The Washington Post gets us up to speed today on the latest meme/vibe/tiktok taking over the business world. It's called "quiet quittting":
Kathy Kacher, founder of Career/Life Alliance Services, said that “quiet quitting” is a new term for an old concept: employee disengagement.
But it’s arriving in a moment of “unprecedented burnout,” Kacher said. It’s coming in on the heels of the “Great Resignation,” which saw an average of nearly 4 million employees leave their jobs each month in 2021 amid clashes over flexibility and a widespread reevaluation of how work should fit into their lives.
And it’s also gaining steam at a moment of peak tension between managers and employees, as many companies prepare for another push to bring workers back to offices.
For some workers, office mandates aren’t just a pain. They’re harmful. “If some one is giving their best in 40 hours and then want to spend rest of time for living isn’t terming/labeling that behavior quiet quitting derogatory?” a HomeAway employee asked earlier this week on Blind, an anonymous corporate messaging board.
Consider what we've been told—and what we haven't:
- Quiet quitting is just a new term for an old idea.
- We are in a moment of unprecedented burnout.
- We are also at a moment of peak tension between workers and managers.
- Workers are reevaluating how work should fit into their lives.
- Quiet quitting means working your 40 hours a week and then going home.
Absolutely no evidence is provided for any of the claims about burnout, tension, or reevaluating work. None. But here's some:
God knows there was an uptick in general unhappiness during the pandemic. It would be remarkable if there hadn't been. But stress on the job seems to have gone up only a bit, and even at that only to the level it was at for most of the aughts. So where did "quiet quitting" come from?
As near as I can tell from the article, last month a TikTok user named zaidleppelin invented the term in a banal 17-second video that told people there's more to life than work. For some reason this bit of threadbare advice has gotten 3 million views and this is enough for people who should know better to go gaga over the claim that Millennials and Gen Zs are widely unhappy with their work/life balance.
And maybe they are. So were boomers, who made "work/life balance" practically a mantra in the '70s. Gen Xers did the same in the '90s, and now Millennials are doing it. Welcome to the workplace, folks.
So about this draught. What about we build some desalination plants? How expensive are they? How long does it take to come online? Are there charts to help us?
Drought.
Although draughts of sea water will make you feel a drought.
Desalination is massively expensive, energy intensive and has the issues of for sea water of hyper-saline waste water. Cost per cubic meter will vary according to specific technology, energy costs and input water salinity, but is on order of USD 1 per cubic meter with, if not drawing on purely nuclear or solar/wind or combination of those non-carbon emitting sources will generate roughly 1kg CO2 emission per cubic meter.
Desalination of saline terresterial waters, less saline than sea waters can be more economical, less carbon intensive (assuming not pure carbon free energy input).
In short, desalination for at scale usage (versus human drinking water) is massively expensive.
Thanks for this! Now do the "2,000 mile long pipelines from wherever it rained a lot lately out to drought-stricken areas" idea. This one keeps coming up from our creative, yet innumerate fellow Americans.
Those folks in damp America are not going to be happy about shipping water to Arizona so that folks can grow cotton or water their lawn.
I don't think that's true. First, the water sent to a dry state will not come at the expense of those who live in wet states. Second, the water won't be given away. It will be sold.
What's better than selling a product you have so much of you don't need it, and if not sold it will just be lost.
It's a win win the way I look at it.
The Colonial pipeline is 5500 miles long and delivers 3 million barrels (126 million gallons, 387 acre feet) a day.
The state buying the water will be the one building the pipeline and treating the water. Yes that will cost money, but this technology already exists, so it's only the will to do it and the money to make it happen.
I can't see much in the way of protest for a water pipeline. The potential for damage is quite small. That's my view.
Look at the complaints here, for a pipeline/canal that is WITHIN a single state (so without even bringing in cross-state animosity).
https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2022-07-27/california-releases-plan-for-shrinking-delta-water-project-from-two-tunnels-to-one
I live on the Sacramento River. These tunnels will send water more water to S. CA. Water that is needed to maintain the health of the Delta. This is not excess water.
I am talking about areas where there are very large rivers that are in no way used to their max. Think the Colombia River.
The plan for the Delta tunnels is to bury it, resulting in mountains of soil dug up in the Delta that will further damage the delicate balance.
Do you have family in Waukesha County?
Cause that water from Lake Michigan that Oak Creek is supplying them ain't coming back to Lake Michigan.
I thought Milwaukee stepped in to replace Oak Creek? I read somewhere they were halfway done with the infrastructure
You are correct that desalination will, for the foreseeable future, remain too expensive for agricultural and many industrial purposes.
Hyper-saline waste water is only a significant problem if it is dumped some place that has limited water exchange with the open ocean. The preference would be for the brine waste pipes to run well out to sea and then divide, so that the brine is deposited in small quantities at multiple locations rather than in large quantity in one place, preferably in locations where there is a fairly strong current to speed dilution.
Saudi Arabia has also begun an experiment using ion exchange techniques to extract lithium from desalination brine. They expect the process to be price competitive with mining, and if it works it means an effectively infinite supply of lithium. There may be opportunities with respect to other water soluble mineral compounds as well.
Read this first in The Post, then here earlier & finally decided not to o say everything that came to mind. However, it did remind me of working for a large corporation that chose to give a book to its employees that was intended to help the older ones "understand" that the younger generation required the reason for the assigned tasks, because they needed to be on board with it, or some such explanation. It wasn't as though the more senior staff were mindlessly following illegal or immoral orders, or would have, & it felt needlessly insulting to all.
Personally, I like knowing the rationale behind the tasks I'm asked to do. It definitely makes me more engaged, and it also provides the opportunity to suggest better ways of doing things. It doesn't (usually) have anything to do with values or anything like that. You didn't like the implication that you were working mindlessly (which I doubt was the actual implication), so why do you think the workers below you want to work mindlessly?
That wasn't the issue; putting generations against each other was.
Just as some of us without young children were expected to work late because we had "free" time - & didn't need to pick up children from daycare in the next county to avoid late fees. Then there were those whose computer expertise was so limited that a young manager who was inserting various documents in one Excel spreadsheet instead of creating a slideshow presentation had to be helped out at the last minute - more than you'd think got through the hiring process of a sizable telecommunications company. When some are observed repeatedly using questions to not proceed with work, it seems like an excuse.
And most of us knew from education, commonsense, & experience why each aspect of our work was necessary- we didn't act helpless, but came prepared - & willing to help when needed, but not needing to do or redo others' work frequently.
Some people's diplomas make others really wonder.
Each new age cohort has to rediscover the same thing the prior age cohorts did and then some lazy journos, both innumerate and not bothering to do some historical reading, blither on as if this here a great new insight (or new development).
Of course, journalism about broad new social developments seems to be invariably based on the typical journalistic playbook of "talk to some unrepresentative cohort of handful to tens of persons I happen to have contacts in, draw large unfounded conclusions from said cohort by extrapolating from them with zero sense of actual data nor proper statistics." (same said rubbish analytical habits lead to utter shite as science reporting)
You know what else repeats itself over and over? As young members of each generation come of age, discovering the intricacies of this world through lived experience, there is inevitably a geriatric scold–himself watching the world he once knew morph into something unrecognizable at breakneck speed–to tell them all this has happened before and that their newfound wisdom is actually meaningless in the grand scheme. He finds a sense of meaning and purpose for his own existence in extinguishing what little sense of wonder remains in the young folk, like his elders had done to him 15-25 years prior.
Thank you all; the cycle continues.
The Cycle of Life.
Of course "sense of wonder" is a silly and stupid romanticism for naiveté and cover for entitled whinging on about life and work worked up by liesure classes.
Today we are all cats in the cradle.
watching the world he once knew morph into something unrecognizable at breakneck speed–to tell them all this has happened before and that their newfound wisdom is actually meaningless in the grand scheme.
Ergo, wisdom.
By the way, losing one's sense of wonder is totally your own responsibility. No one takes it from you.
“Ergo, wisdom”
quite the cycle, eh? sorry you’re old btw.
And you will be too someday and you'll look back and say "SOB, the that fellow was right all along."
Not everyone forgets their youth, & no one should be labeled a "geriatric scold" for legitimate concerns & abuses. Some felt entitled; some do not.
In this Ohio diner, a quiet quit has always meant the climax of the Who's Tommy, not employee disengagement among the kitchen & wait staff, but they do know this: if millennials & zoomers are experiencing occupational ennui, it's a result of overly intrusive labor policy implemented by avowed communist joebiden.
It's always nice to have some rock opera to go with the rock lobster special.
I’d go with the sauerkraut balls.
No thanks; I would prefer not to.
😂
Meh
If jobs were hard to find this would not be a "thing"
There are too many jobs and not enough bodies to fill them so yeah, quiet quit, abruptly leave, just don't show up,
Just go to the new job without a care in the world.
That has nothing to do with the concept.
The media isn't very good at reporting on these soft real life issues. It's impossible for them to discern real trends in work place habits.
The content beast must be fed. And all we got is leftovers. What's next, rebranding homework as Post School Day Labor?
Will someone please, please, please find other work for all these legacy grads that are destroying newsrooms across the country with their rehashed pablum?
"What happened to summer?" Schools starting before labor day....in 3...2...1...
School always started for me before Labor Day. & my kindergarten year was 1985-86.
School starts, at least, are definitely not a recent change.
Jesus Christos, my HS graduation was '87...
I have you beat by 20 years. Graduated in '67. And, yes, I'm a boomer, retired after a 40 year career. And, I did see change move at an incredible pace. I was in the health care field. It was not recognizable from 1973 to 2013.
So you're part of that upstart boomer-rang generation....
😉
Maybe since 1985. Go back to the 1950's. School always started after Labor Day. That's an actual thing.
+1 doctor smoking in the operating room
The TPS reports need to be filed.
Kevin wrote: "𝘚𝘰 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘴, 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦 "𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬/𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦" 𝘱𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘢 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘢 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 '70𝘴."
Those aren't the '70s I remember. I recall women being told they could "have it all" and Apple employees wearing t-shirts that proclaimed the wearer was "working 80 hours a week and loving it."
The Boomers find identity in their vocations. Many have no identity at all outside their work.
80 hour weeks?
No wonder everyone was doing... COCAINE!!!
Nah, everyone was doing cocaine to be more like yours truly.
Yeah, I've got a bunch of retired boomer relatives that have like zero hobbies or interests. My mother-in-law, who never really had a fulltime job (she rented out apartments in a multi-family she bought in the 70's) but always had hobbies - reading, gardening, cooking, etc. She is living a good life. The others may die of boredom. And I don't say that in jest as it does worry me quite a bit.
There are a few workaholics in every age group. Having been born in 1955, I do not recognize myself or any of my age group in your claim that "Boomers find identity in their vocations".
After writing about the Millennial Hustle for so long, reporters needed the pendulum to swing the other way. Since Gen Y hasn't actually decided to become 21st century hippies, they had to give something normal an extreme moniker. No one would click on an article titled "Gen Y focused on work/life balance."
Part of this may also be the adjustment to a lot of remote work. Office culture does include a lot of non-work time (chit-chatting, going out for lunch) and work friendships, which can cause people to spend a bit more time in the office than they are specifically required to. Of course they knew exactly when they arrived and when they left work, giving them a very clear view of how much time they spent there. With remote work it's easy to see your work life almost completely bleed into your personal life, and since you are not socializing with coworkers, it all feels like a grind. People are realizing that and deciding to be more mindful about how they are spending their time. I'd be surprised if the actual time spent working is all that different. It's just that people are paying more attention to what they are doing when.
That's my beef with work from home: unless I am running my own business, as my father did, I shouldn't be required to provide my own office.
Give me an openfloorplan space in a renovated autoparts factory, as when I changed jobs in March 2016, over a laptop & Zoom in my living room.
Gen Z aren't hippies though. At least not the ones I know. They want the trappings of a career, but don't really want to start from the bottom. I am doing web dev work now for a client because half their 20-something internal team spends more time in various affinity groups than producing.
My partner reports with some indignation about the twenty-somethings on Twitter (she's a journo) who expect to be homeowners before they are thirty. And not 1-bath 2-bed constructions either, oh no; they want -- demand -- wraparound decks and the list only gets more extravagant from there.
Remember when the ranks of journalists were drawn from the putative working-class?
They're in for some serious disappointment.
To be fair, those are the homes they grew up in with their El Rushbo listening moms n' dads in Whiteflightia.
At my job the following has/is happening.
Year 1: Covid.
Year 2: Complete chaos, for reasons I won't go into. Basically, no management, and our staff was doubled.
Year 3: A complete rebuild from a new manager. Everything, and I mean everything, is changing. By this time next year, all that will remain is, maybe, my chair and, hopefully, not the person sitting in it.
And these are not trivial changes. It's the equivalent of taking a tank division, converting it to infantry, with no training, new supply lines, new leadership, new side arms, new everything and all on the whims of the new commander.
That doesn't do the change justice but it's what I came up with.
I can't imagine this level of change over years and we're going to be doing it in months and probably weeks in some cases.
I'm exhausted. During this chaos I completed several major projects and was punished for it. I was given a choice of a job I don't want, more responsibility or working for someone I don't respect. In neither case, was more pay an option, a new title, or anything on the table, although that deal had been made, it just wasn't kept.
I, for one, am quietly quitting.
So, you work for the Bears?
Any organization stuck in a "rebuilding" mode forever is not a fun place to be. Maintaining networking contacts so you can find a way out is hard, especially with Covid. Depending on where you work with the advent of NDA's, it can be even harder to leave a job today and find a comparable one. Housing prices can lock people in as well.
I hope your situation improves.
It's just realizing that you are not obligated to work beyond your contract. French know this in their bones, most government workers also work like this. Honestly that's how it should be.
By the time I quit my previous job, I had begun to long for a 40 hour a week thing. What I did back then was inherently 24x7 (sysadmin), but even by then, thanks to ubiquitous cell phones and email, NO job ever ended at "quitting time" ( now-fictional concept referring to when the business closed for the day). Everybody was "on call" forever -- and got no extra pay for doing it.
Most articles about new social trends are absolute nonsense. Especially articles about social trends involving work or the young generation.
Halfwit gun nut loses control of his gun in his pants in Walmart, gropes for it, shoots himself and three other people,
https://www.rawstory.com/walmart-shopper-accidentally-shoots-himself-and-three-other-people-with-a-single-bullet/
Where's my protection from this fuckwad?
Somehow, I doubt that this article will be repeated in "The American Rifleman" or whatever rags the NRA is publishing lately...
These idiots keep ratcheting up my standard of ‘reasonable gun control legislation’. Now it’s just short of *confiscate ‘em - all of ‘em*
That is my standard.
Confiscate them all, destroy them, start over.
I think the long-term phenomenon these different terms aee refering to (and I agree them are the same thing with a new name every few years), is that many new grads (and this is a university degree requiring job thing) start their first job with high enthusiasm and expectations.butfor most their expecations are not met. There are only a few high fliers in any organization and they usually get pick quickly and often somewhat randomly (good luck with a first assignment or boss). Everyone else then gets disappointed and disillusioned (to some degree) and starts just putting in time or looking for a different job.. Of course, in better organizations and better economic times this disillusion is much less.
Trying to find a particularly great picture of Ron deSantis I happened upon this picture of this guy,
https://www.tapology.com/fightcenter/fighters/295353-giacomo-de-santis
Somebody seemingly unrelated, but who might be Don, Jr's twin separated at birth.
None of the Trump children really look much alike, do they?
"gaining steam at a moment of peak tension between managers and employees"
I see someone is well-versed in the history of American labor strife, with particular attention paid to the late 19th C...
Somebody has probably already said this, but it seems like the real story is that Jeff Bezos picked up on this anti-worker idea and ran with it.
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