Soft quitting is quietly undermining businesses—here’s how to stop it

Soft quitting might not make headlines like full-on mass resignations, but its impact can be just as devastating to your business. When employees soft quit and disengage, they do the bare minimum and that creates ripple effects that can affect productivity, morale, and even the overall mood in the office.

But soft quitting doesn't just happen out of nowhere; it often reflects a lack of connection and you see it when something stands in the way of your people doing their best work.

And that's where business managers have some good news. By identifying those roadblocks you can transform disengaged employees into loyal, high-performers. Even better, you can use what you’ve learned to create a team culture where new employees are excited to join your team.

What is soft quitting?

Soft quitting is when employees disengage from their roles, doing just enough to meet expectations. When employees soft quit, they are no longer fully invested in their work or the company’s goals, won’t take ownership of their work or put in extra effort, and will often perform the minimum amount of work to coast by without causing an issue.

It’s not the same as outright quitting where they leave the company. Instead, with soft quitting, employees are actively disengaged, and there’s a gradual withdrawal from tasks, creativity, and initiative. 

In a day to day scenario, the signs of soft quitting include:

• A noticeable drop in enthusiasm or energy during team meetings or projects
• Reduced participation in discussions or a reluctance to share ideas
• Avoiding additional responsibilities and tasks
• Consistently meeting, but never exceeding, basic job expectations
• Avoiding long-term planning or strategic initiatives
• Lack of effort in building or maintaining professional relationships with coworkers

What’s the difference between soft quitting and quiet quitting?

There are a lot of similarities between soft quitting and quiet quitting. Generally speaking, the term quiet quitting refers to employees who have made a conscious decision to do the absolute minimum required. They may still engage with other employees, but they will likely make it quite obvious that they're not interested in doing anything beyond the essentials for the company.

With soft quitting, it appears that it's more of a psychological disconnection from the role. The worker might still perform their duties to the same standards expected of them, but they are clearly not interested in any other aspects of the workplace, whether thats social or professional.

As soft quitting implies a mental health issue, there are a number of reasons why soft quitting might be a sign that there is an issue with your workplace.

Why do employees soft quit?

It can be hard to specify exactly why quiet quitting and soft quitting happen, but there are a few potentially obvious issues. This will, of course, vary widely between organizations.

In some instances, it can be a toxic environment at work, or high levels of stress that cause employees to disengage.

When it comes to general work satisfaction, employees often quiet quit due to:

• Poor workload management
• Poor communication
• Lack of growth opportunities
• Unclear or (perceived) unreasonable expectations
• Perceived issues with favoritism, bullying or other aspects of toxic workplace culture
• Issues around health and safety at work
• High stress environments
• Feeling undervalued or ignored
• Quiet firing: Workers feeling pushed out or sidelined
• Personal reasons such as illness or grief

While this is not an exhaustive list, it does illustrate how many factors can impact your workforce and how soft or quiet quitters can be made. In fact, often it's due to a combination of these factors.

A 2018 survey found that 55% of employees are likely to quit if they don’t get adequate recognition for their work. A portion of these employees will quit completely, but some of them also soft quit, as they slowly disengage from the company. 

Another common reason is leadership disconnect, and unwillingness to acknowledge employee requests. An example is what we saw with Amazon in late 2024 when workers threatened to soft quit their job after the company demanded return to work. Here, the motive is clear as day: employees wanted working conditions/flexibility that wasn't provided by management.

According to Amazon, the return to work mandate was to improve employee learning, collaboration and strengthen overall culture. But figures from Gartner have shown that workers are much more productive when they have a flexible work schedule, especially in a hybrid environment. 

Strategies to make soft quitting work for your business

Spotting soft quitting can raise a red flag about many issues within your organization. But it’s also a chance to steer the ship in the right direction. Your leadership has the opportunity to take that disengagement and build it into a stronger, more engaged team of engaged employees, with the right steps.

It all starts with tackling the root causes of quiet quitting and creating a happy work place for your employees. If your workers are happy at work, they are more likely to stay engaged. 

1. Give employees the recognition they deserve

Take a closer look at how you acknowledge your workers’ contributions. There are different levels of recognition, and for an employee that smashed previous sales records, a simple “good job” on the team meeting might not cut it. 

People want to feel their work has a meaningful impact, and a big part of the job is figuring out which recognition efforts match their contributions. 

Here are some to think about, in increasing order of magnitude:

• Verbal praise
• Mini perks like coffee gift cards or an extra break
• Certificates and badges
• Acknowledgement on employee recognition boards
• Team lunches
• Time off
• Promotions and raises
• Award ceremonies
• Large bonuses

2. Actually act on feedback

Open lines of communication, sophisticated corporate communication tools, and even regular town hall meetings are great. But if employee feedback isn’t acted on, what’s the point?

Regular one-on-one check-ins can help uncover employees' frustrations, whether it’s workload issues, unclear expectations, or challenges with management. 

Digital display screens in the office can reinforce this culture of open communication by showcasing real-time updates, employee feedback initiatives, and key takeaways from leadership meetings. When employees see that their input leads to visible changes, they’re more likely to stay engaged.

But beyond that, you need to create an action plan for employees’ concerns and involve them in the solutions. That way, your workers are less likely to disengage and can commit to being part of the change they crave.

3. Let your people work with their strengths

When people feel misaligned with their job responsibilities, it’s easy for them to disengage and mentally walk away from the task at hand. The solution isn’t necessarily easy to execute, but it can lead to a marked increase in productivity. 

Take time to assess whether your employee’s job description truly match their strengths and interests. A slight shift in duties could reenergize someone who feels disconnected from their work, and encourage them to take ownership once more.

4. Offer benefits that people actually want

Benefits that address real needs can make a big impact on their employee experience. Standard healthcare and retirement plans are very helpful and can give employees peace of mind. But beyond that, consider alternatives that your workers will appreciate just as well. You could even include them in the decision, and crowdsource the benefits adjustments.

One way to execute is to let workers vote on which perks they’d most like to see improved, based on a list of the most requested benefits.  

5. Make work-life balance a huge priority

Burnout is a major driver of soft and quiet quitting, and an obvious solution would be to prioritize more work-life balance for your employees. But anybody who’s tried to achieve balance will tell you that it's not a constant state of being. Priorities are constantly shifting whether it’s a new big project at work or some personal matters you need to attend to. Or maybe, you might just need a whole weekend to yourself as you keep burnout at bay.

Whatever the case may be, it’s clear that work life balance needs constant work—flexible work hours and PTO might not be enough. Here are some other strategies you could try:

• Purpose driven sabbaticals: Here, employees are offered extended leave to pursue personal passions or goals
• Family-friendly office hours: Adjust office policies to accommodate parents that need to drop off and pick up their kids, for example
• Personalized down time plans: Work with employees to create individualized plans for taking time off that works for each person.

6. Give employees opportunities to grow

Having active personal and professional goals can reduce the chances that your employees will disengage. If they are looking forward to the next scheduled training or office workshop session, they are more likely to show up, eager to practice what they’ve learned.

Surveys back this up, with the 2024 Gallup-Amazon Research finding that active training and professional development opportunities can increase engagement and employee retention.

Employee training doesn’t have to take up the whole day. You can use your corporate digital signage to deliver bite sized information to your employees, keeping them up to speed on the latest work related information.

Read More: Using Digital Signage for Employee Training

For more advanced professional learning opportunities, you could: 

• Offer subscriptions to online learning platforms like LinkedIn learning, Coursera or Udemy
• Support employees’ higher learning pursuits by reimbursing tuition fees
• Create leadership development programs in house to groom future leaders

Turning soft quitting around with digital signage

More than anything else, soft quitting comes from a place of employee dissatisfaction. And that makes it a huge opportunity for progress in your organization. If you can recognize and act on these root causes—lack of recognition, growth opportunities, or work-life balance—you can create an environment where people are empowered. Instead of mentally checking out, they voice their concerns and find productive ways to plug back in to the company’s goals.

Key strategies like offering meaningful benefits and aligning roles with employees’ strengths can be instrumental when trying to make soft quitting work for you.

Digital signage can also plays a powerful role here, whether it’s streamlining communication, celebrating achievements, delivering ongoing professional development, or boosting overall employee engagement. 

Since Gallup found that half of the global workforce consists of soft and quiet quitters, your business can’t afford to run without a valuable employee engagement tool like digital signage. Make digital signage a central part of your strategy today.

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