Jump to content

Work-to-rule

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Ayushm07 (talk | contribs) at 11:25, 16 November 2022 (→External links). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Part of a series on
Organized labour
Labour movement
Labour rights
Trade unions
Strike action
Labour parties
Academic disciplines

Work-to-rule is a job action in which employees do no more than the minimum required by the rules of their contract or job.[1][2] This may cause a slowdown or decrease in productivity if the employer does not hire enough employees or pay the appropriate salary and as such does not have the requirements needed to run at the level they desire.[3][4] It is a form of protest against low pay and poor working conditions,[5] and is considered less disruptive than a strike or lockout as obeying the rules is less susceptible to disciplinary action.

Applications

Quiet quitting

Quiet quitting is an application of work-to-rule.[6][7] Despite the name, the philosophy of quiet quitting is not connected to quitting a job outright, but rather, employees avoid going above and beyond at work by doing the bare minimum required and engage in work-related activities solely within defined work hours.[8] Proponents of quiet quitting also refer to it as acting your wage[9] and say that the goal of quiet quitting is not to disrupt the workplace, but to avoid occupational burnout and to improve work-life balance.

There are no verifiable sources as to who coined the phrase,[10] but it became popular during 2022, mostly through the social video platform TikTok.[11] In 2022, quiet quitting experienced a surge in popularity in numerous publications following a viral TikTok video[12] which was inspired by a Business Insider article.[13] That same year, Gallup found that roughly half of the U.S. workforce were quiet quitters.[14]

Response

While individual contributors might think in terms of otherwise "engaged workers setting reasonable boundaries", their employers might see them instead as "slackers who are willfully underperforming".[15] Sometimes work-to-rule can be considered by employers as malicious compliance as they pursue legal action against workers. While not legally enforceable under minimum statutory law, employers may enforce customized employment contract terms that the employee agreed to:

  • Overtime is waived in part, in whole, or converted to time-in-lieu
  • Breaks are set by management
  • Job description includes "ad-hoc task" or "as assigned"
  • Termination for any reason

They may also take standard forms of action especially where custom terms were not negotiated during the offer:

  • Warning and noting employee file for professional misconduct or insubordination
  • Reassigning employee to insignificant, routine, or mundane tasks

The opposite of 'quiet quitting' is 'quiet firing', in which an employer deliberately offers only a minimum wage and benefits and denies any advances in the hope that an unwanted employee would quit.[16][17] The phrase could also mean employers reducing the scope of a worker's responsibilities to encourage them to quit voluntarily.[15] "Quiet hiring" is another term that has been used to describe a strategy by employers to give additional responsibilities and unpaid extra workload to hard-working employees.[18]

Examples

Notable examples of work-to-rule have included nurses refusing to answer telephones, teachers refusing to work for free at night and during weekends and holidays, and police officers refusing to issue citations. Refusal to work overtime, travel on duty, or sign up to other tasks requiring employee assent are other manifestations of using work-to-rule as industrial action.[citation needed]

Although the term quiet quitting was popularised in 2022,[19] aspects of quiet quitting have existed in the workplace and popular culture for much longer. The film Office Space (1999) depicts a character engaging in quiet quitting; in the film, Ron Livingston's character Peter Gibbons abandons the concept of work entirely and does the bare minimum required of him.[20]

See also

References

  1. ^ . Collins Dictionary https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/work-to-rule. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  2. ^ . Cambridge Dictionary https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/work-to-rule. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  3. ^ Morgan, Gareth (1998). Images of Organization. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications. p. 165. ISBN 0-7619-1752-7. Retrieved 12 January 2019.
  4. ^ "Air Canada Hit By Work-to-Rule". The Sun. Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. 9 December 1968. pp. 1–2. Retrieved 12 January 2019.
  5. ^ . Camrbidge Dictionary https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/work-to-rule. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  6. ^ "Column: 'Quiet quitting' is just a new name for an old reality". Los Angeles Times. 25 August 2022.
  7. ^ Lord, Jonathan. "Quiet quitting is a new name for an old method of industrial action". The Conversation.
  8. ^ Multiple sources:
  9. ^ "'Business'". "The Economist". 1 September 2022. Retrieved 3 September 2022.
  10. ^ Hitt, Tarpley. "The Libertarian Who Supposedly Coined "Quiet Quitting"". Gawker. Retrieved 15 October 2022.
  11. ^ "If Your Co-Workers Are 'Quiet Quitting,' Here's What That Means". Wall Street Journal. 12 August 2022.
  12. ^ Teitell, Beth (16 September 2022). "As quiet quitting goes viral, it's turning into the pumpkin spice of 2022". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 23 September 2022.
  13. ^ Seward, Zachary M. (26 October 2022). "The guy who inspired the 'quiet quitting' movement is back to working 50 hours a week". Quartz. Retrieved 3 November 2022.
  14. ^ Harter, Jim (6 September 2022). "Is Quiet Quitting Real?". Gallup.com. Retrieved 6 September 2022.
  15. ^ a b Miller, Karla L. (8 September 2022). "Actually, we've been 'quiet quitting' and 'quiet firing' for years". The Washington Post. Retrieved 12 September 2022.
  16. ^ Miller, Karla L. (1 September 2022). "After 'quiet quitting,' here comes 'quiet firing'". Business. The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 2 September 2022. Retrieved 21 September 2022.
  17. ^ Borchers, Callum (29 September 2022). "Employers strike back at 'Quitters'". The Wall Street Journal. pp. A12.
  18. ^ Breen, Amanda (9 September 2022). "Google's 'Quiet Hiring' Method Is Bad News for 'Quiet Quitters'". Entrepreneur. Retrieved 13 September 2022.
  19. ^ "'I was working 60 hours a week so I quiet quit'". 30 August 2022.
  20. ^ Albom, Mitch (28 August 2022). "Mitch Albom: The only thing new about quiet quitting is the name". Detroit Free Press. Retrieved 5 September 2022.


Stub icon

This article related to a strike action or other labor dispute is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Work-to-rule&oldid=1122206241"