Resenteeism: Unproductive and Resentful Employees
Are you tired of hearing about “quiet quitting” (the latest trend where employees stay on your payroll but do the bare minimum because they are burned out and feeling underappreciated)? Does part of you keep thinking these snowflakes need to buck up and work? Well, wait until you hear about the latest, Resenteeism. That’s the new word for when your employees are so resentful that they have to be there that they also don’t produce much, or worse, undermine things. If these trends make you cringe, they should. This is our world today. But what you should not do is ignore them or give up.
Today, more than ever, your ability to manage culture and talent is critical. There’s been a lot written about culture. The way I see it, culture is measured from the bottom up but driven from the top down. If you aren’t paying attention to it and employees are miserable OR your culture isn’t enabling you to deliver your strategy, fix it. If people can work well remotely and you aren’t allowing that, fix it. No excuses and enough said.
The other component though, is something most senior leaders do to some degree, but don’t focus nearly enough on, and it can make or break your organization in a market like this: Talent Management.
If you aren’t having talent conversations about every management level and setting clear expectations about how managers manage performance at every level, you’re missing the boat. I’ve lost count of the number of conversations I’ve had with clients in the past six months about managing underperformance and in most cases, they have been too slow to act on even shocking performance that a paycheck should not dignify.
Yes, you have a progressive discipline process, but most processes take too long and allow the employee to continue doing average work. The problem is that when you have quiet quitters or resenters, they occupy a desk that a fully productive, “thrilled to be there” person could be sitting at. If you catch this early and do something about it, they don’t become toxic and threaten others’ productivity by sending a message that this behavior is accepted in your culture. Promote them to customers before the cancer spreads. You can’t afford not to.
Yet, often I hear hesitation. Do I understand how long it takes to recruit? Do I realize this is a skill that will be difficult to find? We have a hiring freeze. I’ve heard it all, and yes, I do. If you can’t recruit great talent quickly, fix your recruiting process or get external help. This is not an excuse to let “dead wood” sit around for people to trip over and bring your culture down with it. You can banish quiet quitting and Resenteeism forever.
(How do you develop the proper relationships to help you internally at the workplace? Listen here as Jennifer explains:
Your job as a CEO or senior leader is to ensure that you:
- Are intentionally focused on building an effective culture from the top down
- Have consistent talent processes that are frequent and robust enough to quickly identify and reward great work and develop or act swiftly on those who need improvement
- Make accommodations to fix your recruiting process if that is the reason people aren’t acting on poor performers
Yes, it’s a weird time and a tough talent market. But a CEO does not have the luxury of making excuses. Leaders must be a bit ruthless to nip these trends in the bud before they fester in your organization. This is not the time to read the trends, cringe and assume it’s not happening “here” or that there is nothing you can do about it. You can. You should. You must.
***Are you struggling with quiet quitting or resenteeism? Set up a strategy call to find out how we can help you get employees reengaged.
***Don’t forget to check out Jennifer’s recent article Rising Above Assimilation where she explains why traditional plans no longer work in organizations.