The term “quiet quitting” is making managers and leaders nervous. It means an employee is disengaged from their role. But thinking this is some moral failure on the part of “lazy” employees is misguided and does nothing to help solve the problem. If employees are quiet quitting, managers need to start asking some tough questions. Start by trying to better understand what’s underlying the shift in both behavior and mindset. It’s likely that they fall into one of two categories: preservation or protest. Also, look at your processes and workload. Has the organization experienced a pattern of escalating expectations or work volume? Asking people to constantly do more with less is rarely a sustainable practice. You should also investigate if employees feel they have fair, clear, objective goals. Without goalposts to aim for, employees can feel adrift. Finally, take a hard look at how your organization invests in its people. If there is no value proposition for team members, it’s difficult to ask them to go above and beyond.