Meaning
When an employer deliberately makes a job unrewarding, stagnant, or unpleasant, by withholding raises, promotions, feedback, or opportunities, so that the employee feels forced to resign rather than being formally dismissed. It is the employer-side counterpart of quiet quitting. The word 'firing' is figurative: no one is technically terminated. Informal, workplace commentary register; carries a strong implication of employer bad faith. Regional use: General English; strongest in US workplace and business-media contexts.
Origin
The term emerged in 2022 as a counterpoint during the viral quiet quitting debate, spreading on LinkedIn and TikTok. A widely shared LinkedIn post by Bonnie Dilber, a recruiting manager, is frequently credited with pushing it into mainstream business coverage, framing quiet firing as managers discouraging employees until they quit out of frustration. Investopedia documented it in 2022 as a buzz phrase in its own right, defining it as making a job so unrewarding that the employee leaves. Legal commentators such as FindLaw note that while the tactic avoids confrontation and severance, it can still be unlawful if discriminatory. Who first used the phrase is not documented.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- quiet fired
- quiet-fire
- quietly fired
Usage Examples
- She suspected quiet firing when her projects were reassigned and her raise was deferred again.
- Rather than quiet firing underperformers, the new director prefers honest performance conversations.
- Critics argue that quiet firing transfers the cost of a staffing decision onto the employee.