Listen
Remember Quiet Quitting? The idea of doing the absolute bare minimum to keep your job. Well, employers are catching on, and doing “quiet cutting.”
Fernanda Anzek is managing director of HR operations for Kingwood-based management consulting company Insperity. She joined Houston Matters on Tuesday to discuss what it is.
“Quiet cutting is the idea that an employer would reassign an employee to different areas of the company in order to move them, in order to avoid having to terminate,” Anzek said. “So the idea of moving them somewhere where they’re unhappy and therefore they will quit. Ultimately, potentially avoiding some fees that could come along, whether it’s severance payment, unemployment, things that they will have to pay.”
The term may be new, but the practice is not, Anzek said. She said it wasn’t a response to quiet quitting, but rather a response to changes in how people work.
“All of a sudden there’s remote work, hybrid work,” she said. “I think it just really changed the workplace overall.”
Anzek said the targets can vary based on employers. But those who are challenged the most are underperformers or those who are not driving as much revenue during challenging times.
Anzek said she does not advise quiet cutting and it has lots of risks.
“I think there is a way to reassign individuals and to keep quality valued employees that you have if you can’t keep them in their current roles,” she said. “…I think there are tons of risks that could be associated with retaliation.”
She gave an example: if an employee in the past complained and they are now being transitioned to a different area, they could conclude that their employer is quiet cutting.
“Putting someone into a position where they’re going to be miserable, it doesn’t help the company grow and it drives good employees away,” she said. “There’s many better ways to handle having to do business workforce reductions.”
It also risks driving morale down in the workforce, she added. So why would they do it?
“It’s really not knowing what to do next,” she said. “It’s coming from a place of uncertainty from a financial perspective and making sure that they’re taking care of their business.”
If a company finds themselves having to terminate an employee, Anzek said to consult with legal support or an HR professional.
“Understand what states you’re operating in, what legislation is in those states, what I need to do?”
