You’ve heard of quiet quitting, you’ve heard of loud quitting, but have you heard of the latest workplace trend to hit our social media feeds — naked quitting? No, it’s not about stripping down to your birthday suit and strutting out of the office (though that would be quite the exit).
This spicy new term is all about leaving your job without a backup plan. For a person with authority issues, it’s more scandalous than being nude in the office.
What Is Naked Quitting?
Naked quitting is essentially telling your boss to shove it without having another gig lined up. It’s like jumping out of a plane without a parachute, except instead of plummeting to your doom, you’re free-falling into unemployment. Slay I guess!
This trend emerged from the depths of China’s intense work culture, where the concept of “996” (working 9am to 9pm, six days a week) has been the norm.
Young Chinese workers, fed up with relentless workloads and diminishing returns, decided to flip the script. They coined the term “naked quitting” on social media, and it spread faster than office gossip.
The concept has blown up on Chinese social media platform Weibo — the country’s equivalent of X (formerly Twitter).
Why is everyone suddenly talking about naked quitting?
Chinese workers aren’t the only one’s jumping ship from their companies. Blame it on the pandemic, social media, or maybe Mercury being in retrograde. The truth is, people are fed up with toxic work environments and are choosing their mental health over a steady paycheck.
QuitTok has been popping off on TikTok for a while, with thousands of people broadcasting their resignations on the platform and honestly the drama is everything.
With over 195 million videos posted under the hashtag #QuitTok, this movement is helping normalise the conversation around quitting. It shows that stepping away from a job that doesn’t serve you isn’t just acceptable — it’s a brave act of self-care.
Although resigning without a back up plan is far from a new concept, naked quitting is like a collective “screw this” moment many are seeming to have and who can blame them?
We spoke to a senior talent agent at the recruitment agency Aquent, Rose McAlister, about why she thinks so many people are leaving their jobs right now. She said the majority of her clients who naked quit do it because of their mental health or their work has changed its remote working arrangements.
Rose shared with me, “One girl I spoke to was commuting four hours a day for work — that impacts your mental health. And when she took the role, she took [it] on the basis it was completely remote.”
Towards the end of last year specialist recruiter Robert Half conducted a survey with 300 hiring managers, finding that nearly nine in 10 Australian businesses implemented mandatory return-to-office policies, with many making staff come in at least four days a week.
Rose explains, “Businesses are making mandates. They’re changing things, and what they’re failing to do is go into the small detail that actually will support your most important assets, which is your talent. [If] you don’t keep them happy, they leave.”
How does naked quitting work in the current job market?
Before you start drafting your resignation letter, let’s take a quick look at the current state of affairs in Australia.
As of July 2024, the unemployment rate is sitting at a cool 4.2 per cent. Not too shabby, right? But remember, that’s just a number. It doesn’t account for underemployment which is sitting at 6.4 per cent or the fact that every job application seems to need a five minute video, multiple references, 10 years of experience (even if you’ve only worked for two) and your first born child.
So should you quit your job without a back up plan?
Short answer: It depends. Long answer: It really, really depends.
Rose confirms that “we’re definitely dealing with a tighter job market at the moment.”
But she doesn’t say naked quitting is off the table completely. “I think for me, you have to prioritise your mental health and your wellbeing and your physical wellbeing first. And if the job is causing psychological unsafety or you’re not feeling safe, or not great in that job, then yes, prioritise that.”
Australian workers aren’t exactly thriving in the mental health department, with workplace stress and burnout on the rise. In fact, 47 per cent of Australian workers experienced daily stress according to a 2023 global workplace report by Gallup.
Rose kept it real though saying, “I do think we all know it’s better to look for a job when you’re in a job. It will give you more of an opportunity to be a bit more calculated when you’re actually making the move.”
There is absolutely privilege in naked quitting
Let’s get real for a second: not everyone can afford to just up and leave their job without a backup plan. Naked quitting may sound liberating, but it comes with a hefty dose of privilege.
For many, the ability to quit without a safety net hinges on factors like financial stability, family support, and job market conditions. If you’re living paycheck to paycheck, the idea of walking away from your job might feel more like a pipe dream than a bold statement.
Let’s not forget that some people have the luxury of not having to consider how factors like race, gender identity, age, or sexual orientation might impact their job prospects. For many, these aren’t just boxes to tick on a form, but real barriers that can make finding new employment a whole lot harder. So while Becky from accounting might be able to naked quit with no qualms, it may not be as simple for others.
However, Rose points out that it can also be a luxury to stay in a job. She said, “Not everyone can stay in the job because of mandatory on site, overworking. There’s been redundancies, so people are doing a lot more in their roles for feeling burnt out.”
What should you do if you decide to naked quit?
First off, congratulations for putting yourself first and please send me notes on how to gain your confidence. If you’re worried about how that gap in your resume may look, that’s totally fair! But don’t stress we asked Rose what you should do.
She said, “I’m a big believer in the more transparent you can be, the better. So if you have left a role, and there are reasons why you left the role, maybe the commute, maybe the workload, I think that’s an honest and open conversation [you can have] with your next employer.”
But if you are scared of any sign of confrontation like me, there are ways you can work around it. “I would definitely as much as you can on the resume, pad it out. So if it was a contract role, write contract. If you got made redundant, say this role was made redundant. Like, be really transparent on your resume.”
She continues, “If you have a break, put freelancing, even if you’re doing one client or you’re picking up something on the side — just be really mindful that a gap with no explanation will start questions. And what you want to do with a good resume is mitigate any questioning from the dot.”
So there you have it, go out in the world and hand in those resignation letters (at your own risk). Rose assures us that “There should be no bias or scrutiny if you have had a big break.” But don’t ‘@’ us if your company gets unlimited leave or you lose your office crush when you quit, please and thank you.
Lead image: @ruchikakarnani/@jaschilds/@gabrielle_judge via TikTok
The post ‘Naked Quitting’ Is The Latest Work Trend Taking Gen Z By Storm. Is It Worth It? appeared first on PEDESTRIAN.TV .
