Recently, a new trend has emerged in Indian workplaces known as quiet firing or silent firing. In 2023, around 20,000 IT/ITES professionals in India lost their jobs through these silent layoffs. This method is increasingly being used to replace employees with AI. Unlike traditional firing, where an employee is directly told to leave, quiet firing involves making the work environment so challenging and unpleasant that the employee feels they have no choice but to quit on their own. Understanding what quiet firing is and recognizing its signs can help you protect your career and well-being.
What Is Quiet Firing?
Instead of directly telling you to leave, employers use subtle tactics to make you fade out, thus avoiding any confrontation or accountability. Managers use this approach to break down employees' motivation by making their jobs less fulfilling, taking them off projects, and downsizing their roles.
I remember a particular incident not so long ago where I witnessed the same in one of my previous workplaces. The company created challenging KRAs and deadlines for the team, making it impossible to meet the goals or derive any motivation. A lot of the people in my team felt clueless about a lot of changes happening where many were taken off routine tasks with no further explanation or given unattainable workloads within shorter deadlines. It soon became a no-brainer to me that these passive-aggressive tactics employed were to push employees to quit without any direct confrontation or termination. Little did I understand that this was a common workplace practice, and in recent times, with the advancement of AI and technology, a lot of organizations are adopting AI and looking to reduce human dependencies and labour costs.
How is Quiet Firing Different from Quiet Quitting?
Worker disengagement or dissatisfaction are not new trends; quiet quitting had gained significant traction in 2022, when there was a growing trend of quiet quitters. Quiet quitting is an employee's way of disengaging from extra work due to dissatisfaction or burnout, while quiet firing is an employer's strategy to indirectly push an employee to leave. Quiet quitting is often seen as a manager’s failure to create an engaging and healthy environment for their teams to work and thrive.
Given the increasing debates on work-life balance and toxic bosses, a lot of millennials and generation Z are setting boundaries and quitting toxic cultures. Employees now no longer see work as just a means to an end but rather work to thrive professionally and personally. They seek purpose and work-life balance and may feel a widening gap when their goals are not aligned with the company or when they feel their expectations are unmet despite their performance.
How to Recognize Quiet Firing
It is important to recognize the subtle techniques used by your supervisors to push you to quit so that you can tell the difference between constructive criticism and scope of improvement.
Changes in Responsibilities: This is one of the classic signs to look out for. Key tasks or projects are reassigned to others or decrease in your workload, reducing your role's significance.
Lack of Communication: Your manager becomes unresponsive, cancels meetings, or avoids discussions about your career growth, or you are often met with vague answers or excuses every time you bring up the discussion on your learning curve.
No Raises or Promotions: You are consistently passed over for raises or promotions without valid reasons.
Negative Feedback: You receive harsh or highly critical feedback often that seems disproportionate to your performance. There is little to no room for constructive feedback aligned to your growth or performance.
Unhealthy Work Conditions: Your working conditions continue to be unsupportive and negative, alienating you from your work and pushing you to disengage further. There is little to no room to feel motivated or engaged.
If you notice these signs, it might be helpful to document your experiences and consider discussing your concerns with HR or seeking further help.
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