SINGAPORE: Have you ever woken up one morning and realised the job you once cared about now feels distant, even draining? Or found yourself wanting to quit more and more, but unable to do so because of financial responsibilities and a brutal job market?
If that sounds familiar, you may be experiencing what is now known as “quiet cracking.”
TalentLMS, which conducted research into the phenomenon and coined the term, defines quiet cracking as a “persistent feeling of workplace unhappiness” that gradually causes workers to disengage from their roles.
While this may sound like an old workplace problem dressed up with a new label, the impact of disengagement has become impossible to ignore in recent years.
Gallup’s research estimates that disengaged employees are costing the world an eye-watering US$8.8 trillion every year, a loss so vast it accounts for 9 per cent of global GDP.
Why this is happening
Since the Great Resignation during the pandemic, a number of new workplace trends have emerged. First came “quiet quitting”, then “quiet cutting or firing”, and now “quiet cracking.”
According to Dr Tessa West, a psychology professor at NYU, this shift is largely happening because workers and employers are no longer openly communicating their concerns with each other. “There are weaker interpersonal relationships at work than we’ve ever seen before,” she told Eyewitness News.
Companies have become less transparent, while employees have become more independent. Instead of raising issues with management, many workers choose to handle problems on their own until the pressure builds up and leads to burnout.
“I think there’s this withholding of talking about things, and withholding of actually talking about it in the workplace with our bosses and with our colleagues, and so we’re pulling away, we’re disengaging without having active conversations about it,” she said.
“Everyone is sort of quietly firing or disengaging from one another on both sides, and I think that’s what’s kind of giving rise to this phenomenon.”
Other factors that may push employees toward ‘quiet cracking’
Aside from the lack of communication, there are other factors that are pushing employees to fall out of love with their careers.
Here are some of the warning signs that you should watch out for:
Your plate is always full
If your boss keeps praising how capable you are, then uses that as a reason to keep giving you more work, pay attention. Being good at your job should not mean being overloaded all the time.
You’re always the go-to person
If a coworker messes up and your boss skips giving them a chance to fix it and just hands the task to you instead, that’s a warning sign. Being reliable should not mean doing everyone else’s work.
Your boundaries keep getting crossed
If your boss regularly asks you to work late, calls you at night or on weekends, and expects you to reply right away even when your work is done, that’s also a red flag.
You don’t get recognised
If your boss or senior colleague constantly takes credit for your work or doesn’t acknowledge all your contributions to a project, your motivation may eventually erode over time.
You feel bad for saying no
You feel guilty turning things down because you have been trained to always be the dependable one. That guilt is often a sign that expectations have gone too far.
How to deal with quiet cracking
From the employers’ side, West says one way to prevent employees from disengaging is to reduce uncertainty.
This means being more transparent about what is happening behind the scenes and clearly communicating what an employee’s future in the company could look like, or at least explaining how they can move forward or grow.
It also helps to make employees feel like they actually belong. When workers see themselves in the company and feel connected to what they do, they are more likely to care. Without that sense of connection, disengagement is almost guaranteed.
For employees, West encourages them to speak up about their concerns and share feedback whenever they can, rather than quietly carrying the weight alone and letting problems pile up over time.
Read also: 30 y/o man earning S$4.5k a month fears burnout from working 10 hours daily
