5 ways to tell you're being Quiet Fired

Bosses are letting their employees go in the most passive way possible.

Bosses are letting their employees go in the most passive way possible.

We’ve all heard of Quiet Quitting. The phenomenon sweeping TikTok where young employees commit to working the bare minimum instead of going above and beyond in their jobs.

Now, we’ve got Quiet Firing, where bosses purposely treat workers badly to get them to quit and avoid directly laying them off.

It’s not a new practice. 

Human Resources leader Jonathon Woolfrey told The Oz Quiet Firing has been around “for quite some time” and is only just coming to the fore because of the “insurmountable” pressure organisations are under with the labour shortage. 

“Organisations have been forced to employ people who otherwise weren’t at the standard they would traditionally expect, and they’ve had to put up with whatever staff they can who they would have otherwise let go,” he said. 

“Quiet firing is basically a way of treating staff like they’re not going to be part of the team for the long term future.”

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Quiet firing? Not elite! #quietquitting #quietfiring

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Other reasons for Quiet Firing include personality clashes, or interpersonal difficulties, Woolfrey said.

A recent LinkedIn News poll indicated nearly half of respondents (10,000 people) had seen Quiet Firing occur at their workplace, while 35% had faced it directly themselves. Only 13% believed it to not be a thing.

So, without further ado, here are the top 5 things to look out for if you think you're being Quiet Fired.