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(KTLA) – New research suggests that employee burnout may not be as noticeable as was once thought.
Of course, there are people who love their work and don’t experience job dissatisfaction. Some might consider these people lucky, others might consider them foolish, and still others might even think they are lying about, or simply not disclosing, how they truly feel about their position.
The latter group — the ones who may hold a private grudge against their employer but keep showing up to work — is growing, according to a recently published study, and they may be suffering in silence from “quiet cracking.”
What is “quiet cracking?”
“Quiet cracking” is described by researchers at TalentLMS, a learning management software firm, as “something deeper and harder to detect.”
“TalentLMS calls ‘quiet cracking’ a persistent feeling of workplace unhappiness that leads to disengagement, poor performance, and an increased desire to quit,” the study explained.
Employees may feel “less connected, less satisfied with their employer, more likely to be looking for other work,” said Jim Harter, a workplace expert at Gallup, explained in an interview with NBC News. “They feel detached, but they also feel stuck, and it’s not good for employers.”
While this kind of disengagement is less obvious than the The Great Resignation was, it can be just as bad for workers and employers, TalentLMS said.
A survey of 1,000 workers conducted by TalentLMS in March of this year indicated that more than half felt “persistent workplace unhappiness” — with 34% saying they felt it occasionally, 14% frequently and 5% constantly.
It’s not just unhappiness that’s contributing to “quiet cracking,” according to researchers, as job uncertainty also plays a role in it. The TalentLMS survey found that almost 1 in 6 respondents were unsure if they had a long-term future at their company.
“Employees may feel secure in their roles today, but ask them about tomorrow, and confidence drops sharply,” TalentLMS said. “Companies with retention initiatives or internal surveys that show their people are overall satisfied with their jobs might be at risk of having a false sense of security about their employees’ mindset. The disconnect we found in this data between overall job security and how employees feel about their future with their company indicates something that should alarm leaders: that people are not worried about losing their jobs, but they don’t really feel like the employer-employee relationship is going to last.”
Also contributing to the “quiet cracking” wave, TalentLMS says, are economic uncertainties, managerial disconnects, lack of training and lack of recognition.
“Managers can be the lifeline, or the trigger, [and] their ability to support employees can make all the difference,” the researchers said. “This shows a direct correlation between ineffective management and persistent unhappiness.”
“Empathy and active listening matter more than ever,” the researchers added. “Training and recognition are foundational to engagement, but many employees are going without them.”
What are the effects of “quiet cracking?”
According to TalentLMS, “quiet cracking” has four main consequences:
- Decrease in engagement: Employees quietly cracking are less likely to take on extra responsibilities, share ideas with team members or attend team events
- Reduction in momentum: Disengaged employees “become bottlenecks, not bridges,” according to TalentLMS
- Workplace culture shift: Even if it’s just a few workers, quiet disengagement can spread; TalentLMS says that if just 20% of a team is quietly disengaging, it erodes trust — and energy — for the rest of the group
- Retention rates drop: Employees who are “quiet cracking” are, TalentLMS says, “significantly” more likely to be looking for new jobs, even if they haven’t said anything about it
Can anything be done to reverse the “quiet cracking” trend?
There’s good news for employers, Jim Harter, a workplace management expert, told NBC: “Employers can do a lot about it if they’ve got great leadership and good management that are in touch with people.”
TalentLMS suggested a few ways to combat “quiet cracking”:
- Learning and development: According to TalentLMS data, employees who received training in the last year are 140% more likely to have a sense of job security, and they are also more likely to feel valued
- Regular recognition: Building off the learning and development, recognizing an employee for their efforts is a “low-cost, high-impact” tactic to show someone that what they are doing matters. The TalentLMS survey found that more than a fifth of respondents didn’t feel recognized or valued at work; employees who are “quietly cracking” are 152% more likely to feel this sentiment
- Management training: “Many” leaders are struggling with shaping the day-to-day work experience, TalentLMS says, which directly contributes to employee disengagement. Recommended steps include training managers in empathy and listening, instilling one-on-one meetings with feedback loops and making manager encouragement a metric that matters
- Expectations and workload balance: “Quiet cracking” employees are more likely to feel that their workload is unmanageable or that they don’t know their role in the company. Per TalentLMS, “clarity combats chaos” — meaning that job descriptions should be updated regularly, workload distribution should be monitored and teams should be equipped with stress management tools
TalentLMS also encourages employers to audit their current training and management efforts and identify gaps in managerial support.