Millions of Britons ‘quietly quitting’ over lack of recognition

Millions of office workers are ‘quiet quitting’ (Image: Getty)New research by employment experts Citation, found workers are doing the bare minimum in their jobs and for fair reasons. Nearly half, 44 percent, of former workaholic Brits have cut down on doing unpaid overtime to get projects finished.Two in five say they are choosing not to work late anymore because they only do work they are paid for.Some 38 percent believe their extra work isn’t acknowledged and 29 percent feel that they are unmotivated.Two-thirds admit they are not taking on more work than the minimum they are required to do as well.Citation’s employment law chief Gill McAteer said: ‘We are seeing working habits change across the country.The pandemic has allowed us to reassess lots of things and many workers are focusing on a better work/life balance and now only working within their required hours.’They may feel undervalued or underpaid in their role, and there is no doubt that small to medium-sized businesses will be most affected by the change in working behaviour.’Employers must try to acknowledge and recognise if their culture fails in some areas and try to improve that to achieve a positive culture and a happier work-life balance for workers.That, in turn, would encourage employees to enjoy their jobs more and want to push themselves in the workplace.’Otherwise, if they fail to recognise employees giving their discretionary effort and assume it is part of the job that fuels disengagement and demotivation which will only cause furtherproblems in the business.’Gill’s 5 top tips to help employees achieve a better work-life balance:Offer flexible workingHelp employees to manage workloads betterGet cover for employee’s workload during annual leave so they don’t feel like it is all left for them to pick back up on their returnEncourage employees to speak up if they are struggling with the balanceEncourage employees to take breaks to help with productivityFind more employer tips and advice here.