A happy workforce is a productive workforce but, too often, employers underestimate the work required to ensure they have it. Pizza parties won’t cut it, and this goes beyond feeling valued.
Quiet cracking is a label that is being used to address a long-standing workplace problem. While quiet quitting just had people disappearing while doing the bare minimum, those that crack are likely to stick around and make their concerns clear.
“Quiet cracking may be a new label, but it describes a dynamic that has been visible in the workplace for many years,” says Barbara Gerstenberger, head of unit for working life at Eurofound. “The conditions workers experience at work are linked to outcomes in terms of their wellbeing, engagement and motivation.”
While it has the ring of a buzzword to it, it’s one that’s sticking and clearly entering day-to-day workplace conversations.
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“‘Quiet cracking’ may be one of the newer phrases entering workplace conversations, but the issue behind it is far from new,” Alex Thomson, marketing co-ordinator and content creator at Great Place to Work.
“Defined as persistent workplace unhappiness that leads to disengagement, lower performance, and an increased desire to leave, the term reflects something many organisations are already seeing; employees who remain in their roles, but feel disengaged from their work, their managers, or their workplace culture.”
It’s important to think beyond the label itself and as to why an increasing number of employees are feeling disengaged.
“This is not a new concept and at the heart of the issue is employee engagement. Most employees remain engaged, enthusiastic and immersed in their work,” says Alison Hodgson, country director of the CIPD. “Yet a significant minority of staff experience exhaustion or excessive pressure at work.”
To a lot of employers, this will sound like burnout. While some of the symptoms overlap, the nuance is important. Quite often, employers fail to notice the difference until the impact on performance and engagement, along with staff retention, becomes too much to ignore.
The point is that employers may not see quiet cracking until performance, collaboration, or retention problems become harder to ignore.
“Unlike burnout, which can often appear visibly and have an immediate effect, quiet cracking tends to happen gradually. It shows up in reduced enthusiasm, lower engagement, weaker collaboration, and employees emotionally withdrawing while continuing to meet only the minimum expectations of their role,” says Thomson.
As with any diagnosis, it’s not just about identifying the symptoms but also the causes therein. A poor work environment is like a Petri dish for staff problems.
“The better the work environment in terms of social support from colleagues, management quality and absence of bullying and other forms of adverse social behaviour, the higher the scores for subjective wellbeing,” says Gerstenberger.
That means employers need to think beyond the reward structure. Pavlov’s test was on a dog for a reason. Dogs are wonderful, but people like to be treated less paternalistically.
“Positive feelings of engagement link to reduced intention to quit, improved reported performance and a greater willingness to go above and beyond for the organisation,” says Hodgson.
If you want employees to go above and beyond, they have to feel like they are in a place where they want to do so. There is often a very fixable imbalance between what a job takes from people and what it gives back.
“If the demands of a job outnumber the resources available to the worker, we talk about job strain. Job strain is associated with lower levels of wellbeing and lower levels of engagement and motivation,” says Gerstenberger.
Job strain and disengagement rarely come from a single source but rather a combination of factors.
“While economic uncertainty, shifting workplace expectations, and ongoing return-to-office tensions have placed additional pressure on employees in recent years, disengagement rarely stems from a single issue,” says Thomson.
“More often, it is the cumulative effect of ongoing stress without adequate support.”
That means the impacts along the chain need to be considered. At the top level, it might be reconsidering the counterproductive idea so many businesses had to order a return to the office. Nobody missed commuting. Further down the chain, to the line manager, it might be how much trust they show in those reporting to them.
“Employees with more positive perceptions of line managers are more likely to report they are competent and perform effectively in their jobs, are less likely to say their work has a negative effect on their health, and have a lower intention to quit,” says Hodgson.
The modern environment and the breadth of connectivity it brings can’t be ignored as a factor. It has become harder for employees to disengage from work, when work really should be taking care of that for workers.
“One effect is the blurring of boundaries between work and non-working life when technology allows workers to work anytime, anywhere,” says Gerstenberger.
The solution is a classic case of something being simple yet not easy. By putting the work in to improve the working environment, quiet cracking will decrease and productivity will rise. Don’t, and the problems will compound before your very eyes.
