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The Phenomenon That Isn’t Actually New

“Quiet quitting” became the workplace buzzword of 2022, sparking countless think pieces, LinkedIn debates, and panicked boardroom discussions.

The concept seemed simple: employees doing the bare minimum required by their job descriptions. Showing up. Completing tasks. But refusing to go above and beyond. No extra hours. No discretionary effort. No passion.

Management blamed entitled workers. Employees blamed toxic workplaces. Everyone had an opinion.

But here’s what nearly everyone missed: quiet quitting isn’t new, and it isn’t really about quitting at all.

It’s what happens when someone’s natural passions, strengths, and values are fundamentally misaligned with the work they’re doing every day.

Call it disengagement. Call it withdrawal. Call it self-preservation.

But don’t call it laziness. Because the same employee who seems checked out in their current role might bring extraordinary energy and commitment to work that actually aligns with who they are.

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What Quiet Quitting Actually Looks Like

Let’s get specific about what quiet quitting behavior actually involves, because it’s more nuanced than “lazy employees.”

You see it when:

• An employee who used to volunteer for projects now only does exactly what’s assigned
• Someone who once stayed late to help teammates now leaves precisely at 5:00 PM
• A team member who contributed ideas in meetings now sits silently unless directly asked
• An employee who took initiative now waits for explicit instructions for everything
• Someone who was genuinely invested in outcomes now just completes tasks mechanically

Notice what’s common across these examples? These aren’t incompetent employees. They’re disengaged ones.

And disengagement doesn’t happen randomly. It happens when there’s a fundamental mismatch between what energizes someone and what their job actually requires them to do.

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The Misalignment Behind Quiet Quitting

Think about the last time you felt genuinely excited to work on something.

Maybe it was a project that played to your natural strengths. Or a challenge that aligned perfectly with what you value. Or a role where you could see the direct impact of your contributions.

How much effort did it take to motivate yourself? Probably none. The work itself was motivating.

Now think about a time when you felt like you were forcing yourself through each day.

Maybe the tasks felt meaningless. Or they required strengths you don’t naturally possess. Or they conflicted with what you actually care about.

How much willpower did it take just to meet basic expectations? Probably a lot. And you definitely weren’t volunteering for extra projects.

That’s the difference between passion alignment and passion misalignment.

And it’s why quiet quitting is really just loud misalignment that organizations have failed to address.

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The Three Types of Misalignment That Create Quiet Quitting

Quiet quitting doesn’t emerge from a single source. It typically stems from one (or more) of three fundamental misalignments:

1. Strengths Misalignment

This happens when someone’s daily responsibilities don’t leverage their natural talents.

Imagine hiring someone who loves strategic thinking and problem-solving, then putting them in a role that’s 90% administrative tasks and process compliance.

They’ll do the work. They might even do it competently. But they won’t bring passion or discretionary effort because the job fundamentally drains them rather than energizes them.

2. Values Misalignment

This occurs when someone’s personal values conflict with how their role operates or what it prioritizes.

Maybe they deeply value autonomy, but their role requires constant oversight and approval for every decision. Or they value innovation, but their department rewards risk aversion and following established procedures.

The friction between their values and their daily reality creates quiet quitting as a form of self-protection.

3. Purpose Misalignment

This happens when someone can’t connect their work to anything they find meaningful.

They might be good at the tasks. The tasks might even match their strengths. But if they can’t answer “Why does this matter?” in a way that resonates with them personally, they’ll eventually disengage.

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Why Traditional Solutions to Quiet Quitting Fail

Most organizations respond to quiet quitting with predictable tactics:

• Offering more money or benefits
• Implementing engagement surveys
• Creating recognition programs
• Mandating team-building activities
• Sending managers to leadership training

These aren’t bad ideas. But they’re treating symptoms, not causes.

You can’t engagement-survey your way out of fundamental misalignment. You can’t bonus someone into loving work that drains them. You can’t train a manager to make someone passionate about tasks that conflict with their natural strengths.

The real solution requires going upstream to the hiring and placement decisions themselves.

Because quiet quitting prevention doesn’t start when someone becomes disengaged. It starts when you first evaluate whether they’re a good fit for the role in the first place.

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The Cost of Ignoring Quiet Quitting

Some leaders dismiss quiet quitting as a generational entitlement issue or a temporary trend that will fade.

That’s a costly mistake.

When employees quietly quit:

• Productivity declines as people do the minimum rather than bringing discretionary effort
• Innovation stalls because no one volunteers creative solutions
• Team morale erodes as disengagement spreads through social contagion
• Customer experience suffers when employees stop genuinely caring about outcomes
• Talent attrition accelerates as your best people leave for roles where they can thrive

And here’s what makes quiet quitting particularly insidious: it’s invisible on paper.

An employee who’s quietly quit might still meet their official job requirements. They might even hit their targets. But they’re not bringing the energy, initiative, and commitment that separate good performance from exceptional performance.

You don’t see the problem in productivity metrics until months later when you realize your team is stagnant, reactive, and uninspired.

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How Careerz Group Workforce Solutions Prevents Quiet Quitting

At Careerz Group, we believe quiet quitting prevention starts with passionate alignment from day one.

That’s why the Workforce Edition of the JPTI™ measures the three critical alignment factors that determine whether someone will bring genuine engagement to a role:

1. Passion for Job Functions

The JPTI™ identifies whether candidates will genuinely enjoy using the strengths required by the role.

This isn’t about whether they can do the work. It’s about whether the work will energize them or drain them over time.

When you hire people for roles they’re passionate about, quiet quitting becomes nearly impossible. They’re not forcing themselves to engage. Engagement comes naturally.

2. Values Alignment

The assessment reveals whether a candidate’s personal values align with your company’s core values and how the role operates.

When values align, employees don’t experience the internal friction that leads to disengagement. They feel like they belong. And people don’t quietly quit from places where they genuinely belong.

3. Purpose Connection

The JPTI™ helps identify whether candidates can find personal meaning in the work your role requires.

When someone can answer “Why does this matter to me?” authentically, they bring commitment that external motivators can’t create.

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The Three-Step Path to Quiet Quitting Prevention

Careerz Group Workforce Solutions helps you build teams where passionate engagement is the default, not the exception:

Step 1: Screen for Passion Alignment

Use the Workforce Edition of the JPTI™ during candidate screening to evaluate whether someone will genuinely enjoy and find meaning in the role you’re hiring for.

This prevents the misalignment that leads to quiet quitting before someone even joins your team.

Step 2: Realign Existing Employees

Apply the JPTI™ to your current workforce to identify where misalignment exists.

Sometimes your best employees are in the wrong roles. Realigning them to positions that match their passions transforms quiet quitters into engaged contributors.

Step 3: Design Roles Around Strengths

Use JPTI™ insights to shape role responsibilities around what actually energizes people rather than forcing people into rigid job descriptions.

When roles flex to leverage natural passions, quiet quitting becomes structurally impossible.

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What Happens When You Fix Misalignment

We’ve seen it repeatedly: the same employee who appeared to be quietly quitting in one role becomes a high performer when moved to work that aligns with their passions.

They’re not a different person. They’re the same person in the right environment.

Suddenly they:

• Volunteer for challenging projects
• Stay late not because they’re required to, but because they’re genuinely invested
• Contribute ideas proactively
• Help teammates without being asked
• Take pride in outcomes rather than just completing tasks

That’s not because you implemented a new engagement program. It’s because they’re finally doing work that energizes them rather than drains them.

That’s the power of alignment. And it’s why quiet quitting prevention isn’t about motivating disengaged employees. It’s about ensuring they’re in roles where motivation comes naturally.

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The Question You Should Be Asking

Stop asking: “How do I motivate quiet quitters to do more?”

Start asking: “Are my employees in roles that align with their natural passions, or have I created misalignment by design?”

That shift in thinking transforms quiet quitting from an employee problem into an organizational design opportunity.

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The Bottom Line

Quiet quitting isn’t a character flaw. It’s not generational entitlement. It’s not employees suddenly becoming lazy.

It’s what happens when talented people are placed in roles that fundamentally misalign with who they are and what energizes them.

You can’t engagement-program your way out of that. But you can hire and align your way into teams where passionate contribution is the norm.

The Workforce Edition of the JPTI™ gives you the insight to make alignment the foundation of your talent strategy, not an afterthought.

Stop managing disengagement. Start building teams where misalignment never takes root.

Ready to prevent quiet quitting through passionate alignment?

👉 Sign up for a complimentary trial of the JPTI™ Assessment and identify where misalignment exists in your organization.

👉 Book a discovery call to explore how Careerz Group Workforce Solutions helps you build teams where engagement is natural, not forced.

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