Conscious Quitting is a special form of termination in which employees leave the company due to a lack of or inappropriate company values. The company’s values do not match those of the employee.
The fact that corporate values have become so important is also due to the fact that the shortage of skilled workers has significantly increased the self-confidence of employees and job seekers. Because they can now choose from a large number of relevant jobs, they are demanding more from both their current employer:in and job offers than they used to. Companies that do not want to lose employees should take their values seriously and consider the fact that recruiting conditions have changed.
What is Conscious Quitting? Meaning, explanation, definition
Already during the Corona pandemic, the phenomenon of Quiet Quitting developed. Unlike their predecessor generations, employees were no longer willing to work overtime and only did „duty by the book.“
They gained new self-confidence, which is now also evident through Conscious Quitting. The development can already be measured in the USA and Great Britain. According to a study by the British research institute KPMG (1/2023), employees attach particularly great importance to DEI (Diversity, Equity & Inclusion), social justice, social responsibility, and climate and environmental protection. The study also found that 20% of respondents had already turned down a job if the company’s values did not match their personal values.
It can be assumed that Conscious Quitting will also become more popular in Germany, because environmental protection and sustainability are very important to Generation Z. Since three quarters of the workforce will belong to Generation Z by 2025, companies would do well to align themselves accordingly if they have not already done so.
Generation Z will determine working life in the future. Not only does it have an enormous understanding of technology, it also carefully separates work and leisure (work-life separation). Studies in Germany have also shown that Generation Z is now promoted more frequently than Generation X. This means that companies can assume that Generation Z will be more successful than Generation X in the future. It can therefore be assumed that corporate values such as climate protection will become increasingly important in the future.
How can companies prevent Conscious Quitting?
Transparency and exchange are the key words if companies want to prevent conscious quitting. Employee surveys should be standard practice and the results should be incorporated into corporate planning. Since events such as inflation, economic crises and pandemics often turn people’s values upside down, it is advisable for business leaders to regularly compare their company values with those of their teams. But this is not enough.
Ideally, employees should be actively involved in decision-making processes, because everyone wants to be asked. To ensure that employees can also get involved in climate and environmental protection issues, they need background knowledge. The best way is for the company itself to provide training to ensure that the teams have basic knowledge.
If you take this to heart, you will remain interesting and competitive for applicants. In the meantime, sustainability has become a competitive advantage for many industries and is enormously important if companies want to retain their skilled workers. If companies commit to sustainable practices, they are much more popular with the younger generation than others.
Companies that have already done a lot to drive sustainable transformation don’t need to hide their light under a bushel. Communicate their efforts clearly, and employees will also be aware and able to acknowledge it. The likelihood of losing them through Conscious Quitting is thus reduced.