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Quiet firing explained: Signs to watch for

By Alison Roller

Instead of formal termination through firing or layoff, employers quiet fire by building a negative workplace environment, leading unhappy employees to leave voluntarily. Although quiet firing isn't new, strict return-to-office (RTO) mandates reignited the conversation. According to a recent survey from BambooHR, 25% of C-suite executives hoped a stricter RTO mandate would lead to voluntary turnover.

Though it's a more common practice today, quiet firing can lead to some dangerous organizational consequences. Here's what to know.

What is quiet firing?

At its core, quiet firing pushes an employee to resign instead of a company terminating the employee. To do this, managers create an intolerable work environment by isolating employees from projects and meetings, holding employees to unrealistic expectations, or neglecting their growth and development. As a result, many of these employees, ultimately feeling discouraged and burned out, leave the company.

Quiet firing can tax an employee's mental health and well-being. Typically, in the process, employee confusion, frustration and anxiety rise, while job confidence falls. Although quiet firing is not necessarily illegal, if quiet firing practices are directly tied to wrongful termination, employers face legal risks.

Signs of quiet firing

Quiet firings differ depending on the manager, leaders, employees and industry, but there are a few common red flags to warn about a potential quiet firing:

Feedback extremes

The manager isn't providing enough feedback, either positive or negative, especially when this isn't the norm. This is a possible sign that the manager is no longer interested in an employee's professional growth and development.

Conversely, managers might give more criticism than usual. Too much feedback, particularly when it isn't constructive, is another way to push away an employee.

No promotions or raises

Missing out on a promotion is discouraging, but it happens. However, employees who are regularly passed over for promotions, raises, bonuses and career advancement opportunities -- especially with no feedback or reasoning -- are likely facing a quiet firing scenario.

Isolation from team meetings and projects

Being an active, connected team member is integral to success, so if employees are excluded from team activities such as meetings, projects and social events, it could indicate that they're being quiet fired. Additionally, being ignored in meetings or not having a chance to participate actively are red flags.

Unrealistic workload

An exceptionally heavy or unrealistic workload could overwhelm an employee, leading to burnout and disengagement. This common quiet firing tactic -- an unmanageable workload coupled with unrealistic expectations about carrying that workload -- goads many employees to leave.

Lack of goal and growth conversations

When a manager ignores goals and expresses disinterest in an employee's career aspirations, the employee often feels devalued and stagnant in their position. Eventually, many of these employees leave.

Micromanagement

Micromanagement is another way for managers to nudge employees out the door. Signs of micromanagement include too-frequent performance reviews, regular and overly critical feedback, or a hovering manager who's always checking in.

Learn more about quiet management and how this alternative to micromanagement can build employee trust and autonomy.

Meaningless or tedious work

When employees are repeatedly assigned work below their skill level -- or busywork -- they are likely being quiet fired. An employee being assigned tasks typically given to a lower-level worker or jobs being removed from an employee's department often leave that employee feeling devalued.

Lack of managerial attention

One of the biggest signs of quiet firing is an employee who receives little attention from the manager. This includes less thorough one-on-one conversations, less digital communication, or a blatant disinterest in an employee's work and goals.

Why does quiet firing happen?

In many cases, quiet firing is an unintentional and unforeseen consequence of poor management and unhealthy workplace dynamics. However, that's not always the case. In some instances, quiet firing is a direct, intentional action meant to prod employees to leave and avoid the process of firing them.

The "why" behind quiet firing is unique to an organization and its current situation. Still, there are worrisome workplace conditions and practices that typically precede or accompany quiet firing, including the following:

• Lack of communication. Any breakdown in communication between managers and employees often leads to misaligned expectations, meaningless -- or nonexistent -- feedback and a more fragmented team overall, often leaving employees feeling undervalued and neglected.
• Poor leadership. When good leadership is lacking, sometimes quiet firing is an unintended consequence. Competent managers listen to and provide for employees' day-to-day needs, ensuring all necessary support and resources are available.
• Avoidance. Managers who fear tough conversations about employee performance or behavior sometimes choose quiet firing instead. These managers create an uncomfortable or unwelcoming environment to push employees to leave on their own and avoid a difficult discussion.
• Termination cost concerns. Terminating an employee is costly -- from paid time off and severance for the outgoing employee to hiring and training the replacement. This doesn't include costs associated with terminated employees who take legal action. Again, poor managers foster an inhospitable workplace, hoping employees leave rather than requiring termination.
• Toxic culture. An unhealthy workplace culture contributes to quiet firing. Lack of trust, lack of communication and lack of growth are toxic to employees. Many leave rather than endure that environment.

Consequences of quiet firing

Quiet firing damages more than the employee who leaves; its effects ripple across the team and possibly the entire organization.

Quiet firing's adverse effects often exacerbate the workplace's already unhealthy environment, creating a cycle of negativity that eventually harms the business's bottom line. These adverse effects include the following:

• Lower morale. When managers stop showing interest in an employee, that employee stops seeing value in their work, and their motivation decreases. If the practice of quiet firing becomes well known among the team, the behavior likely spreads to other employees, leading to lost productivity and erosion of trust in leadership and the organization overall.
• Less collaboration. Employees who are isolated or singled out due to quiet firing cannot effectively contribute to collaboration and teamwork. Plus, organizational miscommunication and misaligned expectations increase in this atmosphere, creating conflicts between employees.
• Damage to reputation. An organization publicly known to quiet fire its employees significantly damages its brand and reputation. The behavior likely hurts both recruitment and customer acquisition and retention.
• Higher turnover. Turnover doesn't end with the employee who was quiet fired. Others, concerned about being quiet fired themselves or unwilling to continue in such an environment, often follow suit and leave.

What to do if you are being quiet fired

If you, as an employee, suspect quiet firing, the following is a three-step guide to protect yourself and take back control:

1. Assess the situation. An affected employee must gather and document evidence of specific times when they felt excluded from the team, undervalued or overly criticized to support their case.
2. Start the conversation. Then, an employee must start an open and direct conversation with their manager to review the evidence and clear up any miscommunications. The conversation must be honest, but try to avoid confrontation. Sometimes, the instances needing review are as simple as managers overlooking employee needs.
3. Evaluate options. Depending on the results of the conversation, employees must evaluate options and create a plan to remedy the situation. Employees should clarify expectations or set up regular feedback meetings. Other times, the follow-up requires elevation to include human resources personnel or upper management.

Alison Roller is a freelance writer with experience in tech, HR and marketing.