The bare minimum

Putting life ahead of work without giving up one’s salary, but doing only the bare minimum to keep it. The new buzzword in post-pandemic work is called “quiet quitting,” and you have certainly heard of it before. The trend depopulated a few months ago on TikTok and has occupied much of the space and discussion on the Internet. The trend is emerging especially among young Millennials and Generation Z. The expression has taken off in both rival superpowers of the future, the United States and China, where it has been dubbed “mo yu,” the “touch the fish” philosophy (Republic). TikTok’s posts on quiet quitting, writes the
Guardian
, may in fact have been inspired by China’s own social media, where the hashtag #TangPing – lying down – was censored after likely being provoked by the culture of extended working hours.

• What is the purpose of quiet quitting (
  New York Times
  ).

Don’t call it “quitting”

Some saw it as a battle cry against labor, and some simply interpreted it as a call toward a new and healthier way of working. On the reddit channel r/antiwok, a forum of more than 2 million people that became famous during the pandemic with the motto “unemployment for all, not just the rich,” people blame the media for its frenzied coverage of a concept that should be considered the norm, not a scandalous new trend. Quiet quitting means “simply doing one’s job,” reads the channel. Enthusiasts of the concept describe it as a new mindset, capable of establishing healthy work boundaries, a stealthy retreat from the frenetic culture that dominated the pre-pandemic era (
Bloomberg
).

• Quiet quitting, or goodbye to extra work (
  Wall Street Journal
  )
• Quiet quitting is nothing new (
  Bbc
  ).

Chinese trend

It is striking how widespread it is in China, but there is a good reason why the new generations in the Dragon have come to such conclusions. Working hard no longer leads to success, in a country that has reached a demographic peak, said Alibaba founder Jack Ma. Young people have taken him literally, which is why they avoid wasting all their energy on essentially useless drudgery, preferring to “touch the fish”: arriving at work as late as possible, taking long lunch breaks, taking off as soon as the contract allows, perhaps taking advantage of smart working.

• Is quiet quitting a good idea? (
  Bloomberg
  ).