A recent report highlights a concerning trend in the labor market known as “quiet cracking,” which mirrors the more widely recognized phenomenon of “quiet quitting.” Cory Stahle, a senior economist at Indeed, says these terms tend to describe some serious issues in the labor market. They indicate a growing disengagement among workers. Still, nonprofit organizations have to understand and operate in this new world. Knowing the consequences of disengagement and the cost of inaction is more essential than ever.
This is where quiet cracking occurs, when employees begin to feel overlooked and undervalued by their organizations. This discontent can even lead them to reconsider staying in their current roles. According to Gallup’s chief workplace scientist, Jim Harter, emotional detachment is one of the best predictors of quiet quitting. In this scenario, workers quit on the job without formally quitting. Quiet cracking is especially sinister because of its quietness. It deludes itself, until the friction lays waste to organizational productivity.
The economic toll of disengaged workers is truly astonishing. Gallup’s most recent report from August sheds a jaw-dropping number. The price tag of disengagement in America is upwards of $2 trillion in lost productivity. This fiscal pressure highlights the imperative for leaders to address the underlying causes of disengagement. Unless they address this issue soon, it will grow into more apparent forms of unrest, such as quiet quitting.
Just as important, Stahle points out that the labor market conditions in late 2021 and much of 2022 were equally hospitable. These conditions led to a record number of workers voluntarily quitting their jobs. During the so-called “Great Resignation,” millions of workers chose to quit as they looked for new opportunities that suited their career goals. Stahle points out that the competitive environment was ripe for job-hopping to motivate people to leave. It was about 60% of those working at a different establishment in April 2021-March 2022 that experienced an increase on the order of their real pay since a year earlier.
New data recently released by the Federal Reserve suggest that this trend is starting to reverse. Since February, wage growth for workers who stayed in their jobs has started to grow faster than those that switched jobs. Among this group, only 47% enjoyed wage growth. This indicates that firms have switched their focus towards retaining their current talent rather than bringing on new talent. Political divisions notwithstanding, there’s another force at play—growing economic uncertainty that makes workers increasingly afraid to quit their jobs. That has led to a dramatic drop in hiring in all sectors.
A survey conducted in March, which polled 1,000 employees across industries in the United States, revealed that about 47% of respondents reported feeling rarely or never engaged at work. This statistic represents an alarming call to action for all organizations. Moving forward, leaders need to do more than reactively lift up their employees—especially to address the root causes of quiet quitting.
Contrary to popular imagination, Harter argues that leaders have the ability to design their organizations. It’s this influence that makes quiet quitting quieter and quiet cracking crack less frequently. That employers can identify disengagement before it becomes problematic. In doing so, they will be better positioned to re-engage their workforce and increase job satisfaction across the board. This can take the form of efforts to create a more inclusive workplace culture, strengthen communications, and increase professional development opportunities.
To Frank Giampietro, chief wellbeing officer at EY, quiet cracking and quiet quitting are two sides of the same coin. He doesn’t just make these arguments; he demonstrates their interconnected nature. In other words, organizations need to take a big-picture view of employee engagement that tackles both these trends at once.