{"id":49529,"date":"2022-11-16T16:23:21","date_gmt":"2022-11-16T14:23:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/bloemnuus\/have-a-meaningful-relationship-with-your-work-20221116-2\/"},"modified":"2025-03-20T07:12:47","modified_gmt":"2025-03-20T05:12:47","slug":"have-a-meaningful-relationship-with-your-work-20221116-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/bloemnewsexpress\/have-a-meaningful-relationship-with-your-work-20221116-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Have a meaningful relationship with your work"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The new buzzword when it comes to how many people are navigating work is quiet quitting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cQuiet quitting is a new name for an old thing: disengagement. The challenge with the name \u2018quiet quitting\u2019 is that it places the reason and responsibility on the employee. It\u2019s their action and therefore their responsibility to sort themselves out,\u201d says Sarah Rice, chief people officer at Skynamo. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rice says that the pandemic and working from home have made the lines between work time, workplace, and work really porous and its hurting people. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPutting better boundaries in place isn\u2019t \u2018quiet quitting\u2019, it\u2019s just being a grown-up and looking after yourself. It\u2019s possible to hold a boundary with work and still be a contributing, engaged, productive member of your team.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Looking back on 2022, it\u2019s clear that while the world slowly found its feet after Covid-19, people are still grappling with the repercussions of trauma, stress and burnout, on both a personal and professional level. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSince 2020, we\u2019ve had to work harder than ever before. When we worked from home, we worked 14 hours a day and our boundaries between work and home were blurred. We were isolated from our colleagues, and our managers had to figure out a new way of working. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cToday, we\u2019re coming back into the office, and although we haven\u2019t recovered or acclimatised from the pandemic, even more is expected of us. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAdded to this, in South Africa we are burdened by load shedding, the struggling economy, the weak rand to dollar exchange rate, the rising cost of living and an ANC leadership battle. We are under a huge amount of pressure, and I think people are overwhelmed at a level that we haven\u2019t seen for the longest time. Plus, we\u2019re not setting healthy boundaries or getting the necessary work life balance.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the beginning of the year, the world was in the midst of the Great Resignation which has now led to the trend of quiet quitting. This disengagement is seen as the employee\u2019s action and therefore his or her responsibility to sort out. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s also not a helpful term because it validates the idea that people are essentially lazy and don\u2019t want to work \u2013 which we know is fundamentally untrue. It takes the responsibility away from the manager or company to create an environment where healthy engagement with work is possible. Moreover, it means businesses don\u2019t have to answer the really hard questions like whether hybrid, remote or in-office is working for us or what needs to change for the company to operate more effectively. Instead, it puts the whole burden on employees, which isn\u2019t fair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rice says the core of these trends are people trying to make their voices heard and communicate that the way we\u2019re currently working is not working for them. It\u2019s not helping with the current level of exhaustion and burnout they are experiencing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have limited energy and need to make choices about where to expend it. Is it quitting, or just aggressively prioritising how and where to spend our time? There is a lot of pressure from the outside right now and we have to be more attentive to what we need to be okay, or we will fall into a cycle of hopelessness. Ensuring our energy is going in the right direction is critical. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo, we need to find a balance, we don\u2019t want hustle culture where people get burnt out, but we don\u2019t want disengagement either. The age of hustle culture is hopefully over, and I hope that we aren\u2019t entering a period of lethargy, but rather one of balance.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Poet David Whyte says: \u201cYou know that the antidote to exhaustion is not necessarily rest. The antidote to exhaustion is wholeheartedness.\u201d This is not to say that we shouldn\u2019t rest, but the real solve is meaning. When we believe our work is meaningful it can support and nourish us, rather than just deplete and exhaust us. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe need to be in a meaningful relationship with our work, and I think employers are not respecting that they are in a relationship with every single person who works for their business. And just like in a human-to-human relationship, we have expectations such as the need for care, a need for belonging, a need for recognition, for respect and autonomy.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\u201cSo, we need to find a balance, we don\u2019t want hustle culture where people get burnt out, but we don\u2019t want disengagement either. The age of hustle culture is hopefully over, and I hope that we aren\u2019t entering a period of lethargy, but rather one of balance.\u201d<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

And unless the business is working on the relationship, people are going to feel like there\u2019s nothing meaningful about it. The relationship happens through the managers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf you find people are quiet quitting and disengaging from the business, that\u2019s because the relationship is lacking. We need to help our managers figure out how to have meaningful conversations. We are yearning for connection and managers are not superhuman \u2013 they\u2019re just like us and they\u2019re having the same experiences. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When it comes to re-engaging employees \u2013 by meeting their needs and giving them purpose \u2013 managers are the magic ingredient. Businesses need to help managers lead in a way that makes people feel cared for and empowered. Start with the basics. After years of focusing on \u2018leadership\u2019, we can forget that much of management is making sure the work happens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, start by:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n