Quiet Quitting Isn’t The Problem: Quiet Managing Is
The Real Workplace Epidemic Nobody's Talking About
Everyone's obsessed with quiet quitting. Articles, podcasts, LinkedIn hot takes — we've thoroughly diagnosed the employee who does the bare minimum and clocks out mentally before they clock out physically.
But we've been looking at the wrong person.
Quiet quitting is a symptom. Quiet management is the disease.
Everyone's obsessed with quiet quitting. Articles, podcasts, LinkedIn hot takes — we've thoroughly diagnosed the employee who does the bare minimum and clocks out mentally before they clock out physically.
But we've been looking at the wrong person.
Quiet quitting is a symptom. Quiet management is the disease.
What Is Quiet Managing?
Quiet managing happens when leaders go silent at exactly the moment their people need them to be clear and direct. It looks like vague feedback that never quite lands. Expectations that go unstated because people "should just know." Underperformance that gets quietly ignored while stronger teammates pick up the slack. Tough conversations that keep getting pushed to next week, then the week after, then never.
It's common because conflict is uncomfortable and most managers were never actually taught how to navigate it. When senior leadership tolerates mediocrity as long as the quarterly numbers look passable, there's little incentive for anyone in the middle to change.
Quiet managing happens when leaders go silent at exactly the moment their people need them to be clear and direct. It looks like vague feedback that never quite lands. Expectations that go unstated because people "should just know." Underperformance that gets quietly ignored while stronger teammates pick up the slack. Tough conversations that keep getting pushed to next week, then the week after, then never.
It's common because conflict is uncomfortable and most managers were never actually taught how to navigate it. When senior leadership tolerates mediocrity as long as the quarterly numbers look passable, there's little incentive for anyone in the middle to change.
How Quiet Managers Create Quiet Quitters
The logic is simple from an employee's perspective: if no one notices when I excel and no one says anything when I coast, why push hard? Unclear goals breed cynicism. Invisible leadership breeds disengagement. And disengagement breeds a workforce quietly refreshing job boards on company time.
Gallup puts a number to this: disengagement costs the global economy roughly $8.9 trillion in lost productivity every year — about 9% of global GDP. Seventy to eighty percent of a team's engagement traces directly back to the manager. Yet somehow, the employee keeps getting blamed.
The logic is simple from an employee's perspective: if no one notices when I excel and no one says anything when I coast, why push hard? Unclear goals breed cynicism. Invisible leadership breeds disengagement. And disengagement breeds a workforce quietly refreshing job boards on company time.
Gallup puts a number to this: disengagement costs the global economy roughly $8.9 trillion in lost productivity every year — about 9% of global GDP. Seventy to eighty percent of a team's engagement traces directly back to the manager. Yet somehow, the employee keeps getting blamed.
The Cost Executives Are Underestimating
High performers don't rage-quit. They get quiet, start taking recruiter calls, and eventually accept an offer from somewhere that actually has its act together. By the time you notice, the damage is done — and expensive.
Meanwhile, companies keep pouring money into the wrong fixes: engagement surveys, spot bonuses, wellness stipends, office perks. These aren't solutions. They're distractions from the real problem, which is a leadership bench full of managers who have mastered the art of saying nothing.
High performers don't rage-quit. They get quiet, start taking recruiter calls, and eventually accept an offer from somewhere that actually has its act together. By the time you notice, the damage is done — and expensive.
Meanwhile, companies keep pouring money into the wrong fixes: engagement surveys, spot bonuses, wellness stipends, office perks. These aren't solutions. They're distractions from the real problem, which is a leadership bench full of managers who have mastered the art of saying nothing.
What Actually Fixes It
Stop funding programs designed to re-engage employees while leaving managers completely untouched. Audit your leadership bench honestly — you already know who the quiet managers are. Then invest in the coaching and training that helps them lead with clarity and accountability.
You don't solve quiet quitting with a better snack wall or a mental health app. You solve it when your managers finally start showing up.
Stop funding programs designed to re-engage employees while leaving managers completely untouched. Audit your leadership bench honestly — you already know who the quiet managers are. Then invest in the coaching and training that helps them lead with clarity and accountability.
You don't solve quiet quitting with a better snack wall or a mental health app. You solve it when your managers finally start showing up.