Who is to blame for quitting quietly? We are. Here's why (and what to do about it)

The opinions expressed by entrepreneurs contributors are their own.

You've probably heard of silent weaning. If not, it's simple: an employee continues to do their job – there is no real abandonment – ​​but they disengage. They don't give 110%. They don't even give 100%. Their heart is no longer in their work (if it ever was). And so, they don't sit down, they sag. They only do what they have to do.

So what do we do to solve this problem? Clean house? Fire the silent quitters and strike fear into all who remain? Install spyware on their work computers that monitors everything they do? Many will offer this kind of advice. They will give you uncompromising advice on how to get 110% of our staff, which is both unreasonable and logically impossible. This path is a dead end.

By carefully examining how we do things and acting on the flaws we see in them, we can solve the problem of silent quitters once and for all.

Related: 8 Ways to Keep Your Employees From Quietly Letting You Go

Where does quiet surrender come from?

The message to quit smoking quietly spread via social media, in particular, and much has been written about it since then. Many mistakenly view remote and hybrid working as enablers. Workers don't say "hello" in co-workers' glamorous cubicles; they don't get physical visits from their immediate supervisors or pats on the back from well-paid executives. They are leashed longer than before, and now this disaster - a silent but endemic killer - has struck.

On this point, I am skeptical. Time spent in the office does not equate to greater productivity, creativity or innovation. Let's face it: too much traditional office time consists of long lunches, sharing company gossip, zoning out to a desk, and worrying about the next visit to the corner office.

The silent shutdown has not started and its lack of supervision. It's just that people are talking about it now. If anything, that's what's new about all of this: we're finally opening something we haven't been able to discuss at work for many years for fear of being overheard.

Why do people really quit in silence?

Let's try to speak with a random employee in our . Ask a few questions, for example, "Can you describe your company's strategy?" "What are your organization's current goals and KPIs, and how are you contributing to them?" "When was the last time you received an honest update on the overall situation of the company?"

If we get answers that are clear, precise and without hesitation, then congratulations. We probably don't have opacity that drives silent abandon, and that's probably because we're among those who have taken the right steps to ensure our employees are fully engaged - not just with their own tasks, but with the company as a whole.

Silent abandonment results from not doing the right thing to ensure employees can answer questions like the ones above. From the start, people who quietly quit have probably never really been committed to the company or organization they work for. They don't have a voice, don't feel essential, and don't know why what they do is important. They act in a way that seems right.

Quitting quietly is not a . It's a symptom of a disease, and the cure isn't to shame silent quitters or bring them back to the office so they can quietly quit right in front of us without mentioning it again. . If forced, once back in the building, employees will start looking for exits in favor of finding another job where they can be free and make their own choices, like the adults they are.

All of us, managers and leaders, should look in the mirror, take stock of how we do things, and see what flaws we can iron out. Let's find where we're losing the people we've hired and see what we can do to fix that. Here fi...