The surprising origin of the ‘quiet quitting’ trend sweeping multiple countries

Workers all over the world are jumping on a new “quiet quitting” trend to fight back against their demanding jobs. But the origin of the movement will probably come as a surprise to many.

Quiet quitting is essentially a rejection of the idea that work has to take over your life and that you, as an employee, should be going above and beyond in your role.

Instead, people are now reverting to only performing the duties outlined in their job description and politely declining to take on any more responsibilities outside of that or work longer hours than necessary.

Now, it appears the concept has its origins in China.

The Asian nation is known for its strict work ethic, with the country’s culture of hard work and diligence a point of pride.

So it may shock many that the concept of “quiet quitting” is actually derived from a movement that began sweeping through China last year known as “lying flat” or tang ping.

A new wave of young workers are rebelling against the concept of long, arduous work hours in China, with the “lying flat” concept gaining extreme popularity throughout 2021.

The trend jump-started in April 2021 when an online post about the concept went viral, with the author poking holes in the old mindset that work must be your life.

The movement gained so much attention that the CCP-run newspaper, the Guangming Daily, published commentary pushing back against it.

“The creative contribution of our youth is indispensable to achieving the goal of high-quality development,” China University of Labor Relations official Wang Xingyu was quoted as saying.

“Attending to those ‘lying flat,’ and giving them the will to struggle, is a prime necessity for our country as it faces the task of transitioning development.”

Another CCP mouthpiece, Nanfang Daily, ran four pages of commentary over why the “lying flat” trend was harmful, calling it “shameful” and “unjust”.

In fact, the ruling party became so worked up about the trend that President Xi Jinping issued an explicit warning to young citizens.

“A happy life is achieved through struggle, and common prosperity depends on hard work and wisdom,” he wrote in a CCP journal in October last year.

“It is necessary to prevent the solidification of social strata, smooth the upward flow channels, create opportunities for more people to become rich, form a development environment where everyone participates, and avoid ‘involution’ and ‘lying flat’.”

Despite this, many young Chinese people have stuck with the trend, with one person telling the BBC he won’t be stopping anytime soon.

The man, named only as Jeff, told the outlet work became his life after taking a job as a highly paid app developer in Beijing, leaving him unable to have any kind of meaningful social life outside of work.

When Covid-19 hit, Jeff finally found time to reassess his priorities, taking leave for travel and eventually quitting his job and finding a new, less-demanding role.

“All my hobbies that I discovered during my ‘lying down’ time – skiing, rock climbing – I’ll be able to keep doing them all. I have time to do what I love. I’m very satisfied,” he told the outlet.

“I’m continuing to get rid of the negative energy in my life. I think 2022 will be an upgrade on 2021, but I still don’t want to do anything. I will continue to ‘lie flat’. I enjoy this state.”

Australians are embracing the ‘quiet quitting’ trend

A recent viral TikTok about the movement sparked a lively discussion on a Brisbane Reddit thread, where many users explained they have adopted this method with a lot of success.

“I stepped down from a management position to a lower one with less hours to study,” one user said.

“Went from putting in 110 per cent into everything I did to the absolute bare minimum required to keep me happy and employed.”

Another user, a nurse, said they had definitely “dialled down” their time spent at work after having to take time off due to burnout and family issues.

“Since I’ve been back, I only work two to three shifts a week. I do what my job needs me to do,” they wrote.

“My work ethic is still strong but I no longer put my hand up for every other shift and I say no to some that are asked of me.

“I do stay for emergencies after hours but I won’t always be the one to do it. I absolutely don’t want extra responsibility anymore. There are others to do that.”

Another person said they have been “doing this for years”, while one person said they adopted this method earlier this year and have since found life is “more enjoyable and felt less stress”.

Others pointed out that this wasn’t a new concept, claiming it was nothing more than “healthy boundaries” and having a work-life balance, something any decent company should ensure exists.

One person claimed that the quiet quitting movement seemed to be more prevalent in Brisbane compared to other major cities.

“Having worked up and down the east coast, Brisbane is already ‘quiet quitting’ compared to Melbourne and Sydney,” they wrote.

“What I am noticing is that professional career paths are heading towards more rewarding, creative jobs with less stress. In other words, let the ambitious ones push for the stressful positions.”