A new culture of work has been quietly spreading around offices, factories and workplaces worldwide. Workers are increasingly embracing the concept of "quiet quitting". This emerging phenomenon entails workers slowly abandoning doing things that are not part of their contract. The website entrepreneur.com defines quiet quitting as follows: "Quiet quitting is the process of coming to work to achieve the minimum requirements of your role in the time that you're there, then leaving. No offers of overtime, no stepping outside your designated obligations, no going the extra mile. It's the silent withdrawal of extra labor to mitigate what are perceived as unreasonable pressures."

Quiet quitting has increased in popularity since the coronavirus pandemic. People are reassessing their attitudes towards work. They have decided to achieve a more fulfilling work-life balance, and focus on avoiding job burnout. Workers are jettisoning unpaid duties they once voluntarily carried out in their workplaces. They do the bare minimum and leave at five on the dot. Some employers are responding with what is being termed as "quiet firing". This is when bosses try to get employees to leave. They do this by not raising salaries, disregarding employees' ideas and omitting them from meetings. A LinkedIn poll found that 48 per cent of employees in a survey have seen quiet firing in the workplace.