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WATCH: The great resignation and quiet quitting spinoff: ‘Act your wage’
Employees are 'acting their wage' as push back to 'quiet hiring,' which involves employers assigning more work without compensation.
Picture – screengrab
Given the state of the economy and the financial pressures pressing down on staff coupled with unreasonable workloads, employees across the board are doing so much more than just quiet quitting. They are hitting back by ‘acting their wage’.
The ‘Act Your Wage’ trend has slowly been gaining momentum on TikTok since the beginning of this year with many social media users subscribing to its values. Videos have garnered up to 14 million views, and it’s growing by the day.
Since 2020, employees were inclined to the quiet quitting trend that was doing its rounds on social media. According to reports, quiet quitting is an application of work-to-rule, in which employees work within defined work hours and engage in work-related activities solely within those hours.
ALSO READ: Quiet quitting – Here’s what the law says, and how it could affect your employment
The term describes quite literally what employees have set their mind to do without alerting their line managers and immediate seniors that they were no longer giving a 110% to the job and going the extra mile.
They are were only motivating themselves enough to do the bare minimum, within the confines of their key roles and responsibilities.
@loewhaley Toodaloo! #relatable #boundaries #corporate ♬ original sound – Laura
According to James Hobson, an expert on all things employee related, from Blue Recruiting, the South African space has not seen an affect on the market yet but it may do as/if it gains moment among employees.
Spin off from ‘The Great Resignation’
Quiet quitting seemed to be a spin off from the Great Resignation era.
The Great Resignation, also known as “The Big Quit” and the “Great Reshuffle”, are economic trends in which employees have voluntarily resigned from their jobs, beginning in early 2020 in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Norton Rose Fulbright, a global firm, has cited reasons for resigning as wage stagnation amid rising costs of living, limited opportunities for career advancement, hostile work environments, lack of benefits, inflexible remote-work policies, and long-lasting job dissatisfaction.
It seems that employees want more than just success in their careers. They are no longer willing to bend over backwards just to climb up the corporate ladder. Hobson says: “flexibility in the workplace is often a requirement for job seekers looking for employment. The pre covid expectation of being in the office 5 days a week, 8 hours a day is a thing of the past but we are also seeing a shift to a hybrid model where employees aren’t fully remote.”
But, employees who were not able to completely abandoned their posts or attain a more balanced working arrangement from their employers have actually resorted to quiet quitting.
MyWellBeing, a mental health wellness company, has said that quiet quitting has seen a decrease in depression and a better quality of work life for the vast majority of employees who have subscribed to the notion.
Employers hit back with ‘quiet hiring’
The problem with quiet quitting though, which saw a mass exodus of skilled employees, was that employers had to find ways to assign the entire workload without committing the necessary additional capital towards employees salaries and better incentives.
NOW READ: Are you quiet quitting? Here’s how to ensure a good work-life balance
That’s when employers started to ‘quiet-hire’.
Quiet hiring is described as a strategy by employers to give additional responsibilities and unpaid extra workload to hard-working employees.
All they need is one hard-working employee who loves their job. Asking this employee to perform extra tasks which entails working beyond their work hours (without directly asking them to) becomes a common practice.
But, now, even committed employees are passive-aggressively hitting back at this quiet hiring by “acting their wage.”
@cheybellcomedy When employers want you to do extra work but refuse to give you extra money. #Compensation #Cheybellcomedy #Overtime #CorporateAmerica #turnovers #EmployeeBurnOut #Turnover #workproblems ♬ original sound – Chey Bell
Age Your Wage
Like quiet quitting, the “Act Your Wage” trend is about not doing more than the duties stipulated in Key Performance Areas or their job’s roles and responsibilities, and carrying out these tasks within timeframe of working hours.
But, “Act Your Wage” takes it a step further.
It encourages the employees to protect their work-life balance and stand up for themselves when they are assigned additional responsibilities without any salary adjustments or paid time off.
The movement has gained its fair share of criticism though, as human resource experts have warned that such reactions could be seen as ‘insolence’ and might result in disciplinary action.
Commenting on the new trend, Hobson said: “There are two sides to the coin: Employees being taken advantage of, and their willingness to go above and beyond being exploited, is detrimental and unfair. However, if an employee isn’t willing to do a stitch more than what is expected of them, it is often hard to ascertain that individuals potential and they may be overlooked for promotions as a result.”
Even American right-wing political commentator and author, Matthew Welsh, has spoken out against the trend.
WATCH: Employee demonstrates ‘Act your wage’ trend
Forbes has also released a report saying that even though it was good to set boundaries, the trend could be detrimental to one’s long-term success in their career.
“Slow-walking your job isn’t the answer. You may temporarily feel good when you say “no” to the boss and assert your autonomy of not being forced into working long hours without any appreciation or extra compensation.
ALSO READ: Will the 4-day work week improve your wellness? We may soon find out
“After a while, this attitude can become entrenched. It’s an us against them mentality. Workers will spend more time extricating themselves from working than the actual work,” write Jack Kelly says.
Hobson advised: “In some instances, employers may feel that they give their employees more than they may be required to (in the form of incentives, leave and other benefits). So this sort of mindset might cause the employers to become reluctant to take someone on board who, in their opinion, is going to give the bare minimum in return.”
Do what’s best for you
But, financial expert, Dave Ramsey, recently told the Nasdaq publication that the ‘Act Your Wage’ movement might not be the worst thing.
He advised that if its about reducing stress, living one’s best life, and not working beyond their financial compensation, then acting one’s wage might be the best thing to do.
WATCH: When the hard work gets rewarded with more work
@loewhaley #wfh #corporate #worklife #millennial ♬ original sound – Karen Chen
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