Rethinking Getting What You Pay For (AKA Quiet Quitting)
Sometimes it is important to rethink the way we are measured, how we measure others and how we measure ourselves. There is a value that can emerge that is not rooted in money. That can change over time as we grow as develop. This is similar to how laws that were applicable yesterday and not applicable today. The same can be said for where we spend our time.
During the reign of King Henry III in 13th century England, a strict law was passed that punished bakers for selling bread below a standard weight and size and overcharging for it. This law was the birth of a baker’s dozen. The law scared bakers to the point that they began delivering 13 units when only 12 were ordered.
Before the COVID pandemic, the standard was to stay after work hours or even come in early. This standard had been growing for some time, especially among salaried individuals. Like the baker’s dozen, employers were getting extra time for the same pay. Employees were missing out on vacation days, working on paid time off, and working twelve hours over a weekend has become so commonplace that it became the expectation for the same amount of money.
New expectations and adaptability were needed when the pandemic struck the corporate world. Some of the workforces retired, adding more strain to those that remained. However, the adaptation that many underwent involved remote working. This awakened a more profound acknowledgment of the value of life outside of work. Now that there is a push to return to the office, many individuals aren’t willing to give up the time as they had in the past so they can maintain that new work-life balance.
To be clear, Quiet Quitting is getting the time agreed to when hiring an individual. Those being cited as Quiet Quitting aren’t doing their job poorly. They simply come in at the start of the day at 8 am, take a lunch break, and leave at 5 pm without working on the weekend, on holidays, or during paid time off. Those that do a poor job or waste a great deal of time are a separate issue.
Fortunately, many businesses see this trend with Quiet Quitting and ask how they can change their culture. They are not focusing on how they are ‘losing’ and blaming people for doing what was agreed upon when they started. They are innovating internally so that their teams can innovate externally, which is where the profitability resides. They can take a step back, embrace the only constant changes, and want to move forward with an engaged workforce.
Here are three thoughts for those willing to open up to some creative methods to accomplish a shift in the workforce dynamics.
1. LESS IS MORE
If someone cannot complete everything assigned to them in 40 hours, they have too many things going on at once. This is a plague of too many companies. The issue starts at the very top with poorly defined priorities. Those poor priorities are then passed along a chain of command with missed pieces, misunderstandings, and deliberate omissions.
TASK 1: Set out the top three priorities for the company and the expected result for each. Example: “We will capture 15% of the US market in commercial thermostats and 5% of residental in the next three years, resulting in $X.”
TASK 2: Have the CEO, or at minimum, a direct report of the CEO, speak to each individual personally in the company. The leader's job is to communicate the three priorities in person and then explain, at least by role, how they are expected to help deliver each of the priorities—the more specific the language to the individual, the better.
TASK 3: On the front of a piece of paper, write the priorities. This is going to be posted in open spaces that everyone can see. On the backside of the paper, write how the individual person can effectively help move the priorities along. This will need the help of managers, but that is the point. It makes sure that they are all focused on what is essential.
Doing these steps will naturally make a lot of the busy, but unproductive, work stop. That will also create a more engaged team.
2. TRANSFORM TEAMS INTO ENSEMBLES
Teams aren’t bad, but they do set up unintended mindsets that create secondary motives. When those motives distract from the priorities, everyone loses. Ensembles, on the other hand, understand that their main job is ensuring everyone succeeds. They do this because they know that everyone else is looking to ensure they succeed. If you are willing to embrace the idea that work only happens between 8 am and 5 pm, you are starting to look for others to succeed outside of work. That will pay dividends at work.
TASK 1: Conduct authentic Voice of Customer. Have at least six individuals from various departments involved in this process. Remember that what you seek is the customer’s value, not yours.
TASK 2: Establish three criteria that you have verified with at least 12 customers that are a valued need. You aim to devise big, crazy, outlandish ideas to find a solution to the value need. Bring at least 20 individuals plus customers (when possible) to ideate together.
TASK 3: Make the session as fun as possible with no idea being outright rejected and plenty of laughter. Have the massive group do a blind vote on the ideas they want to see move forward.
Following these steps will naturally form ensembles. Even when an individual’s idea is not advanced, they still contribute to the session. It is a natural way to get people engaged and wanting to work on projects. The engagement also makes projects go faster.
3. DRIVE MINIMAL VIABLE SOLUTIONS
Ideas need to move quickly, especially if they have direct input from a customer as an ensemble member. You have to be willing to let go of the usual delays, anxiety, and endless reports that many people generate that do not add value. Your goal is to deliver prototypes like a 20-year-old working in a garage would.
TASK 1: After the ideation session, set up with customers regular update meetings for the next six to eight months. When we have to deliver progress to customers who already value the idea regularly, management tends to be very supportive.
TASK 2: Define a core team of five individuals and seven extended members that volunteer to take on the project. These individuals should be coming from the ideation. Volunteering is vital to keep the engagement up. As projects begin to be accomplished quickly, others will see this and naturally want to get into other projects too.
TASK 3: Bring a minimally viable solution to the customer. You will need a lot of prototypes and feedback that is constantly measured against the three criteria for the customer before being evaluated against any internal needs. Doing this demonstrates that your company is valuing others’ needs before the company’s needs. You will find that you start moving quickly and profitably with true innovation.
When you are bringing out real value to customers, you will be doing the same for your employees. People want to work on important things that move everyone forward. If your ensembles can only focus on work for set times, they can relax and enjoy more of life. That relaxation allows the brain to relieve more stress and bring out more creativity while at work. These all contribute to bringing more profitability. This is why many companies and countries have seen reducing work to 32 hours a week has a 20 to 40% gain in productivity.
Driving these three significant concepts will reduce the extra busy work that wears people down and consume a great deal of time. When we apply Pareto’s principle, you will start to see that only 20% of people’s time is delivering anything of value currently. These shifts can place you into the 20% of the companies that get more than 80% of the value from their employee's time. This will also equate to you not having to rely on the baker’s dozen approach from your employees.
Plenty of companies and individuals fail to see these Quiet Quitters as a way to gain an advantage in the marketplace. They are the same companies that take too long to adapt and battle a market full of competitors on price over commodities. The inability to value people first often translates into a failure to directly appreciate customers in a meaningful way to bring true innovation.