What Issues Do Companies Actually Have with Quite Quitting?

Quite quitting has been discussed for a while now with a new generation coming into the workforce. In this video, Matt shares his thoughts on quiet quitting but also the problems with having too many meetings.

There are tons of people out on social media giving business advice. Some of it is good advice, but most of it isn’t good. In this series watch CapForge’s owner react to different advice videos. He’s an expert in all things business and has 20+ years of experience under his belt. Some of the things he reacts to might even surprise you!

Video Transcript: 

Business Advice Video: 

So for 2024 quiet quitting is out and quiet managing is in. I’m here for this. So the very long and short of this Forbes article is that when quiet quitting came out as like this big thing, like oh heaven forbid our employees do the bare minimum of what is expected of them at their job, and then leave work at work and go home for the day, shut off their phone, not check their email on off time, not go above and beyond for zero extra dollars, heaven forbid. All these companies and leaders started to panic, and they’re like “We need to do regular check-ins. We need to check in with our people. We need to have more meetings.” Do we need to have more meetings? Is that what it was? 

Basically, what they did is, they created a new monster. They basically started micro – extra micromanaging people and irritating the crap out of their employees. So employees started pulling back even more so. Not only were people quiet quitting, but then when they freaked out about them quiet quitting they over-micromanaged them and now they’re like loud quitting. I don’t know. So now employees are saying that they want to have more freedom. They want to have more autonomy, more independence, and want to be trusted. Employees are reporting that meetings are the most frustrating interruption in their day. Note to employers, not that any of you are gonna listen, but ditch all of the unnecessary meetings in 2024. They’re saying that once teams are aligned on the same goals and objectives, employees are clearer on their priorities and what the expected outcomes are. And then basically that the bosses know that they’re gonna get things done in a timely manner and they’re gonna do them the right way. This is what will drive business results, they say.

Matt’s Review: 

Okay, I don’t think quiet quitting was people complaining about employees leaving at the end of the day and not keeping their phones on and doing extra work. I think quiet quitting was people getting paid for 8-hour days and putting in one or two hours. I think that was what the quiet quitting issue was, not the expectation that people go above and beyond, and yeah only get paid for just the regular day at work. But I do agree, I mean, I think meetings are a huge time waster and the fewer that you have the better up to the point where not having enough meetings doesn’t mean that everyone is on the same page and you have people going off in the wrong direction and doing the wrong thing. So you wanna have just enough meetings to be productive and not one more. 

And you wanna make sure those meetings are productive, they’re not longer than they need to be, you don’t have people in them that don’t need to be there, you don’t have people talking about stuff in the meeting that could have just been handled by an email. It really should be a collaborative sharing of information in a way that isn’t accomplishable online or by email or with fewer people in the room, that has an objective. Like, we don’t just meet cause it’s Monday, we meet because during this meeting this is the goal that we wanna get to, or this is the information we wanna convey, or these are the questions we wanna ask and get answers to. So make sure your meetings are productive, they’re required, they’re not longer than they need to be, that they don’t just have somebody, you know, up talking because they wanna talk and they want people to listen and they like to hear their own voice. Make sure your meetings have a purpose and accomplish something and if they don’t then cancel them or reschedule them or you know cancel them for that week and then next week we’ll see if we need that next weeks. But you know, cause some companies have a regular morning meeting or an every Monday every Thursday meeting or whatever that doesn’t need to happen except it’s on the calendar. So everyone goes and it kills a lot of time. 

So I agree that meetings are time suck. I don’t agree that quiet quitting was just asking for people do even more than they would normally done. But that was sort of two separate topics in one rant that she had. So hopefully, now they’re both answered.