Quitting in front of an audience: On TikTok, young people share videos of themselves showing them quitting. On the phone or in a video call with the boss. “QuitTok” is popular. That also says something about our current working life.
She quits, but actually she doesn’t quit either. Because the 27-year-old Darby Maloney cannot pronounce the words for excitement and emotion. She doesn’t have to – her boss already knows and reacts with understanding. There is an insight into this otherwise intimate moment on TikTok, which has already been viewed more than twelve million times.
Maloney filmed herself while she was quitting. “I don’t know how to say it,” she says, then her voice breaks, and she nervously runs her hands over her face. “I knew it was going to happen,” she says understandingly at the other end of the line from her boss. “If you have the feeling that this is what you have to do, then I absolutely understand it,” says the boss. “We will be very sad and we will miss you”. In the comment column below the video, other users praise the behavior of their superiors and would like one too.
Speaking to Insider, Maloney says she didn’t quit because she didn’t like the job anymore. The other position just offered more development potential. She filmed the termination because she was so nervous and then wanted to watch the whole thing again in peace.
QuitTok has become a phenomenon
Quitting in front of an audience is now widespread. QuitTok has become a social media trend. Tok, from TikTok, clear, quit from English, to quit. Under the hashtag
It is important to see bosses who react positively in such situations, Beck says in an interview with “Insider”. She is convinced: such give people hope. It doesn’t matter whether it’s about quitting, getting a pay rise, or just communicating your concerns.
The desire for more money and tips for quitting
In the US, the highest number of people in the past two decades are resigning. There is talk of “The Great Resignation”. Possible reasons are the consequences of the pandemic, changed priorities, a lack of appreciation in the current job and many vacancies.
In this country, too, many are toying with the idea of resigning. The star reported at the beginning of March of a representative YouGov survey according to which more than one in three of the approximately 3000 respondents stated that they were currently thinking about a job change. Eight out of ten are fairly or very satisfied with their current job. For most, the reason for termination is money. Four out of ten respondents said they were dissatisfied with their salary.
Unlike the people who took the step of resigning and sharing videos of it on Tiktok, only ten percent of those surveyed in the YouGov survey said they were already planning their departure or had already applied elsewhere.
“Capital” advises those who have made up their minds and are about to face the termination interview not to focus on why they want to leave, but instead to emphasize the desire for new challenges. “Formulate these in such a way that your current employer is guaranteed not to be able to fulfill them.” Mentioning personal reasons is not taboo. If you have a reasonably good relationship with your employer, you can safely say that, for example, the aging parents in their hometown need support.
Gen Z has a different relationship to the world of work
While some hesitate to quit, the young people at Tiktok belong to a generation that brings with them a new relationship to the world of work. Education scientist Klaus Hurrelmann speaks in an interview with the star of nothing less than a “revolution on the job market”. Due to demographic change, Gen Z is in a comparatively good position, the baby boomers are retiring, and specialists are in demand. And while the baby boomers still geared everything to their jobs, the young workers who are now following have other priorities. Hurrelmann names: meaningfulness, teamwork, regular feedback, a good working atmosphere, job security. Compatibility is almost no longer the right term: “The quality of private life should be maintained and in no way diminished by work.”
On the employer side, however, things look a little different when it comes to flexibility. For example, Germany’s employer boss Steffen Kampeter is critical of shorter working hours. In an interview with “Table Media” he recently called for “more keen on work”. You can still get a good work-life balance with 39 hours of work a week. Our author finds a cheeky demand in her commentary.
Find out more about other current social media trends from Y2K to Dark Academia to Royalcore here.
Sources: Capital, Insider (I), Insider (II), Table Media, Tiktok