What is quiet cutting?

So, what's on the agenda today, you might ask? Well, buckle up as Brianna and Taylor dive deep into the new quiet trend of “Quiet Cutting.”

Maybe you’re like Brianna wondering what exactly is this new quiet trend. Whether you have heard of this trend or are “up to date.” You don’t want to miss out on their tales from the trenches, insights, and some juicy stories about dealing with these corporate shenanigans.

So, if you're ready to laugh, learn, and master the art of workplace trends with us, hit that play button, and let's dive deep into "Quiet Cutting" and all its secrets. 🎙️✨

Timestamps:
0:00 - Introduction
1:30 - Quiet Cutting: A New Trend
2:15 - Quiet Cutting: Positive Aspects
2:53 - Quiet Cutting: Potential Red Flags
10:42 - Quiet Overworking
13:26 - Negotiating and Standing Up for Yourself
17:38 - Closing Thoughts

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To watch this episode, visit The Millionaire Recruiter YouTube channel https://youtu.be/QnWPr8NZhZM

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Creators & Guests

Host

Brianna Rooney

I am the CEO and Founder of TalentPerch, Techees Recruiting, The Millionaire Recruiter, and now Thriversity. My vision for the last 14 years has been to change the way the World views the Recruiting Industry. Even though I have two little kids, I remain firm on maintaining a work-life balance. I believe you can be as successful at work, as you are at home. You don’t have to choose. The choice is, to be present and rock everything you do!

Host

Taylor Bradley

Chief Strategy Officer, Talent Leader, Advisor, Podcast Co-host. I specialize in turning DIRT to GLITTER ✨

Producer

Jessica Reynolds

Editor

Kait Vickers

What is Takeover Unfiltered?

Want the raw, unapologetic realities of reclaiming your life? Then tune into the Takeover Unfiltered podcast hosted by yours truly, Brianna Rooney, The Millionaire Recruiter, and Taylor Bradley, The Humble Hustler. We're pulling back the curtain on our personal lives and sharing the ups, downs, and everything in between. From navigating relationships to juggling self-care routines, we're laying it all out on the table. We're all about taking control and making sh*t happen.

Expect raw, candid talks, seasoned with uncensored language. It's time to own your journey, embrace the chaos, and unleash your inner badass. Buckle up, because we're about to take you on a wild ride to self-discovery and empowerment. But don't worry, we're still dishing out some valuable insights into the recruiting world. It's all about finding that balance between work and play, and we're here to show you how it's done.

Ready to kick ass and rewrite the rule book? Grab your favorite drink, cozy up, and join us for some real talk you won't want to miss!

Welcome to Talent takeover.

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the hood view of all things recruiting.

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All right, well, then, let's take

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Hope to see you there.

Welcome to the Talent takeover.

Unfiltered coming to you with another Hot Topic.

Taylor, how you doing?

Good, how are you? Good.

I'm jamming.

So we got another trend.

I feel like, I don't know, sometimes I

feel a little exhausted with trends just because

it's like hard to keep up.

It's like we got all these things to do,

but luckily you are on top of these trends.

All right, so we've got quiet cutting.

Is it the next quiet trend?

What in the world is quiet cutting?

Yeah, so quiet cutting, which I really am

not sure how this translates, but it's when

you remain employed, but your responsibilities change significantly.

So I don't know where the name quiet cutting came from.

Cutting job responsibilities and adding

more, I don't know.

But it's a new trend and so

a couple of schools of thought.

So when this could be a good thing, I think the

very obvious is when you have a say in the decision.

So we know that this is your responsibilities changing.

That's what quiet cutting means.

So when you have a say in those responsibilities versus

it's just like this is what you got to do

and it's completely different from the job that you were

hired to do and you absolutely hate it.

But if your employer brings it to you and

it's more of a conversation and it's more around

solutions and also helping you stay employed during difficult

times for the company or difficult times in the

market, having to pivot and do something else.

So there's positives.

So quiet cutting I think gives a negative

connotation, but do you think there's some positives?

Yeah.

So question on this, though, because the way I read

it or interpret it is that quiet cutting is kind

of like before they're about to let you go.

So it seems like the company is not

telling you, we don't need your position anymore.

We're going to have you do other things and

then maybe kind of push you out to quit.

Instead of laying off, we're going to

kind of pushing you to quit.

Is this not that?

Maybe it is that, but I think that's where kind of like

the pros and cons we're going into come into play, where it's

like I think maybe it depends on how it's done.

Like if it's a conversation and it's like,

is this something you want to do?

We had to cut our sales team, but we

really still could use some help in sales.

I think that's one that I've seen a lot with

the quiet cutting, like, where people still need they've had

to cut those teams, but they still need that support.

Recruiting.

It happens all the time too, in recruiting, where they

cut recruiting teams, but they still need that support.

So I think as long as it's a conversation

about like, you have to do this, I think

that obviously changes the way it feels to the

employee and then when it helps you grow.

I think that's the other thing to look at, too.

This could be a good thing.

When it helps you grow, it helps you learn a

new skill, helps you get out of your comfort zone.

I think the caveat to this and a disclaimer that

I should have put once we started the episode is,

I think, for me, and I know for you, it

depends on the environment that you're working in.

If you're working in a startup, it's to be expected.

You're going to have to take on

different responsibilities outside of the scope of

maybe what was originally discussed.

I feel like that comes with the territory.

You should know that going into it, and

you shouldn't perceive that as a negative thing,

and you should perceive that as like they're

trying to expand upon your skills.

They're trying to have you learn new things.

To be a super versatile employee.

It's a positive to me, in those scenarios. Yeah.

To me, it looks like we're upskilling you.

But also we do this here.

It's just we're not quiet about it.

I think it's the quiet that triggers me.

It's like nothing should be quiet.

It should be very clear.

This is why we're doing it.

This is why we need it.

Do you like this? Are you interested?

Are you not interested?

But at the same time, this is what the business needs.

So if you're not interested, unfortunately, I'm going to

have to find someone that is exactly that's.

That conversation, I think, and you've

outlined it perfectly, like how I

would think that conversation should go.

That would feel good to everybody.

When it's not good or when the red flags

is it happens to you, not with you.

That goes back to what we were saying.

Like, you're just told one day that this

is what you're doing, or you're told one

day it's not even about maybe the responsibilities,

but hey, your position has been eliminated.

Now you're in this role.

We don't have a recruiting team lead anymore.

We have a recruiter role.

That's what you're in.

Although there may not be too many between the two.

Like a demotion.

Yeah, it's like your job just changed.

There's a demotion and I think which lends

nicely towards what you were saying about that

could be them trying to phase you out.

So I think there's that one.

You're suddenly being paid less, your titles changed.

Obviously, those are big fuck yous to someone.

It's not going to feel good.

Yeah, I almost wonder because I typically

look at things from the employer's mindset. Right.

Been a CEO for so long.

So I look at quiet cutting as a company's response to

quiet quitting, where it's like, I see you're going to quiet

quit me, so I'm going to quiet cut you.

Now we're going into battle.

Which is so ridiculous for

both trends are so ridiculous.

Nothing should be quiet.

We talk about a lot with layoffs,

like, you should not be surprised.

The company should have told you we're having

issues here, or this project didn't happen or

our Pivot didn't work or whatever. Right.

Those have to be conversations.

I think it seems to be more and just from

my experience alone, it seems to be more like these

are conversations in the smaller companies, but in the larger

companies that you get in, it's not it's not uncommon

for it to not be a conversation.

It's like you're just in this job and

you have lesser pay and your title has

changed or everybody's blindsided with layout.

It's not open for discussion.

I would actually say this is probably the first

place that I've ever worked where we operate with

such transparency that you should absolutely know what to

expect and plan accordingly and do what you need

to do for yourself and take care of yourself.

And we're very big on that here.

But in some of the larger corporations that

I've worked at, and we see it all

over the news too, people are blindsided.

Not everybody's checking the Warren Report every day.

I mean, you can be blindsided in some

of those larger corporations by what's going on.

And I know that happened to a

lot of people in COVID times.

People were absolutely yeah.

And if you guys have not seen that episode and our

post about the Warren Act, please do because you are supposed

to be notified 60 days before those layoffs happen if you

have a certain amount of people in your company.

So we won't get into that.

Definitely check that out and listen.

But yeah, so it's definitely interesting.

So I think what for our listeners, they should just

think about and be mindful on is if your job

is changing significantly or maybe even just a little bit,

just be open and saying, hey, can you talk me

through why this is doing it?

Hey, I'm all for that, but can you talk me through it?

Or, hey, how's the company doing?

Hey, how's my organization doing?

How's our team doing?

I think this is one of those moments

where you got to really, as an employee,

really keep your eyes and ears open.

And if something is changing, ask why.

It doesn't mean that you're fighting change.

It just means you want to know why.

And I think just like we teach our kids,

why matters and it should matter your whole life.

And there's a different scenario that I have that

is actually somebody that I know that I want

to outline where I think that it can be

a great thing, what we're talking about.

And it's something we do here internally and everybody wears

many hats, but I do have somebody that I know

who if it's a situation where you're doing a job

because you've had two people leave, one was fired, one

quit, it was not a layoff.

It's not due to company budget, nothing like

that, but you've stepped in to cover those

gaps and they're not backfilling those people.

That's a different scenario that's you're being taken

advantage of because if you're doing the job,

then I can outline for you.

This individual is doing the job of a VP who left

and is doing the job of a recruiting team lead who

was let go, and they're having to do so.

That was two additional headcount that they

don't have, plus this person's own job.

And so they're like, hey, can you help?

Which is supposed to be HR, but is recruiting. Got it.

Okay. Yeah.

And then the VP of HR left, and

so she's having to do that too.

So two big jobs, big responsibilities, and you've been

doing it, but it's not because of budget.

These people left on their own or were terminated.

You know, the company has the budget, but you've taken

on that work thinking that you're going to do it

just to get the company through that time till they

hire somebody, like, just get us over the hump.

But you're doing such a good job at it while running

yourself into the ground that they're in no hurry to backfill

these jobs and may not even backfill these jobs.

And one of those being a higher level job that you are

not getting paid to do, nor do you get that title.

That's where I think it's different.

Can we say this trend is quiet promoting?

I don't know if it's quiet promoting or demoting, because

I don't know if it's like if you don't get

the title and you don't get the that's the thing.

The company is being quiet about it.

The company is promoting you, not giving you

the title, not giving you the pay.

They're just overworking you.

So it's like quiet promoting, quiet overworking,

whatever you want to call it.

Quiet overworking.

I like better because promoting sounds too

positive for that scenario, but overworking.

Okay, quiet overworking.

Yes, that is exactly what it is.

And I feel so bad for this individual because

I'm like, I think sometimes these companies are waiting

to see when you say enough is enough.

You know what I mean?

And I think that's where for listeners, you

need to know when enough is enough. Yeah.

And hopefully it's before you're at your wits end.

But I have a good friend of mine that is

a director of marketing, and she has had this issue

for probably her whole career, which again, kind of puts

it on her because there's always coincidences, right?

But she is an overachiever.

She fights really hard, works really hard.

She, in my opinion, is the

employee you want to have, right.

But corporate tends to take advantage of her on how

fast she moves, on how decisive she is, how she'll

never raise her hand when she needs help.

So those are all issues that she should fix.

And so companies naturally are like, cool, so

they have taken people away from her team.

They have taken away her higher up, and they just kind

of assume that she's going to handle it, and she does.

And then eventually, finally, she had had enough,

but her had enough meant she went elsewhere.

She didn't speak up internally.

She just left.

So I also want to caution companies to be careful.

You might lose your star employee because you didn't

take care of them and you didn't say enough,

because it should be on the employer as well.

Enough is enough.

Well, and it's also very telling of the employer,

if you're okay, just piling more and more and

more on somebody and not compensating that.

Let's see how long they'll do this for. That's not okay.

Who wants to work in a company environment like that?

And I think to your point with your friend,

once that light bulb goes off of, like, they

actually don't give a shit about me.

They're just trying to see how much they can get out

of me, then it's like, you don't even want the promotion

or the pay at that point, you know what I mean?

You just want to be out the door because you've

had this light bulb moment of like, this is not

aligned with my values and where I want to be.

I've had to be in those spots

before where you've taken on too much.

We could save that for a whole nother conversation,

but where you raise your hand, you do more.

When I'm thinking about how I got my start

into management, all of that stuff, and I had

to go and do very extreme things, go out.

I had another offer, show them the offer letter.

And it was like, give me this or I'm gone.

And that's exactly what I got.

But I did it for, like, a year.

I did it for a lot longer than

I'd ever be willing to do it now.

But it was one of those things that had

I not said anything, and I even expressed to

my manager that I was not happy.

Like, hey, it's becoming a lot because mine

also included travel at the time, too.

And it was like driving back and

forth to Houston every single week. It was a lot.

And so I was, you know, and having

those conversations, and it wasn't being taken seriously.

And so then I started looking

elsewhere and then got that offer.

And ultimately, I hate when people do that.

So I kind of had some pause with even

telling this story because I don't think you should

go and shop another offer just to get what

you want at your current company.

However, I was going to leave.

If I didn't get it, I was going to leave.

So it was like, you either give

me this or I'm going to leave.

And the reality is, I loved the client that I worked for,

and in RPO World, do you feel like you work more for

your clients than the own company that you work for.

So I didn't want to leave my clients is ultimately

what it boiled down to, and was really happy there.

But I took an offer.

That's what it took for me to get

the job that I had already been doing

and the compensation that went with it. It's crazy.

Well, you know what this leads to, I think, something

we really need to talk about, which is negotiating.

Let's have a completely different episode on that.

And it's the goods, the bads, the

ugly when it comes to negotiating.

But you were put into that

situation technically by your employer.

So you did something that you didn't want to do.

You didn't want to lead on another company, and you did,

in your heart, think, like, hey, I'm going to leave.

But at the same time, you were still wanting to stay.

And it's like, it's so sad that you had to

go through that process and then in return that that

company that wanted you had to also kind of get

let down and go through that process, when really if

the company would have just given you what you asked

for or at least worked with you.

Because, look, there's lots of times that people go

to companies and it's like an outrageous ask, right?

Yeah.

Or that's their negotiating tactic is they're

going to ask for something outrageous in

hopes to get something smaller.

But yeah, we should talk about all of those things because

it's really important, and we can talk about shameful moments that

we have in life, but in the end of the day,

it's like you still have to show up for yourself.

And those are also negotiating tactics.

That when your backs against the wall,

you have to do it well.

And here's the crazy thing about it too, is

that I know they didn't like it, but I

know they respected me more after it.

It was like, oh, shit, okay.

Because I do think, again, having been there before, I

think companies will take advantage of you, especially the larger

ones, sometimes for as long as you let them.

And so I think putting your foot down, I think as

long as I mean, there's no cursing, there's no yelling.

It was very respectful.

It was like, hey, I want to follow up on

that conversation I've been having with you about formally moving

into this role and the timeline of that to happen.

And I'd been strung along for about six months.

And then it was like, oh yeah, working on it.

Working on it was like, okay,

well, I gave them this timeline.

Well, they gave me the timeline.

I honored that timeline.

And then it still wasn't going to happen.

I still was kind of getting the

runaround by the end of the timeline.

And so that's when I was like, okay, I have this offer.

I was ready to resign right there,

I was like, I'm going to resign.

And it was like a whole conversation

about resigning, and it had to happen.

And it was like it was an ugly situation.

I would never want to have to go through that again.

But I know it completely changed the dynamic.

I was with that company for another three years

after that, and they respected me for it, for

standing up for myself and like, okay, I've been

doing this, and I did it the tactful way.

I feel like you can't just go in demanding something.

You have to be having those conversations.

If they give you a timeline based on budget or

whatever it is, okay, I can work with your timeline.

But once that timeline gets there, and if they don't

honor it, then you do what you got to do. Yeah.

I got to tell you, and I know we'll get back

to the actual subject of this, but if I were your

recruiter for the other company, you wouldn't have gone back.

I would have milked that puppy.

Oh, my God, I could totally tell you what I

would have said because I've had these situations where it's

like this guy had asked for he was underpaid by,

like, 30, so he went and got it, and then

we almost lost him to his current company because it

is easier to stay than it is to leave.

Yeah, but at the same, I would have really

dug deep into your emotions on that one, which

is okay, I'll save that for another time.

No, again, probably another episode is closing.

Closing strategies.

Yeah, closing and negotiating.

I mean, wow, okay.

And we should tell our own stories with regards

to stuff like that because I feel like our

listeners really, like, of course, that they like to

hear these different stories that we've had.

And that one, guys, I'll save it for another day.

But that one has layers and levels, like when the

client found out and oh, it gets some good teeth.

Yes, Harry, but I think going into our broke to

boss tip, because I know we're at time, is that

if I'm going to keep it short and sweet, no

workplace trend that starts with the word quiet is good.

That's a tip.

If you're hearing quiet, anything that's

just not a good look.

But also and that goes both sides. Both.

That's what I'm talking about. Like, both sides.

It's like if you're seeing these trends, if

you're hearing about these things, be really mindful

of what's happening within your organization.

If you're an employer, check in with your employees.

All of these like, we talked about

the lazy girl jobs, quiet quitting, quiet

cutting, we've talked about all of it.

But anything that starts with quiet, as a

good rule of thumb, not a good look.

And then also, I think flexibility is needed at

work, and it should be expected to some extent,

like flexibility within the scope of your role.

But if it's these drastic changes that occurred

that we've outlined here, it's trouble like that's.

Trouble.

So you've got to also see the signs.

So I think for everybody listening, quiet.

Be on the lookout for that and see the signs.

If your job is drastically changing and you're

having no input in it yes, have conversations.

We're always saying it's not a confrontation.

It's a conversation.

You have to be a big girl

and boy and have a conversation.

That's what it's about.

Love the transparency.

All right, well, this is another fun episode.

So thank you all so much.

Please do not forget we love reviews.

We read them before we go to bed.

We love it.

So please hit us up with some reviews. Thanks, y'all.

Thank you so much.