Tag: Quiet Quitting

In a South African context, ‘dignity’ is a word that is often supercharged, laden with meaning and emotion. Given our dark history where apartheid stripped whole groups of people of their dignity – and because of the prevailing gap between rich and poor, with South Africa having the highest Gini coefficient in the world – we not only have to believe in dignity, we must also strive to uphold it across all aspects of society.

The COVID-19 pandemic changed the way we think about work – we’ve had the great resignation, the quiet quitters and those determined to always work from home. But not everyone can afford to quit, what happens to those overwhelmed by a work environment that leaves them feeling defeated or maybe just resigned to putting up with it?

A new workplace trend has emerged, called loud labourers, which will only add pressure to the lives of already stressed business managers. In keeping with our mandate to help businesses manage numerous labour-related challenges, from legislation to post-COVID-19 trends such as quiet quitters, we are drawing attention to loud labourers – a term used to describe workers who ‘talk the talk, but barely walk the walk’.

It’s fair to say that in human resources (HR) circles there is something of a panic around talent. Between “quiet quitting”, the great resignation, and the general disruption to the workplace caused by COVID-19, HR practitioners find themselves grappling with how to attract, develop and retain talent, and there is much handwringing about the so-called talent shortage.

The contentious issue of quiet quitting in the workplace or putting in minimal effort to avoid termination is considered by some to be a logical repercussion of COVID-19. But businesses are under extraordinary pressure of the Great Resignation trend, local talent moving abroad for better opportunities and a general shortage of skills.

Amidst the disruptive changes brought on by industry 4.0, the past two years has seen the world being faced with the worst global pandemic in just over a century - plunging both individuals and organisations into a state of chaos, uncertainty and instability whilst radically reshaping life as we knew it.