Silent resignation: psychobiological manifestations of our time

Change is a fact, whether we register it or not. Being aware of this change is a challenge that we must face. Keeping our present under observation is a step towards health. Not losing sight of and recording the manifestations and modifications of our behaviors is the possibility of making a favorable transformation.

We are undergoing a change in the traditional idea of ​​work and occupations. The new generations and the pandemic brought new skills to which we had to adapt or be relegated.

The digitization of labor processes with the need to streamline them, the different ways of making collections and payments, the digital signature, the almost total use of the computer even to attend to health issues and the cessation of making contacts in person are already reality and present. Today the question is: online or face-to-face? Something that a few years ago was unthinkable. This is how changes occur, with speed and surprise, in such a way that we must streamline our mind and recreate skills. Everything is different and more comes.

It is so that new behaviors arise, as well as new pathologies. We talk about the ecoanxiety, physical symptoms related to the use of computers, postural problems, vision, stress-related pathologies and the workplace, which is not left out of these effects, this is how quiet quitting or silent resignation is presented. A behavior that is associated with the new generations, but it is not so; It is seen more clearly in millennials, but this way of behaving is also adhered to by people of all ages.

• Related article: "Psychology of work and organizations: a profession with a future"

quiet quitting

Silent resignation is neither more nor less than the product of the combination between sustained stress and burnout. The latter is referred to symptoms of work burnout that entails manifestations such as anxiety, tiredness, lack of concentration or mental exhaustion.

Initially, it was associated with health workers, referring to the physical and psychological effects found in care personnel primary care or intensive care, for example doctors, nurses and mental health workers, was associated with the overload in consultations and demands.

Today it is no longer confined to a single defined group, which, although it is broad, has already expanded to include the office and companies that are outside those sectors. Quiet quitting was extended to all people who hold job positions.

The valorization of the moments of life from how volatile it was during the pandemic, caused a response that in itself is the reaction to the fear of finiteness and the ephemeral nature of life.

The intention to resignify fear and find a way to control how time slips away, led to a sort of halfway solution, I would say it's a compromise solution between what I feel and how to fix it. In other words, this compromise solution is nothing more than a new social symptom and as such calls to be heard and treated.

• You may be interested in: "Work stress: causes, and how to combat it"

New ways of understanding labor unrest

Today stress is a public health issue. We live in such a way that we feel on our toes almost all the time.

The war, the unforeseen, going over and over again the mistakes of the past with the sadness of not having learned. The economic crises, social insecurity, the inconsistency of governments, the carelessness about how we treat natural resources and Poor attention to the health of the general population leads us to live waiting for an attack and this is how our delicate receives it. anatomy. Autoimmune diseases, heart diseases, allergies etc. are growing. All of this is the product of keeping our body and mind at continuous exposure to stress.

This is how we look for ways out, those more at hand such as alcohol, drugs, uncontrolled parties and others no less dangerous such as silent resignation. But not because it is silent, it is less harmful, and I equate it because in the different outings, what we talk about is evasion and not a solution. Upholding rights, we are not dedicated to finding the reasons and solving them in an adult way, being aware that what is needed are changes in the way of seeing and solving.

We look for solutions by hand, but not basic solutions, when what is clear is that more changes are coming and that we must be mentally prepared to carry them out in a healthy way.

Quiet quitting is neither more nor less than what at some point was the so-called work to regulation, that is, respond by working for what they pay me, and this is not bad, by no means, what happens are the inconveniences that arise, due to the fact that in general and until now, the tasks for which we are paid are not found clearly defined. In some professions, especially those that are related to the risk of people's lives, we would not know how limit them, in such a way that the issue deserves a slightly more precise review of both the jobs and the wages.

From the psychology of organizations we know that the employees who perform their work best are those who perceive that their work, the task for which they were summoned, is in a fair relationship with the remuneration they receive, both monetary and otherwise. order. This self-perception is broader when an employee receives career plans, progress at work, work flexibility, remuneration or extra bonuses... will evaluate their work and their decisions differently when reviewing their destiny in the company or their departure, on others that are outside those stimuli. These are nothing more than acknowledgments of your work. The recognition of the task, the connection and empathy from their bosses, at whatever level, is a key condition when evaluating what I can give and if I want to do it.

Realizing that more is being given than received brings resentment and feelings of oppression.

The deficiency in public, business and government policies does not allow the development for the sensible and adult expression of these feelings, and brings responses of the order of silent resignation, in addition to generating among the same colleagues feelings of injustice and misunderstanding from the controls superiors.

• Related article: "Understanding professional self-realization"

What can be done?

A change in business dynamics is necessary to improve the mental health of employees, reduce diseases caused by stress such as hypertension, obesity and insomnia, among others. All pathologies that increase exponentially in young people and that decidedly reduce human capital and generate, among other things, discomfort when it comes to staying in the workplace, generating an increase in sick leave and harming all employees involved. That is, it is time to take the problem in such a way that its approach is general and with a comprehensive look to give it a solution.

Silent resignation is nothing more than the effect of emotions and sensations that people do not have the opportunity to express and heal with words, for which they are manifested in facts, and that result in a group of unhappy people in their work or in the way they conduct themselves in the same. It is true that the responsibility is not only of the managerial part, it is also of each person.

The issue deserves a conscious review of why and what we work for, what we work on and what is the relationship we establish with this important part of our lives, that when it works well it makes us strengthen our value, be happy, perform better at home and at work and then by the mere development of things it exalts us as society.

It is a subject of great social implication as a whole because change is continuous and inexorable and we do not want to apply the Darwinian rule that the fittest survive.

I think at this point we must cultivate brotherhood and empathy, offer the means so that we can all start from the same opportunities, then we will see what each one does with that, but that is another topic that will come later. The involvement in what happens to us, not looking the other way, participating, is the duty of all of us, each one with what they can, that is the key to change.

Find logical and studied measures to achieve better production, more loyalty to the company, better environment work and connection with ourselves as to what is the meaning of work in our life, it is the task earring.

It is obvious that there are special cases that need appropriate treatment, here in these few words we can only state and show that the real possibility of Well-being is feasible if we dedicate ourselves to seeing people as suffering, emotional beings and sometimes without tools to solve the challenges that life presents them. imposes.

We must try to get involved in what happens to us, register our feelings and emotions, our particular conditions, ask for help if necessary and from there find real and mature solutions, understanding that we are all part of the problem, but also part of the solution.

The joint work between all the professionals who can contribute ideas and responses to the new scourges that arise as a consequence of social situations of This dizzying and not always fair life is part of the solution and will prevent evasive responses to the feelings that arise from the inevitable process of change that touches us. live.