There’s a lot of buzz around the “quiet quitting” trend, which is when employees choose to do the bare minimum at work while they search for their next career move. But if you ever feel like your boss is slowly pushing you out of your role and giving you no other option but to quit your job to advance your career, you may be getting “quiet fired.”
A recent LinkedIn poll defines quiet firing as management going years without giving a person a raise or promotion, shifting their responsibilities to tasks requiring relatively less experience, or deliberately withdrawing development and leadership opportunities. And it’s pretty common, as 48% of those surveyed say they’ve seen it happen to a coworker. Gorick Ng, a career advisor at Harvard College, says quiet firing can be done for political reasons, like when higher-ups have a favorite and it’s not you, or for performance reasons.
Signs that you’re being pushed out of your role include:
- Your boss is MIA for much-needed conversations - A common red flag of quiet firing is when you get the sense your boss is avoiding conversations with you, Ng says. Reshuffling or canceling meetings with the employee is also common in quiet firing.
- Your boss assigns opportunities you wanted to other team members - Another sign is when your boss gives projects you prefer or were previously promised to colleagues instead.
- Your boss can’t explain why your coworkers are getting raises and promotions while you’re not - If you're continually passed over for promotions even though you’re working as hard as your colleagues, the boss may be quiet firing you. If they can’t tell you what they need to see from you to get a bigger title or raise, it’s a red flag.
- You’re placed on an unreasonable performance improvement plan - If the items are literally unachievable in the expected time frame, or your boss isn’t offering support to succeed, the plan may just be code for “we want you to quit.”
- Your job expectations or workload changes without your input - “When there is no renegotiation of terms with employees after a big change, the message being sent is ‘accept the way it is or just leave,’” explains career coach Jasmine Escalera.
Source: Huff Post
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