Millions of office staff are so disgruntled at work by a lack of recognition from bosses that they are 'quiet quitting', a study has found.
They are going through the motions due to their extra work not being acknowledged and the survey shows a stark difference between managers’ expectations in comparison to those of their employees.
The research by employment experts Citation, found workers are doing the bare minimum in their jobs and for fair reasons.
Additionally, the study found that nearly half (44%) of former workaholic Brits have cut down on doing unpaid overtime to get projects finished.
Two in five workers (40%) say they are choosing to not work late anymore because they are only doing the work they are paid for, 38% believe their extra work isn’t acknowledged and 29% feel that they are unmotivated.
Almost two-in-three (63%) people admit they are not taking on more work than the minimum they are required to do as well.
The research outlined that 89% of bosses admit to contacting employees outside of their working hours and almost one in three (29%) do it regularly.
There is clearly a difference in expectations that has led to the change in worker behaviour. Nearly half (49%) of workers get annoyed by people sending work emails at the weekend or out of normal hours because 55% feel they are expected to respond.
Gill McAteer, director of employment law at Citation, said: “We are seeing working habits change across the country. The pandemic has allowed us to reassess lots of things and many workers are focusing on a better work/life balance and now only working within their required hours.
“They may feel undervalued or underpaid in their role, and there is no doubt that small to medium-sized businesses will be most affected by the change in working behaviour.
“Employers must try to acknowledge and recognise if their culture fails in some areas and try to improve that to achieve a positive culture and a happier work-life balance for workers. That, in turn, would encourage employees to enjoy their jobs more and want to push themselves in the workplace.
“Otherwise, if they fail to recognise employees giving their discretionary effort and assume it is part of the job, that fuels disengagement and demotivation which will only cause further problems in the business.”
Gill’s 5 top tips to help employees achieve a better work-life balance:
· Offer flexible working
· Help employees to manage workloads better
· Get cover for employee's workload during annual leave so they don’t feel like it is all left for them to pick back up on their return
· Encourage employees to speak up if they are struggling with the balance
· Encourage employees to take breaks to help with productivity
