Refusing To Work Day And Night, The "Silent Resignation" Trend Sweeps The American Workplace

Some U.S. workers are resisting the stifling workplace environment, refusing to stay on call and embracing "quiet quitting" instead. The new concept means that employees work no more than 40 hours a week, no longer take calls from work after hours, and have the courage to say "no" to their bosses.

Paige West, 24, who previously worked as a transportation analyst in Washington, D.C., has been on the job less than a year and is trying to draw the line between work and life. She says the job was so stressful that she lost her hair and suffered from habitual insomnia. The way she paced her life included no longer working more than 40 hours a week, refusing to sign up for additional training, and not even socializing with coworkers during non-work hours .

"Taking a step back, I just work my scheduled hours hours and get paid accordingly for my work," she says, "and beyond that, I don't go out of my way to give extra." Once she stopped working so hard, West said she found herself more engaged in meetings and received positive feedback on her work as well.

Since August this year, the topic of "silent resignation" has garnered millions of views on TikTok, as more and more laborers are refusing to put their lives on the line for their jobs and are no longer accepting the culture of drudgery in the workplace.

As the new epidemic continues, many companies are cutting back on staff. The Wall Street Journal reports that the pandemic has impacted the workplace environment, blurring the boundaries between work and life. This state of affairs has forced people to redefine work and think about healthier workplace boundaries.

For some, "silent resignation" means an employee mentally logging out of work mode at the right time, according to the Washington Post. For others, it turns into not accepting extra work without overtime pay.

Clay Donfarris, 41, said he realized he was already doing that when he heard the new term circulating on social media, and he refused to let work anxiety dominate him as it had in the past. "The funny thing is, nothing has changed," he says in a short TikTok video he recorded. "I still work hard and achieve just as much, I just don't make my insides constantly tormented by work anymore."

Opposition followed, with Huffington Post founder Ariana Huffington stating in an interview with Fortune magazine that dealing with job dissatisfaction through a silent resignation is not the right path. The end of a "silent resignation" is likely to be a resignation from life.

In the face of the controversy, former U.S. Secretary of Labor Robert Reich responded on Twitter, saying that workers are not resigning silently, but rather refusing to be exploited in the workplace.