Employees are responding to inhospitable work culture with mechanisms like quiet quitting or quiet hustling, while employers are resorting to quiet firing to express their dissatisfaction
Saurav Singh (name changed), 34, is currently employed with an IT giant and does the night shift from 5.30 pm to 2.30 am. Till some months ago, Singh used to work from home full-time but now he has to go to the office twice a week. Last year in April, Singh realised that he was wasting a lot of time before his shift started. He decided to put this extra time to use and set up his business supplying fabric chemicals. He also saw higher monetary benefits in a business compared to his salary. “I already had a plan in mind and just had to execute it. Along with my wife, I started this business. We put in some hours in this and it doesn't hamper my shift hours or my work. So I'm able to conveniently manage both. Now I’m making more money from this business,” says Singh who feels that what he is doing doesn’t really fall under “moonlighting” because his side hustle is unrelated to his original work and his productivity level at work has remained the same. However, he’s doing this without his employer’s knowledge.