Tag: Labour & Employment

“Quiet firing” is a subtle, often silent, form of constructive discharge/dismissal, which is when an employee is compelled to leave their job because of a hostile work environment or because of intolerable work conditions created by their employer.

The practice involves demoralising employees enough so they decide to quit voluntarily. The work environment is made so challenging or unfulfilling that the employee begins to question their own worth and feels they don’t have a future with the company.

Quiet firing can be difficult to identify and prove, but signs to look out for include: being intentionally isolated or frozen out; being excluded from activities, such as meetings you once attended; being marginalised or quietly sidelined; unexpectedly having your duties or responsibilities changed, or hours reduced; being assigned less challenging tasks, or very demanding tasks and being set up to fail; having achievements overlooked; being passed over for opportunities, or demoted without justification; and having support gradually withdrawn and getting minimal or no feedback.

Some companies seek to avoid the negative consequences associated with formal termination and utilise quiet firing as a matter of routine. Often the reason is to avoid paying severance, but it may also be to escape other legal liabilities, to maintain a good business reputation (superficially, at least), or even just to create space for new hires or clear those deemed “not the right fit.”