Woman relaxing with feet up on sofa at home (C: Getty Images/Westend61)
‘I feel disillusioned as ****,’ says 33-year-old lawyer Shireen. Despite earning above £100k a year, a sense of isolation, lack of support, constant comparisons, overtime and what she deems a toxic workplace culture have become too much for Shireen.
Shireen, whose dream was to work as a lawyer, feels disconnected from her career, unable to see a way through it. She has gone beyond quiet quitting, no longer even doing the minimum expected of her at her job.
She tells Metro.co.uk: ‘Being a lawyer is everything I know and now, thanks to how they treat me, I have no idea what I’m going to do. I was missold the type of job I was doing. I was constantly compared to my more senior colleagues which made me feel inadequate and made me stop caring.
‘I was told in meetings I needed to improve, but not supported in the transition from my old job to my new one [after an internal change]. So I started to sleep during the day, pretend to WFH and do my personal admin, therapy, whatever I felt like because I just didn’t care anymore.
‘I’ve called in sick or taken back control by wasting company time. I’ve been going to networking events saying I’m doing “client events” but really looking for a new job.’
Shireen isn’t the only person tired and fed up. And in some cases, it’s impacting our health.
Research has shown British workers are taking a record number of sick days compared to a decade ago.
Where staff took 5.8 sick days per year before the pandemic, the number has shot up to 7.8 in the past year, according to the Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development (CIPD).
In a survey of 918 organisations, representing 6.5 million employees, more than 76% of respondents reported stress-related absence in their organisation in the past year. Other common reasons for absences were general poor mental health, musculoskeletal problems, and Covid.
Though 44% of employees now work from home for at least some of the week, it seems we’re yet to find a hybrid working model that actually works for both employees and employers.
A lack of social contact can leave some workers feeling isolated, but somewhat paradoxically, mandatory office days can fuel resentment, when staff know they can get the job done at home without the costs of a commute.
Most respondents (87%) to the CIPD survey said they’d observed presenteeism in the past 12 months.
The result of this workplace culture clash? Some workers are looking to ‘take back control’ with an abundance of sick days, quiet quitting, and time theft.
The recent coffee badging trend is just one example. It sees workers coming into the office to have a chat with colleagues while grabbing a coffee to gain the ‘badge’ of ticking off in-person interactions.
But these techniques don’t necessarily make anyone feel any better or tackle the root causes of burnout.
Maya, a secondary school teacher from London, noticed the patch of hairlessness on her head getting worse, as her alopecia and psoriasis flared up.
These painful autoimmune health conditions often increase at times when her work-related stress becomes too much to handle.
‘My body is so tired, so overworked, so burnt out,’ Maya, who’s speaking under a pseudonym, tells Metro.co.uk. ‘Recently, I just completely slept through my morning alarms, my body needed the rest. My workplace started calling up my family members asking why I wasn’t in. Not only was this stressful for me, my family members were also left worried.’
Workers say stress and burnout are leading to more sick days (Picture: Getty Images)
In recent months, Maya has had to call in sick to deal with burnout that she says is the result of long working hours and high demands in teaching.
This is something that 29-year-old Zara* can relate to. The software engineer from London says overworking, coupled with stagnant wages, has left her committing time theft – using up company time to do non-work things and showing up to do the bare minimum.
‘I’ve been at my company 18 months,’ she tells Metro.co.uk. ‘I was initially supposed to get a pay rise and promotion in September after six months of long hours, lots of stress, crazy workload – I was told that it’s getting pushed back to January.
‘I was supposed to get a written confirmation of this promotion a month ago but I’ve got nothing, so I’ve been quiet quitting. I filled up my diary so people can’t contact me, taking a whole day to do two hours worth of work. I’m starting later, logging off earlier, taking extended lunch breaks.
‘Six months of being thrown in the deep end, doing long hours and lots of stress with the promise of a pay rise that never materialised are reasons I became burnt out. I feel undervalued and taken advantage of.’
Zara has decided to coast on this job unless things get better, but she thinks it’s unlikely, so is looking for opportunities elsewhere.
While time theft and sick days might make workers feel like they have some control, in the long run they can be detrimental, says career coach Natalie Trice.
She tells Metro.co.uk: ‘These actions, often rooted in a sense of discontent or a desire for more autonomy, might feel like short-term solutions when you are feeling undervalued or overwhelmed, but the reality is they can inadvertently lead to a detrimental cycle of decreased job satisfaction and engagement, which isn’t good for the employee, teams or and an organisation.’
Natalie says this sort of dissatisfaction is something she has seen with many different workers. She notes that if people are committing time theft and the like, it can reinforce stereotypes about WFH productivity, which can result in mandatory office days, which workers might be even more reluctant to do.
She adds: ‘Silent protests can feel like a way of regaining control in an environment where someone feels as if they are being overlooked, but change can be made for the better. Being able to openly communicate with managers or HR, discussing concerns, seeking flexible hours, workload adjustments, or getting some mental health support can be more effective in the long run.’
Career coach Natalie Trice says talking through work challenges is better than ignoring them (Picture: Getty Images)
As a career coach, she advocates a dual approach.
‘Organisations need to proactively create environments of trust and set out expectations and employees need to feel heard and valued. Regular check-ins, support systems, and adaptability to changing needs are crucial,’ she says.
‘Simultaneously, employees should be encouraged to voice their concerns constructively and seek out career development and packages of support to help them navigate their career paths effectively. It’s about creating a balance where both parties understand and respect each other’s needs, leading to a healthier, more productive work environment.’
One way employers can show workers they care is by giving them time back. At least that’s the argument made by the 4-Day Week Global campaign, which has seen more than 70 UK companies join its pilot scheme to reduce hours worked without a dock to pay.
The results of the scheme found that 71% of workers were less burned-out, 39% were less stressed and 48% said they were more satisfied with their jobs than before the trial. Though admittedly, it didn’t work for everyone.
Dale Whelehan from 4-Day Week Global tells Metro.co.uk: ‘The human workforce is not working optimally at the moment and is experiencing high levels of stress and burnout due to long working hours. By introducing a four-day week, people are required to fundamentally shift what productivity looks like.
‘Businesses need to understand the importance of rest and recovery. You can get a lot more out of your workforce by making them less burned out and better rested, and ultimately then drive business performance.’
When it comes to the four-day week, some worry that this means more workloads or longer hours for the rest of the week. But Wheelan says it’s about working smarter, not longer.
‘People have to take a step back and look a little bit more strategically about how they work in order to achieve the same level of outcomes in a shorter amount of time.
‘And all of the research in our trials to date have found that when organisations fundamentally understand this and implement it, they improve their ways of working which can ultimately help with not just reducing working hours but also leading to the same level of output if not more.’
While it’s not simply up to the individual to just ameliorate their working conditions, or indeed choose to implement shorter working hours, there are some things they can do on a personal level.
This might look like speaking to a line manager or another leader about workloads. It might mean asking help from colleagues, or even seeing them outside of work to share camaraderie.
It might provide an opportunity to join a union and seek more worker rights. Ultimately, workers have more power than we think. But pretending to work won’t solve anything.
*Names have been changed.
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Tried of toxic workplaces, employees are no longer quiet quitting — they’re brazenly braking the rules.
