The term “quiet quitting” has made its way to top of workplace trends after a viral video on TikTok by @zkchillin gained millions of views.

The term essentially means to stop going above and beyond at work, basically doing enough to keep your job and not leave your job. It happens when employees realize that the extra effort and hard work that they’ve put in doesn’t pay off. That no matter how hard you work, you won’t get the raise or the promotion that you deserve. It’s the lived experience of many Black women in corporate America for years if not decades.

As I read more about people’s thoughts on the new workplace trend, I feel a great deal of frustration. What disturbs me the most, is not that it took a man going viral talking about his experience for it to get the attention it deserves but the number of career coaches and executive leaders trying to quiet the conversation or change the narrative so that we mask what’s really happening to workplace culture. Some have stated that the employee should understand that ultimately, they are putting themselves at risk for getting fired. I’ve even read that this behavior is rooted in the employee not being joyful about the work that they perform, making it about the employee rather than the employer.

Instead of putting the responsibility on the employee to make themselves more joyful at work, why not recognize that the gaslighting by managers and corporate leaders is the reason for this behavior. The idea that “quite quitting” means we are not joyful at work is just another way to manipulate workplace culture in favor of corporations that don’t do enough to reward those working hard, especially Black women.

“Black women are less supported by their managers and will less likely be recognized for pay increase and promotion. For every 100 men promoted to manager, only 58 Black women are promoted, despite the fact that Black women ask for promotions at the same rate as men”, as reported by McKinsey & Company. This is one of the reasons why Black women are the fastest group of entrepreneurs and why the number of Black women with side hustles has increased year over year.

Black women remain highly ambitious in spite of all the obstacles we face.  

Yet, despite their pursuit to fill their wage and promotion gaps through entrepreneurship, Black women are still faced with the additional challenges of not having the kind of business mentorship and financial support that their counterparts receive. Black women have to work 10 times as hard as everyone else to get recognized and even then, it’s never equal.

Black women need support in the workplace and in business in order succeed.

I want to offer these suggestions on how corporation can better support Black women:

• Take advantage of Black women’s skills and create a clear path to advance their career and keep your word! We don’t need to be put in another leadership program or diversity program to stay stuck in the same job at the same pay for another 3 years.
• Sponsoring Black women-owned businesses is one way to fight the racial barriers they face when starting and running a business. Partner with HerSuiteSpot, Black women-owned small business to provide women with non-equity grants and resources to help them thrive in business.
• Advance more women to leadership roles and support the decisions they make. Often times women in leadership roles are not treated fairly by other employees and not supported by upper management.

The narrative that “quiet quitting” doesn’t benefit the person doing it is wrong. I urge employers to understand why their employees are “quiet quitting” and fix it. If you want people to go above and beyond, compensate them, not with pizza Friday but with meaningful pay increases.