A number of trends have gained traction on social media and in the workplace in recent months, with "conscious quitting" being among the most recent, Fortune reported Feb. 28.
Last year, the term "quiet quitting" — referring to a phenomenon in which employees reduce their enthusiasm at work and stick to the minimum expectations of their role — became a much-discussed trend.
"Conscious quitting" is brought to light in the Net Positive Employee Barometer, which surveyed more than 4,000 workers in the U.S. and United Kingdom. The survey found that about half of U.S. respondents said they would consider resigning from their job if the values of the company were unaligned with their values. Additionally, 44 percent of Generation Z and millennial U.S. respondents said they would consider taking a pay cut to work for a company aligned with their values.
"Any CEO who thinks they will win the talent wars by offering a bit more money, some extra home-working and a gym membership is going to be disappointed. An era of conscious quitting is on the way," former Unilever CEO Paul Polman, who commissioned the research, concluded.
"Conscious quitting" and "quiet quitting" are not the only workplace trends highlighted in recent months.
"Quiet firing" is a phrase that also made news, referring to a trend in which managers ignore employees' requests for pay raises or promotions in hopes they will choose to leave on their own.
"Bare minimum Mondays" — referring to a practice in which employees come to work to do only the bare minimum on a Monday — is another trend that went viral.
And "career cushioning" surfaced as a term referring to employees looking for "plan B" jobs and taking actions such as networking and job board scanning to prepare for the possibility of layoffs.
With "conscious quitting" and other trends, the pandemic played a role, Jeremy Campbell, CEO of the performance improvement consultancy Black Isle Group, told Fortune.
"It has made many people think entirely differently about work," he said, according to the publication. "Merge that shift with the realization that we are killing the planet and you bring together two powerful forces which have reprogrammed the mindset of people about the way they work and what they expect of the companies they work for."
To read the full Fortune article, click here.