In a TikTok video that has gone viral with over 527,000 views, Joanna Briggs (@whatmatterscic) details the practice of being “managed out” of your job.
Move over “quiet quitting,” there’s a new passive-aggressive behavior taking over the corporate workforce called “quiet firing.” The Washington Post describes the phenomenon as being “nudged out by a manager who can’t fire you but is making your job increasingly unpleasant and unrewarding.” This is exactly what Joanna, the founder of youth career developmental organization What Matters CIC, warns followers of in her viral video.
The TikTok is a stitch that responds to user @jennahushka’s video in which Jenna asks people to elaborate on something that they were not prepared to encounter in the corporate world. “That instead of firing you, they will just manage you out,” Joanna says to the camera in her stitched video.
@whatmatterscic #stitch with @Jenna | Corporate Humor Corporate secrets revealed; Getting managed out of your company #fyp #whatmatterscic #corporatelife #careertok #joblife #management ♬ original sound – What Matters CIC
The ex-HR professional goes on to explain the practice. Many people believe that if they work hard at their job, they will simply reap the rewards that are due to them. Conversely, Joanna says, you might think that if you were bad at your job, “they will just sit you down, have a conversation and say, ‘hey, this isn’t working.’”
But, the TikTok creator explains this is often not the case in large corporations. “Instead, your manager will talk to everyone else under the sun, apart from you,” she says, leading others at the company to also believe that you are bad at your job. This will “just make it difficult for you to stay.”
“Companies would much rather you leave…rather than them having to actually address the issues and train you properly or help support you become a better employee for their company,” Joanna says. But companies should be cautious about treating their employees as disposable assets as it leads to low morale and retaliatory behaviors like “quiet quitting.”
A Time article from Sept. 10, 2022, suggests that employees who find themselves in this situation be vocal about their needs with their supervisors and co-workers and familiarize themselves with their company’s policies for promotions and raises. That way, when it comes time to have a conversation with their supervisor (or their supervisor’s supervisor), they can better present their accomplishments and progression at the company.
Ultimately, Joanna urges her followers to read the room and trust their intuition. “If you’re not getting those promotions, if you’re not getting those pay rises, and if something in you is telling you this isn’t right, trust me, your gut isn’t lying to you,” she says.
Update 3:06pm CT Sept. 30: In an email to the Daily Dot, Joanna reiterated her message regarding the harms of “quiet firing” for young workers.
“Quiet firing has always been the culture at many organisations but has huge ramifications for young adults, particularly from low socioeconomic backgrounds,” she wrote. “The fruits of your labour are oh so quickly enjoyed, yet, at the wim of [often] bad management, your confidence & identity in the workplace gets chipped at due to conflict avoidant leadership teams who would rather speak around the issue rather than address it & retain good or promising talent.”
Joanna also noted that her career development organization seeks to offer support to those who haven’t received the proper support from their workplaces.
“This is why the work I do through What Matters CIC is so important – being the support and educator for those who are often overlooked yet overworked,” she concluded.
