The "quiet quitting" trend has taken on a new form, and workers are now saying that they are "acting their wage."
"Acting your wage" is a sort of rebrand of quiet quitting, according to experts at Business Insider. While many believe that quiet quitting is simply refusing to do all work, "acting your wage" reframes the scenario to encapsulate what workers are doing more adequately. Rather than silently protesting all work, employees now do work commensurate with the wage they're being paid. This means that if an employee is paid minimum wage, which is federally mandated at $7.25 per hour, they will be working in accordance with their compensation as stated by the minimum requirements of their job description.
The phrase "quiet quitting" originated on TikTok and lit up the internet about two months ago. Certain business owners, like Kevin O'Leary, hate the term and believe that quiet quitting is a sign of laziness and lack of drive. However, managers are the ones really suffering in the quiet quitting era, as poor management schemes often expect overwork to meet deadlines. But now, employees are scaling back, causing managers to rethink their delegation tactics.
Business coach Sarai Soto, known for making viral TikTok videos about quiet quitting, says that acting one's wage is a way to take back agency when one's pay isn't keeping pace with the current cost of living increases due to inflation.
"If a company is paying you, let's say minimum wage, you're gonna put in minimum effort," Sarai Soto told Business Insider. "So you're not going to do the job of two to three people and do all this extra work if you're really not even making a livable wage."
