The Silent Exit Strategy: How 'Quiet Firing' Takes Place Slowly
They Don’t Fire You, They Break You — Inside The Rise Of Quiet Firing - Page 2
Are you a victim of quiet firing? This discreet yet increasingly common management tactic is quietly reshaping how some companies handle employees they no longer want. Here’s how it works. Rather than addressing performance concerns directly, some managers opt to make an employee’s work life so discouraging and miserable that the person eventually chooses to quit and leave on their own.
While this approach has existed for years, recent data suggests it’s gaining traction. Per HR Tech Edge, a survey conducted by ResumeTemplates.com in May found that out of 1,128 U.S. business leaders, a whopping 53% of higher-ups admitted to having used quiet firing methods. Alarmingly, 41% said they employed the devious strategy to target specific employees, with 34% revealing that it is a way to hopefully reduce severance and legal risks.
During an interview with USA Today published Aug. 15, workplace expert Wende Smith said flat out that quiet firing is either “small in an attempt to weed out low performers or larger to avoid layoffs.” Smith revealed that the dirty practice has “gained more prominence lately due to the rise in quiet quitting.”
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What makes quiet firing especially harmful is its psychological subtlety. It rarely involves overt confrontation. Instead, it chips away at a person’s confidence and sense of belonging. Targets often question whether they’re overanalyzing the situation, unsure if their growing discomfort is real or imagined. This ambiguity adds a layer of emotional strain to what may already be a difficult professional environment.
How does quiet-firing work?
According to the ResumeTemplates.com study, some of the most common quiet-firing tactics include delaying an employee’s raise or promotion, enforcing stricter workplace policies, or increasing an employee’s workload to the point where they can’t keep up with their daily tasks.
“Similar to bullying behaviors, you may be assigned unreasonable workloads or left with unclear expectations that feel like a setup,” explained Jason Walker, the program director and an associate professor of Industrial-Organizational and Applied Psychology at Adler University in Chicago, in the same article for USA Today. “While this is a more aggressive form of quiet firing, it does happen.”
Signs of quiet firing often unfold gradually. A once-supportive manager may begin withdrawing access to resources or reassigning meaningful projects to others, effectively limiting any chance for advancement. In other cases, employees find themselves flooded with tedious, low-level tasks that feel more like busywork than legitimate responsibilities. One of the most telling patterns, experts say, is exclusion: being left out of meetings, email threads, and planning sessions where your input would typically be expected.
These changes don’t always come with explanation or justification. That’s part of what makes quiet firing so difficult to confront. It’s not always what’s said; it’s what’s no longer being said, and who’s no longer saying it.
What should you do if you think you’re being targeted?
Suspecting you’re being quietly fired doesn’t necessarily mean your job is over, but it’s a strong signal that you need to take control of the situation. If you suspect that you are being targeted, start by keeping a clear line of communication with all of your supervisors or higher-ups.
Start by addressing the issue head-on. Request a one-on-one meeting, express your concerns respectfully, and ask for clarity around your responsibilities, performance expectations, and growth opportunities. Work with your manager to define what success looks like moving forward and actively work on those goals, so there’s no room for your manager to place the blame on poor performance.
At the same time, be proactive about protecting yourself. While not always unlawful, quiet firing can cross legal lines, particularly if it involves discrimination, retaliation, or constructive dismissal. Keep thorough documentation: save emails, take notes on any shifts in your role or workload, and request performance feedback in writing. Store all records on a personal device or cloud account — not your work computer — so you retain access if legal guidance or further action becomes necessary.
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