Employee spends 3 years ‘quiet quitting’ without management noticing, until manager figures it out and claims: ‘You're not making any progress in your career’

Author image for Bar Mor Hazut
Bar Mor Hazut • Senior Editor
Apr 17, 2026 7:15 PM EDT

If you spend 3 years "quiet quitting" your job without actually getting fired, are you really quiet quitting?

Instead of actually handing in a resignation letter, many employees take a different route, which might prove to be a lot more beneficial.

When one decides to quit their job, as soon as they hand in that letter, they are on their own. If they don't have another job lined up, they may very well be looking at months without a solid income, which is never easy. But if one plays their cards right, they can convince their employer to fire them, and potentially get the exact same result they wanted, but with a severance package and unemployment money as well.

We call that "quiet quitting". You become such an incompetent employee that your boss has to fire you, and you get to go home and find a job you would actually want to put effort into.

However, you must understand that this method doesn't always work, which is why the employee in the story below has spent the last three years quietly quitting without getting the end result. Since they weren't happy about this job from the moment they got it, they decided to start "quiet quitting" from day one. But the problem with that is that the employer never noticed a change. 

Management never knew this employee had more to give, because they provided the absolute bare minimum from their first day at the office. Which is why it took them over three years to start demanding more of the employee, who by that point was just waiting for the day they would finally fire them.

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  • Bored female office employee with a laptop
    via Vadym Pastukh

    Bored female office employee with a laptop.

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • 3.5 years into quiet quitting and they are starting to notice

    After a burnout and subsequent dismissal i got a severance and immediately got a new job. In my new job I quiet quit for over 3 years now.
    via Lopsided_Ad7994
  • Now management is starting to notice: They say that i look absent and that im not making any progress in my career and that im selling myself short.
    via Lopsided_Ad7994
  • Last year i completed one of the most difficult and rigorous post university educational programs in the world o they find it strange that im not more ambitious i guess.
    via Lopsided_Ad7994
  • The truth is i dont really like the admin work - the sort of work that feels purposeless. Im also not thrilled working with the people. also that i should be more vocal, because i might have good ideas.
    via Lopsided_Ad7994
  • I make about 100k a year which is a little over 2x the median income salary where I live. I also work four days a week max.
    via Lopsided_Ad7994
  • Businessman yawning on an office desk
    via Getty Images

    Businessman yawning on an office desk

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • I dont want to risk going into another job where i may have to do more work. One thing i try to do is find the 80/20 in everything. E.g. there is a quarterly report i make that if i do well i dont think theyll fire me its about 1 to 1.5 weeks of work per quarter.
    via Lopsided_Ad7994
  • How can i (with minimal effort) make sure that they can't fire me? ps. please reserve your judgement and keep it to yourself as much as you can.
    via Lopsided_Ad7994

  • Getting paid $100k for doing the bare minimum 4 days a week doesn't sound like such a bad deal to us. A lot of people have it much worse. If they've been doing this job for over three years, they must be doing something right, and maybe they would be better just sticking it out for a little longer before completely giving up.

  • AdMurky3039 If you don't like your job and you finished some training last year why stay? That sounds like a recipe for misery.
    via AdMurky3039
  • Lopsided Ad7994 OP because i got rejected for other jobs i applied
    via Lopsided_Ad7994
  • 66dust2dust How many years are you planning on hanging on like this? This is like the professional equivalent of living with a spouse you can't stand and barely say a word to.
    via 66dust2dust
  • Lopsided Ad7994 OP one or two years max yes its quiet quitting
    via Lopsided_Ad7994
  • YouS ButThatsOk Burst your effort. Spend a week or two a year at maximum effort on things that are high impact. Spend the rest of the time carefully picking and choosing the things you spend your energy on.
    via YouS**ButThatsOk
  • Be like a shark--wait for the opportunity to pounce on things that are visible and that you know will get you a bad reputation if you don't deliver.
    via YouS**ButThatsOk
  • formallyhuman I shall not reserve my judgement which goes thusly: I'm proud of you.
    via formallyhuman
  • gosumage Understand that you put on a costume, drive to work and do 8 hours of live action role playing for money.
    via gosumage
  • Obv10us ThrowAvvAy I told my boss about the Peter Principle once and how I'd rather stay effective at my current job instead of working for a promotion to a job where I'd be incompetent. I haven't gotten a promotion in 5 years and we're all pretty happy about it.
    via Obv10usThrowAvvAy
  • burntneedle "Quiet Quitting" is a term corporations invented to shift responsibility. They did that in order to hide the fact that employers expect workers to perform additional labour without paying workers additional wages.
    via burntneedle
  • footdragon one trick to quiet quitting is give them your "A game" now and again and then revert back to your "B game". you have to at least demonstrate that you're worthy of that lofty salary. work on your people skills, that is the 2nd trick of quiet quitting.
    via footdragon
  • 45and290 Be the person that is known for bringing donuts and cupcakes.
    via 45and290

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