UNENTHUSED WITH UNWRITTEN expectations and entering the workforce after years dominated by the ethos of a burnout-inducing hustle culture, Gen Z workers have responded with the concept of ‘quiet quitting’ ― a TikTok-era revival of work-to-rule that implores employees to resist professional burnout by doing their job, no more, no less.

As The Guardian’s resident comic First Dog on the Moon explained: “What is quiet quitting? It’s not very complicated ― it is simply doing the job you were hired to do. That’s it ― no more, no less…”

The concept of quiet quitting has struck a chord on social media, with thousands of TikToks posted by employees who generally talk about reclaiming a bit of their sanity by giving up the idea of going above and beyond.

“You’re not outright quitting your job, but you’re quitting the idea of going above and beyond,” said one TikToker. “You’re still performing your duties, but you’re no longer subscribing to the hustle culture mentality that work has to be your life.”

Unpaid overtime? No chance. Work over the weekend? Pass. The concept even has international roots, with ties to the ‘lying flat’ movement in China ― a similar movement that has young workers simply checking the boxes.

Like anything Gen Z employees do, this has resulted in a flood of ink in the professional world (this newsletter included), trying to figure out what it might mean. Advocates have called it a quiet little rebellion for overworked employees and critics have dismissed it as a coping mechanism.

But that it begs the question, “Coping with what?” probably proves it’s a bit of both. It is, if nothing else, another indication that the growing mismatch between the expectation of aging managers and their younger cohort of employees, is no longer something ignorable ― and that for the next generation, even the core tenets of what we’ve known as professional culture for decades are now firmly up for debate. Kieran Delamont

ENTREPRENEURSHIP

The fall of Free Agent Nation

As the labour market heals from the pandemic, a key segment of workers is disappearing rapidly: the self-employed 

GEN Z MAY think they are quietly quitting, but one group whose plummeting numbers have taken the labour market by surprise is self-employed individuals, who closed their businesses in droves during the pandemic and simply never came back.

Self-employment was spiking in Canada prior to the pandemic but dropped off a cliff when March 2020 rolled around. And their numbers have yet to recover, with self-employment down 10 per cent at the end of 2021― a point when traditional employment was more than recovered.

Labour economists point to a couple different factors. For one thing, the uncertainty coupled with Covid supports that were more favourable to larger businesses meant that many self-employed folks took the opportunity to rejoin the company fold. Tech companies, especially, expanded quickly and spent a lot on new employees as they rapidly transitioned to remote models.

They also point out that immigration has slowed, and that immigrants have traditionally been attracted to self-employment. Similar stats have been seen in Britain, where the rate of self-employment had been rising consistently for two decades – and has plummeted in the last two years.

While some economists see it as a wrinkle in the labour market, others are more critical, and say these stats suggest that government aid helped many businesses survive but were overly tough on those with less traditional income streams. Many self-employed people reported difficulties accessing aid, and as aid qualifications tightened, many were kicked off of the programs. Income requirements meant that one good week of commissions in January 2021, for instance, could eliminate your benefits for the next month.

To Richard Dias, founder and head of research at Acorn Macro Consulting in Halifax, it could have long-lasting impacts in terms of disincentivizing self-employment.

“After doing all the right things, they burned through their savings,” he told the CBC. “There’s no recognition, frankly, of that profound systemic error and the prolonged impacts that it’s going to have on our economy.” Kieran Delamont

LEADERSHIP

For crying out loud

Braden Wallake wanted to be honest about the tough parts of being a CEO. It didn’t go over well

YOU NEVER WANT to be the main character on the internet, so last week was a bad one for Braden Wallake, last week’s main character of the internet.

Wallake is the CEO of the B2B marketing agency HyperSocial, and he was doing layoffs. Layoffs are not popular these days, and the people doing them even less so. But Wallake wasn’t making this decision lightly, and was deeply (and perhaps even earnestly) moved by it. But he then made his fatal mistake: snapping a selfie of himself crying about the layoffs, and posting it on his LinkedIn.

“I just want people to see, that not every CEO out there is cold-hearted and doesn’t care when he/she have to lay people off,” he said.

The internet, of course, was merciless. “LinkedIn is not a real place. This CEO laid people off and posted a picture of himself crying about the decision. I wish I was making this stuff up 😂😂😂😂,” wrote one Twitter user. “We need to shut down LinkedIn,” wrote another.

A lot of hate was directed Wallake’s way, most of it probably unearned and much of it meant maliciously. Making your employee’s layoffs about you is a bit cringe, and some ribbing is to be expected. Laying off your employees may make you look like a cartoon villain, but that’s sort of the job you signed up for when you became a boss.

But while many were quick to mock him, others saw a sliver of sincerity ― or whatever LinkedIn passes off as sincerity. As Shannon Palus at Slate writes, “I am inclined to have a little sympathy for Wallake. His business does not seem to be going great. Vice explains that he currently takes a salary of zero dollars, down from a stipend of $250 a week.”

In short, Wallake’s biggest problem wasn’t that he laid people off, or that he was sad about it; it was that he went on a website known for cringey posts and posted serious cringe.

“I submit the biggest reason we should all go a tiny bit easy on this dude,” continued Palus. “Wallake’s post is only slightly more embarrassing than your typical post in the LinkedIn news feed.” Kieran Delamont

INVESTING

The metaverse real estate boom turns into a bust

Nobody is buying homes in the real world, and nobody’s buying them in the fake one, either

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