hero!
2. Attach both human and humane faces to the blur of voicemails, emails, and texts exchanged every day. It’s so easy to relate the people only as tasks and chainlinks—maybe too easy. Team building is a contact sport and charitable events provide the best points of contact for coworkers to get to know each other as people.
3. Showcase hidden gifts, skills, and talents in the quietest colleagues. Team building events improve collaborative and communications skills, and sometimes they reveal strengths that have been untapped on the job. 
4. Develop leadership skills in each team member without posing a threat to top management. Charitable events level the hierarchical playing field, so employees can grow professionally and personally without appearing dangerously ambitious.

If you’re ready to transform this second Great Resignation into a Great Resurgence at your company, Magnovo is ready to help.