The trend has been encouraged by social media personalities who view it as a healthy way to take back control of an individual’s work-life balance and to set better boundaries between themselves and their employer. Often, it’s encouraged as an antidote to burnout and a way of empowering workers to take back control of the self.

Unfortunately, for both employers and the quiet quitters themselves, this approach has considerable drawbacks. Quiet quitting risks lowering an individual’s sense of personal accomplishment, and by discouraging engagement can have a detrimental impact on a person’s workplace relationships. This could lead to a loss of purpose and satisfaction and leave people feeling like their role is ultimately meaningless. When someone lacks motivation and engagement, it becomes a lot easier for them to adopt a negative view of their own life.

From an employer’s point of view, the quiet quitters can be disruptive. People who aren’t engaged with their work are less likely to show initiative, they’re disinclined to provide input during meetings, and they can become a morale-sapping influence on the rest of the team.

If leaders suspect a member of their team is quiet quitting, it’s important that they address the situation quickly but empathetically. Happy people do not quiet quit.

Depression and Mental Health Concerns

Those who have experience with mental health conditions such as depression know that motivation often plummets during particularly low moments. Right now, it shouldn’t be hard to understand why many people, including those who have never previously shown signs of depression, might be feeling particularly low right now. Having only just navigated a difficult pandemic period which impacted people’s ability to see loved ones and, in many tragic cases, cost the lives of friends and relatives, lingering feelings of loss and grief are to be expected.

Furthermore, the cost-of-living crisis has provided many of us with nothing but a parade of bleak news. From the rising costs of essentials such as food to the forthcoming winter of discontent, it’s not hard to understand why many of our people might struggle with depression, anxiety, and stress.

As leaders, we must demonstrate our understanding of this situation. Although there is no single approach to assisting those suffering from mental health problems, we can consider various options. We can provide extra break periods, we can encourage flexible working, we can delegate more effectively so that our people are not overwhelmed, and we may even be able to investigate providing support and counselling services if possible.

Where finances support it, we may even be able to provide some emergency cost-of-living bonuses to our people who are really struggling right now, or at the very least, find some way to lighten the financial load ahead of them.

Overburdening

Most leaders are guilty of overburdening certain individuals from time to time. We have those people in our organisation whose skills or abilities lend themselves to being given extra tasks. When someone like that starts quiet quitting, it may be that we’ve overburdened them and given them too big a load to work with.

If this is the case, it’s time we start looking at why we’re giving so much work to certain people. If it’s due to a lack of people capable of doing that job, perhaps it’s time we started investing in training to equip more people with the desired skillset. If it’s because we regularly find ourselves hitting “crunch” periods, then we need to investigate our time management skills and delegate tasks more efficiently.

Overburdening is almost always the fault of leadership. It’s something we can and should address ourselves as a priority so that we don’t lose the talents of good people.

Lack of Challenge

When your job amounts to doing the same thing every day, it’s difficult to stay motivated. Some quiet quitters do the bare minimum because they spend most of the day on autopilot, inputting the same data or running through the same scripted conversations with customers.

If we want these people to remain motivated and engaged, we need to vary their work and give them something that challenges but does not overburden them. Again, training could help. If we equip people with new skills, we can provide the opportunity to put them to good use. Where we cannot train people for a different role, perhaps we can look at other ways of including them. We could, for example, encourage them to provide more input, or we could afford them other opportunities to do something a little different to the norm.

Be Forthcoming with Praise

We’ve all had that moment where we’ve done something that warrants recognition, and we don’t get it. It leaves us feeling frustrated, irritable, underappreciated, and unhappy.

Many leaders seem to be under the impression that it’s not necessary to comment on a job well done because somebody has just done their job. This is a horrendously bad management technique that should be confined to the dustbin of history.

People like to be praised when they’ve done a good job. It stimulates the striatum in the brain and releases dopamine—often known as the pleasure hormone. Research has indicated that receiving praise improves our physical and mental well-being. We get a better night’s sleep, and during that sleep, our brain engages in what’s known as “skill consolidation” because praise is a form of social reward which improves our learning and understanding.

Every time you praise somebody for a job well done, you’re not only giving them a reason to keep doing a good job, but you’re helping them in several other ways. The same applies to simple gestures such as a “thank you” or handing someone a £10 gift card because they closed a big sale.

Yes, your people might just be doing their jobs, but if they’re doing their jobs well, then you need to show appreciation for it. If you don’t, you have nobody to blame but yourself when they quietly quit on you.

Leave Your Door Open

Most importantly, we must ensure our door is open to our people. It’s all too easy for an employee to start viewing the boss as unapproachable. To stay in their little corner of the office, do their work, and go home feeling unnoticed and unappreciated.

Take some time out of your day to wander around the office and engage with your people—not just about work but about life and interests. If you make yourself approachable, people will be willing to approach you when they have a concern or a problem, and the first step in fixing any problem is identifying that there is one.

Go the Extra Mile

Ultimately, it often boils down to trust. A leader who is willing to go the extra mile for their people is a leader who will encourage their people to go the extra mile for them.

If you’re concerned that your people might be quiet quitting, then contact us and we can help you tailor a programme to Raise the Engagement Bar.

The post Quiet Quitting: What Leaders Need to Know appeared first on Robin Lines Associates.

People work hardest when they’re working towards something meaningful. When people start to question the point of a new project, the latest meeting, or any particular task they’ve been assigned, it can result in a considerable drop in morale and productivity.

As a leader, getting buy-in is crucial, not just from your customers or backers but from the people you’re tasking to get the work done. Ensure they’re on board, ensure they know the strategy, and be ready to answer any questions they may have about the direction.

Feeling Undervalued

Almost all of us have encountered a manager who believes that there is no need to commend people on a job well done. If you want your people to go above and beyond to excel at any given task, then you should be forthcoming with praise when they do. Little kills the dynamism of an office environment more than people who feel that their accomplishments will not be recognised no matter what effort they make.

Conflict and Office Politics

Office politics is often a touchy subject, but as a leader, it’s vital you maintain awareness of any cliques, power plays, or bullying occurring in the workplace. People don’t like to feel like outsiders, and when they do, morale will plummet. Worst of all, think of the message it sends to new hires when the same group of people seem to be getting preferential treatment because they know how to play the game.

We can’t expect everybody to get on all of the time. Still, the ones who think intimidation and playground tactics are the way to the top are not only going to bring productivity down, they’re going to earn your business a reputation as the wrong place to work.

Unfair or Unrealistic Workloads

Stress is a serious problem, and leaders should be aware of the effect it might be having on people who feel overburdened. As a leadership coach, I have encountered a significant problem across many organisations: the overreliance on a handful of “top stars” who have a reputation for getting things done. Unfortunately, this often signifies that you’ve got people more willing to put in unpaid overtime or take work home with them because they don’t want to disappoint the leaders.

Ensure that you’re giving your people some breathing space, and if you do find yourself assigning tasks to the same people, start asking questions about why others are not sharing the load?

Unapproachable Leaders

Have you ever worked in an organisation where getting five minutes of face-to-face time with the boss seemingly required months of planning? When people want to share concerns, new ideas, or discuss something important, a leader who is forever on the phone, in meetings, out of the office, or otherwise unavailable is a significant problem for motivation.

While leaders do get busy, it’s essential to be proactive in setting aside some time to talk to your people each day. We call it “Leadership by Wandering About” – taking some time each day to speak with your people, find out what their needs and wants are, and make sure that nobody is sitting on something vital.

Micromanagement

On the flip side, leaders who are far too “hands-on” in their approach can become burdensome to their people. Nobody likes feeling like they can’t even write up a report in Word without their helicopter manager hovering around to check every sentence. Micromanagers generally have good intentions, but the message they end up sending is “I don’t trust you” at best or “I think you’re incompetent” at worst.

People enjoy a bit of autonomy in how they do their jobs, and they are much more inclined to feel energised and motivated if they’ve got the support of a leader who is telling them, “I know you’ve got this.”

No Clear Path to Progression

One of the biggest demotivators in any organisation is when individuals feel they can never advance from their current position. People with the potential to climb Everest are not going to be satisfied climbing Ingleborough over and over again. It is in our nature to want to move forward. Humans seek new challenges, and facing a new challenge can be refreshing and exciting.

Even if there are no current positions available for advancement, leaders can still invest in their people with training programmes to equip them with new skills. If you make people feel that you’re thinking about their future just as much as they are, then they’ll push harder to achieve for you, rather than peruse the job ads so they can achieve for somebody else.

The post 7 Reasons Your People Are Demotivated appeared first on Robin Lines Associates.

Overworking leads to stress and physical exhaustion. When you are running yourself ragged on a job, it is not an example of hard work; you are paying the price for mistakes. It could be you have not prioritised your time correctly. Perhaps you underestimated how long the project could take? Whatever the reason, you need to ensure the cycle does not repeat.

A burned-out individual is less creative, less responsive and less enthusiastic. One of the major issues with overworking is that an individual is unable to focus due to fatigue. In turn, they begin to procrastinate and fall farther behind. Soon, they need to push themselves even harder to get the project over the line. How likely is it that they will do a good job?
 

It’s Vital Not to Lead People to Exhaustion

If you are a leader, then it is vital that you understand how pushing yourself too far can have a negative impact because you have a greater responsibility to your people. Burning out your employees is a sure-fire way to lose loyalty, and to impact the productivity of your department or even the company. While some people will relish the occasional hard push to finish a project, you need to avoid developing a culture of high pressure. People will start to leave.

There are several steps you can take to reduce overworking. As we have previously examined, efficient time management and the use of techniques such as Pomodoro allows you to prioritise both tasks and breaks better. Even a few minutes of quiet on a hectic day can re-energise a person.
 

Manage Your Routines

Routines, in general, can help you with organising your day. Starting in the home, you should ensure you are allowing yourself adequate time to relax and sleep. Keep in mind that being overtired has the same effect on your brain as alcohol, and few people would recommend alcohol as a productivity booster! With that in mind, remember that while a drink can be relaxing, alcohol also has a negative impact on the quality of your sleep. If you are heading into a busy week, it is best to stick to soft drinks and set aside the scotch for when you are finished.

Try and avoid taking work home with you and try to make sure your people do not feel obliged to do so. Ensure that when you are out of the office, you have leisure activities to keep your mind off work. A gym membership, a creative outlet or even shooting aliens in a video game can all give your brain a chance to unwind and reboot. We have previously written an article on keeping your work and home life separate that you may find useful.

Above all, learn. Whenever you hit a period of intense work, ask yourself, how did this happen, and could it be avoided? Have you not been keeping your calendar up-to-date? Did you forget to allot rest-days? Have you been sinking time into tasks that could wait? There could be any number of reasons, so it is important you take the time to evaluate what went wrong and how you could fix it for the future.

The post Burning Out Won’t Increase Productivity appeared first on Robin Lines Associates.

These days it can feel as if you’re always in the office. With cell phones pinging notifications about texts and emails no matter where you are, you’re always within reach. The urge to respond to that email from a client or that inquiry about a project can be too great. However, you should never neglect your important private time.
 

Work Smarter

One of the simplest ways to maximise your family life is to maximise your working hours. Make sure you take time to plan each day and make good use of calendar apps to remind yourself of important dates.

It’s also a good idea to learn what shortcuts you can take to make work-life flow easier. For example, spending some time to create templates for Word documents or PowerPoints might seem like a huge time sink now, but it’ll save your hundreds of hours in the future.
 

Don’t Bring Work Home

Sometimes a project unavoidably requires more time. You should, however, avoid bringing work home as much as you can. Turning your home into another office space prevents you from ever truly settling. Bringing projects home can also be habit-forming. You want to avoid getting into the routine of clocking off from one office only to enter another.

If you find you’re constantly bringing work home, then you might benefit from using the Time Management Matrix to better prioritise your tasks.

Leave Work Worries at Work

You should aim to make your home a work-free zone and that includes worries and stress caused by work. It’s common for people to ask their partner’s “How was your day?” but try and limit such conversations to a simple “Not bad” or “Fine”.

The reason for this is if you get home and begin letting off steam about the client that irritated you today, or the computer programme that crashed three times, that anger and irritation will play on your mind and cause disruptions to enjoyable socialising or family time.
 

Set Clear Boundaries

Freelancers and small business owners especially often have difficulties with setting boundaries. You want to be reachable by your clients so as not to lose business. However, being ‘too available’ can result in you writing emails when you wanted to spend time with the kids.

You might want to consider setting an Out of Office note on your email letting a client know when they’re likely to receive a reply. Redirect work calls to voicemail with a message indicating your working hours. Try and keep to this as much as possible. It’s not rude, it’s expected.
 

Make the Most of Your Home Life

When you’re at home, make sure you’ve always got something to keep your mind away from work. Whether it’s a hobby, blasting aliens in a video game, binge-watching the new season of Orange is the New Black on Netflix or spending thirty minutes on a treadmill.

The more active you can keep your mind at home, the less inclined you’ll be to check your voicemail or email, and the easier it will be to set boundaries and separate your two lives.

Make non-work plans and stick to them. Even an “I’m going to play my next six games on Football Manager” is a better plan than “I’ve not got a lot to do, let’s check my phone.”

The post Separating Work and Family Life appeared first on Robin Lines Associates.

Estimates suggest that one in four adults are affected by mental health disorders at some point in their life. For some, these will be brief episodes perhaps brought on by stressful circumstances. Others, however, can slip into a cycle of problems that may include frequent bouts of depression or anxiety. Without help, this can cause significant long-term problems.
 

People May Not Speak Up

People are often afraid to approach their managers or HR to discuss mental health concerns. They believe that doing so will cause more issues for them. Perhaps they fear that they will be overlooked for promotion or mocked in private by others? Some people are just afraid of appearing vulnerable or have grown up in an environment where the severity of mental health problems was unrecognised or dismissed.

Whatever the reason, spotting the signs of poor mental health is something all leaders should endeavour to do. Of course, we are not medical professionals, but as with my guide to stress, there are telltale signs that something may be amiss.
 

Frequent Short-Term Absences

One possible indicator is when a person takes frequent sick days, often only for a day or two at a time. Individuals who suffer from depression often find it difficult to face the day in front of them. Working and socialising can become trying tasks and even calling in sick can be draining. Very few people will cite depression or another mental health problem as the reason for their absence. They will instead complain about a short-term stomach bug or cold.

If you notice one of your people is starting to take many sick days, this may be a sign that they have an underlying mental health condition.
 

Snapping at Colleagues or Withdrawing

If one of your people has suddenly become aggressive in the workplace, this may be a sign of a mental health problem. People suffering from stress are often easy to agitate or anger, and this may manifest in sharp outbursts at others. Most people have a bad day and exchange words which they later regret but regular ‘bad days’ are a possible indicator that something is wrong.

Similarly, someone who withdraws from others may be having trouble. If one of your people has stopped talking with colleagues and appears disinterested or bored, this too can be an indicator that there may be an issue. A change in person’s sense of humour or noticeable change in their manner of speech are also things to watch.
 

Always Tired

I discussed the importance of sleep in my previous article. Both insomnia and hypersomnia are associated with many mental health conditions as both a possible cause and a symptom. Frequent signs of fatigue may be indicative of other underlying problems. An additional consideration is when people are regularly tired and have made less effort with their appearance. When coupled with fatigue, a change in patterns of dress or personal grooming can be symptomatic of mental health problems.

Consistently being late for work or staying later to catch-up is often an issue for people who are having difficulties getting quality sleep.
 

Lower Standards of Work

Sadly, it is often the one we notice first, but it is still a good thing to catch. If one of your people has become less productive or is working below their usual standard, this could be because they have a mental health problem. Coupled with fatigue, a tendency to daydream or appear bored can result in lower quality work.
 

The Next Step

You cannot assume that because one person fits any, or all, of the above that they have a mental health problem. However, it should be enough to raise some concerns. You should not ask outright whether they have a problem as it may appear confrontational and cause them to shut down. You should, however, talk to them.

The best approach is to speak with them privately and enquire in a relaxed, friendly tone how they are finding work right now. If a person’s performance has slipped or you have noticed they have been increasingly irritable, you may want to ask whether everything is okay outside of work. Do respect their privacy and their right to a personal life, however.

This conversation may not yield instant results, but it will sew the seeds that you are approachable, and you care. Make sure that all of your people know that they can talk to you if they have any issues or concerns and that you value their contributions. If a person’s quality of work has suffered, ensure that you praise all work to a good standard appropriately.
 

Taking Time Off

If someone needs to take time off work, then try to remain in contact with them. Speak to them on the phone once or twice a week and remind them that they are missed. Similarly, talk to them with the expectation that they will return. It cannot be understated just how much good you can do for someone who is suffering if you make them feel valued. Depression, in particular, can cause profound feelings of worthlessness in an individual. You want to make sure that you help your people fight that belief.

Do remember, even if you have no reason to suspect any of your people are struggling to cope with mental health problems, there is no harm in being forthcoming with praise and reward for good work.
 

Further Reading

Mental health charity Mind has produced this detailed document about managing mental health problems in the workplace.

The post Spotting Mental Health Problems in the Workplace appeared first on Robin Lines Associates.