The world of work is in a tumult. First, we had the COVID and lockdowns. That was traumatic for some and a time to think for others.

From there we had the Great Resignation. Given the time to reflect on their jobs, on their lives, on their aspirations, and on their physical and mental wellbeing, lots of people decided that the work that they were doing wasn’t fulfilling and wasn’t meaningful and didn’t pay enough to make it worthwhile.

So, they quit. Some of the ones who are a bit more financial are still out of the workforce and others have found a job that suit them better.

As you’d expect, many of the people who took the chance to quit during the Great Resignation were aged 50-plus. These were people with sufficient savings to be able to make such a life changing decision.

For many people still stuck in jobs where they feel unrewarded and under-appreciated, now comes the next iteration of the life / work rebalance – quiet quitting.

In this report from CNBC, we find out that quiet quitting is a type of passive resistance to the overwhelming intrusion that many people feel their jobs – and their employers – are placing on them.

The idea is that we do what we’re required to do as far as our work during our set work hours, but no more. No more late-night emails, working unpaid overtime, and it seems to be affecting people across the different generations, Gen Z, Gen Y, Millennials and Baby Boomers.

The nearest comparison is maybe ‘work-to-rule’ campaigns that unions – back in the days when there were strong unions – would enforce in support of pay and conditions improvements.

As if to exemplify the kind of attitude that quiet quitters are rebelling against, on queue ‘cartoon badie’ Kevin O’Leary from the US Dragon’s Den pops up in the CNBC story to say that anyone who even thinks about quiet quitting ‘ain’t’ working for him. My boy’s intuition tells me the feeling is probably mutual.

For anyone who doubts the power social media, it’s no coincidence that the quiet quitting phenomena spread so quickly through the medium of TikTok. Quiet quitting is the very epitome of an idea going ‘viral.’ Zaid Khan posted his original post in July, and by September his message has travelled around the world and made it as a story on major US news networks.

Specific to social media, just how important was it that Zaid posted a video on TikTok rather than a written message on Facebook? It’s a s though Facebook is old fashioned and TikTok is the place to get noticed.

Finally, just how US-centric are the Great Resignation and quiet quitting? Certainly, they’re much less of a ‘thing’ in Europe where the work / life balance culture is much stronger, supported by employment laws which are much more favourable to employees.

On reflection, maybe that’s the whole point – staff in the ‘Anglosphere’ want the lifestyle enjoyed by people in continental Europe where they work to live and not the other way around.