"This is worse than COVID": Kevin O'Leary slams "quiet quitting" (VIDEO)
Kevin O’Leary has weighed in on the idea of “quiet quitting” after the workplace trend picked up steam in online discourse.
For the uninitiated, quiet quitting is not about quitting your job by simply not showing up to work anymore. It isn’t an unexpected formal resignation.
Instead, “quiet quitting” refers to an employee simply doing the bare minimum required of their job and not going the extra mile. It is often, if not always, triggered by burnout and a bad work-life balance.
On Wednesday, O’Leary shared a video of him talking about the practice — and condemning it vehemently — on his LinkedIn page. The clip is from his CNBC interview on August 26.
The conservative businessman who is a judge on the reality TV show Shark Tank began by talking about how the economy is changing and people are working from home or other non-office locations.
He stressed that work is now “project-based” instead of a nine-to-five job, and employees are hired and trusted to finish things off instead of focusing on their clock-out times.
“You build a culture when you bring somebody in that slams shut their laptop at five o’clock, you’re introducing a cancer into your culture,” he said. “Eventually, you’re going to have to do surgery and cut it out. The whole idea would be [to] avoid these people.”
O’Leary talked about the workplace trend affecting small businesses, even though the current discussion on “quiet quitting” largely revolves around big companies and corporations.
“I don’t know where this started. It’s the worst idea I’ve ever heard,” said the investor whose net worth stands somewhere in the ballpark of $450 million. “It’s against what we do in business. It doesn’t matter whether you’re working anymore at 6 am or 2 in the morning. You’re just getting your job done. That’s the freedom the economy’s giving you now in a distance space.”
He concluded his thoughts by saying the trend was “like a virus” and “worse than COVID,” the pandemic that has so far killed 6.5 million people around the world.
The response to O’Leary’s words is mixed, but skews in favour of employees.
“Mr. Wonderful is gaslighting us,” said Raymond Drake Founder Jeff Hebert. “Quiet quitting isn’t a long-overdue response to management that has been designing jobs that can’t be done in a 40-hour work week, it’s lazy, disloyal people who won’t give up their life so management can make more money.”
BC-based Business Development Manager Angela Tahara shared that there was a simple fix to the issue. “When an employee is appreciated and creatively engaged, they do more,” she said. “Put down the whip, Mr. Wonderful.”
“If the overtime isn’t approved then I leave on time,” added Transportation Coordinator Ricardo Torres.
On the other hand, Copy Editor Angie DeRosa said she could not agree more with O’Leary. “Do what it takes to get the job done.”
“The new freedoms of remote and hybrid work shouldn’t lessen an individual’s drive to work hard, produce a good product or service, to exceed expectations and get ahead in life,” said Jay Taylor, director of sales at Nessit. “Nine-to-five may be going the way of the dodo. But getting the job done will always be the law of the land! Get used to it.”
What are your thoughts on this workplace trend? Should employees be expected to go the extra mile without the extra pay or appreciation, or do they owe their employer unpaid overtime work in order to keep their job?
Let us know in the comments.
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