At 9:30 every morning, Riya logged into the team call. Her updates were precise, her deadlines were rarely missed, and her manager had no immediate performance complaint. A year earlier, she had volunteered for pilot projects, mentored new colleagues, stayed late during peak periods and brought improvement ideas to meetings. Later, she still performed her assigned work, but she no longer raised her hand. She attended, completed and complied. No one saw this as an urgent problem because Riya was not visibly underperforming. But something important had changed. She had not resigned yet, but psychologically she had already stepped back.
Quiet quitting has often been misunderstood as a new-age excuse for doing less. In reality, it is the visible language of a deeper workplace fracture. Employees are still present, still logging in and still completing assigned tasks, but they are withdrawing from the discretionary effort that gives organisations energy, innovation and resilience.
In simple terms, quiet quitting refers to employees doing what is formally...
