Losing a job is one of the most difficult and stressful experiences that a person can go through. Not only does it have serious financial implications, but it also throws a person’s daily routine and life into chaos and uncertainty. This can be especially difficult for humans, as we are creatures of habit and structure, and having our routines disrupted can cause significant mental trauma.

Although the picture that it brings to mind might feature an unpleasant boss pointing their employee toward the door, it is clear that the notion of losing one’s job has several features and aspects. From mass layoffs to the closure of companies, several great misfortunes put employees out of jobs wreaking havoc on their lives. However, one might think when it comes to the grave social and mental consequences of losing one’s job, nothing comes close to the classic experience of “getting fired”. Well, if that is what you think, a new phenomenon of the workplace by the name of “quiet firing” might compel you to think again.

While the recent trend of “Quiet Quitting” has created a lot of buzz and interest in the workplace, the new trend, has yet to reach another great phenomenon that takes place on the opposite side of the workplace: Quiet Firing.

To anyone who by now is familiar with the term quiet quitting, it should not be very hard to comprehend the idea and notion of firing an employee without asking them to leave. In fact, the Harvard Business Review defines quiet firing as “the act of intentionally creating a hostile work environment that encourages people to leave voluntarily”; in other words, it is giving one’s own employee a professional cold shoulder so they get too frustrated and disgruntled and stop coming to work.

And this professional cold shoulder can take many forms; from outcasting one or more employees to intentionally preventing them from advancing in their careers. This can include denying them promotions, training, and other opportunities for self-development. Needless to say, this subtle, malicious act carries with it, consequences far more dire than a good old-fashioned dismissal.

So why are companies doing it?

Although it is not a new concept for companies to push out employees who do not meet the requirements of their job or who have produced sub-par work, the new motives of companies behind quietly convincing their employees to leave has put a new spin on the matter.

HBR explains the situation by raising companies like Meta and Tesla as examples and describes this underhanded blow as a result of current global economic situations, which are currently shaking the world in different manners, where their impact is felt across the globe, on people from all walks of life and companies of varying sizes, which unfortunately results in the unwillingness of companies to face the financial and legal consequences of laying off or dismissing employees.

         

Another leading factor that is raised as the leading cause of quiet firing is the shortcoming of a company and its representatives in the skills of communications and confrontations who instead choose to “take the easy way out” by hoping an employee “takes the hint”. 

This is when an employer no longer sees it fit to keep a certain employee in their company but refuses to do the unpleasant task of dismissing them. In other and less professional terms, it is the act of choosing to “ghost” someone instead of breaking up with them.

How can you tell when you’re being quiet fired?

• An article published by CNBC mentions unexplainable and sudden changes in the nature, pattern, or requirements of a job as the first sign of getting quiet fired.  
• So, if your boss who had the habit of checking on your daily undertakings be it to offer support, follow up or provide more tasks suddenly quits engaging with your activities, you may then have to consider it as a warning sign.
• Or if you find yourself having fewer and fewer tasks and responsibilities and clocking into work just to sit by idly, or notice that most of your effort goes by unnoticed if not unduly criticized and disregarded it might be time to question things and assess the situation.
• Another telltale sign that you are in this sticky situation may be the assignment of tasks and responsibilities that are in a clear misalignment with your roles with an apparent intention to set you up for failure.
• Pay cuts, exclusion from regular bonus packages, cut down of work hours where pay is dependent upon working hours, unfair prevention from a well-deserved or timely promotion, demotion, or forced relocation of an employee are also among the several indications of quiet firing.

What should one do about it?

If getting fired comes at the expense of one’s mental, financial, and social well-being, then it is not very hard to imagine how much worse drawing out the process could be, which is why it is important for both employees and employers to make sure to avoid it before it happens and get out, if it unfortunately does.

• Without being overly analytical, try to assess the situation to see if you are indeed being quietly fired, the list above might help you make the assessment
• Keeping an open mind and following up on employees so as to keep up their performances is another step expected from employers, explains the HBR,
• Communicating problems before they become too big to solve is thus the first way to go about it from both sides,
• Ask for feedback: is there something you need to work on?
• If you have a feeling that it is only your manager who is doing the quiet firing, then we suggest you involve HR.
• Tackle the facts, not feelings. When approaching HR or your line manager about this situation, make sure to discuss facts instead of feelings, instead of saying “I feel left out”, point out what projects that you were previously involved in that are no longer accessible to you.
• Formalize it on email or text to keep written records, you may never know when you might need them,
• If you suspect that this might be a performance issue or that your performance is what is being taken as a reason for being quiet fired, Ask to be put for a performance improvement plan (PIP): so your employer can provide the necessary guidance and support to help you reach your goals and improve your performance. If it was never a performance issue, requesting a PIP will help confirm it as the content of the PIP will be telling.
• Look for advocates in leadership roles in the organization so that they can vouch on your behalf. In most cases, when it is not an individual manager’s but a company’s decision to quiet fire employees, upper management is made aware of it. So, if you have someone in a leadership role you have a connection with, it is time to check your social bank and use your connection to advocate for you.
• Make a plan B: Look for jobs that are part-time that you can do while you are also at your current job, or full-time jobs that you could move to if the situation at your current role doesn’t seem to improve.
• If push comes to shove, negotiate your exit. If you feel like sticking it out is no longer worth it, try to negotiate the terms of your exit. Communicate frankly with your manager or HR stating that you are aware that you are being quiet fired, and hence are willing to make the move and quit, if they are able to guarantee certain benefits for you, for starters it could be a good severance pay.

Above all else, the will to share in the outcomes of difficult economic times, and laying out a system that has the least possible cost, for both the companies and the workforce, should be the way in order to avoid situations like quiet firing that take a toll on all parties involved.