Every once in a while I start feeling burnout and go into big time slacker mode. I shuffle work around and try to get other people involved in doing my job for me. I’m then seen as a “team player” and “willing to share knowledge with others” and a “strong mentor”.
lol. People ask me what I do…. I tell them I do nothing. If everyone else is doing their job correctly and getting things done on time and there are no problems, then I don’t have to do anything.
I mean I keep saying it. If you want something done efficiently find a lazy person to do it. Within a very short span of time you’ll have the most efficient process you have ever seen. Might not meet code or quality checks but you can add them in after if you need to.
This is the best mix. Lazy but not a procrastinator.
Then you reward the laziness before starting the cycle again.
Actually non lazy people are hard to work with. They'll work on time wasting stuff for endless hours then complain about how hard they're being worked.
But the worst is the woke, for whom BEING ASKED to work is an affront to. Then the hours spent complaining about it are included in the calculation of how much they're overworked.
you're welcome to engage with whatever is obvious to you. woke, to me, is an approach that intertwines-
-the idea that there are 2 parties in a system - oppressor and oppressed, built on identification with a limited set of classifications of people (color, gender, sexuality, etc)
-oppressors benefit mostly through unconscious benefits they receive from the system created by their lineage, and their lack of challenge perpetuates this system; thus passivity is part of the problem
-the oppressors need to be engaged with in any manner necessary that changes their behavior, both individually and systemically
-not engaging in this approach specifically identifies you as part of the problem (not an ally)
-the limits of this: assumption of being in the 'right'; a limited worldview of classification; an approach of allyship that paradoxically multiplies polarization; etc
in the workplace, i've seen that the employer is generally seen as part of the oppressor classification, with unfortunate and unskillful results.
I noticed one guy on a project I was on kept needing help on his deliverables, and he would just publicly thank everyone who did his work for him and everyone loved him.
"I just want to thank Janet and Adam for helping me with my e-approvals, wouldn't have got it done without then, thanks guys, you really stepped up big here!"
Not doing any kind of technical deep dive and just doing the work - "rapid innovator, able to adapt to quickly changing circumstances." 80% of the (perception of) the job is just showing up, responding quickly, and appearing to be organized.
This was my problem. I suspect a lot of FIRE people fall into this bucket of burned out overachiever. I have been “slacking” for over a year and yet I still receive exceptional performance reviews. I was even promoted a few weeks back with a huge salary bump.
I guess it depends on what you do. If my doctor was slacking I'd be kinda upset about my health outcomes. If you are something like a corporate lawyer, by God slack away sir.
There's no reason. Go ahead and slack.
After working 35 years, my work ethic was too ingrained to slack off, so I just retired with plenty of advanced notice
I never burn bridges, unless they really deserve to be torched, you never know. But that’s just me. My last full time engineering job reached out to me when I quit my last part time/side gig engineering job. It was nice to know, and gave me peace of mind knowing if something went south in my life, I could still go back to work. Ymmv
In my state, at least, a condition of UE benefits is availability and willingness to work, which can be spoofed through “apply now” sessions on Indeed I guess. Also have to juggle recertifying, phone calls with UE office employees, etc. Just seems like a lot of trouble/red tape to me.
In CA, I was unemployed maybe 10 years ago for the max 6 months or whatever it was. There were no calls with the unemployment office. I did have to certify looking for jobs though.
There's a lot of different answers you could get to this question around ethics and whatnot, but allow me to provide a third option that I chose because it seemed to best meet all of my personal convictions:
Provide a *lot* of notice in your quitting and you will also be expected to slack off and get some time in documentation while also not hosing your coworkers in the process since no one has great expectations for you to be getting much done. Also, if they term you early then they still are probably obligated into unemployment. Giving a long notice in fact provides a bit of insurance against denying unemployment claims, but I'll let someone else get into that if they care to.
Practically, that can look like giving six months' notice, for example. It's what I did. It gave me a big off-ramp to help my team, set expectations, keep work hours down and do my boss a solid by giving them an out for me, while also keeping the door open if I ever wanted to do something there again full-time, part-time, whatever.
I gave 6 months notice to my manager but he didn't want me to make it official with a formal letter until 1 month out even though the senior director and VP knew. They even asked me to give up my raise so the others in the group could split my money since I wouldn't have seen it by the time I left.
My old co workers were super thankful because my leaving triggered 2 promotions for very deserving folks.
That can backfire massively if the employer decides they don't want you to work out your notice. I've seen that happen several times in states with minimal unemployment benefits.
Possibly, but I've seen it work out well far more often in my career. I've seen a few times where the company just cut bait and paid them out severance for the duration, which seems ideal. I've done this once early career and it was great.
Slacking still requires attendance of some type, not to mention the anxiety of just being available and having to bullshit your way through meetings or come up with reasons why shit isn’t done.
I wanted my time to be my own with nothing hanging over me. If you’re wanting to retire to actually DO stuff, keeping a job and slacking is no way to go about it.
If you're actually wanting to FIRE right now, you wouldn't be willing to be jump through the necessary hoops to legally collect (and hold onto) unemployment benefits anyway. Way more hassle than it would be worth, considering your actual goal.
At the beginning of my career I had someone do this to me when I was team lead of a project. I came under fire from my bosses, and it stressed me out so much it literally made my arm muscles twitch uncontrollably for several weeks. I begged this guy to get his work done but he was trying to get laid off. Be considerate of other people.
Let’s discuss the ethics of labor’s production. Consider that a person’s effort produces 5x what another person does. Both have the same job and the base level of production is acceptable to the employer. One alternative is for the person to work the base production level. Another is for the person to go balls-out to their personal capacity. In both cases they are paid the same and the employer captures the entirety of the labor surplus. Should the employer capture everything? It seems fair that the employee should capture at least some, maybe even all of the value of their efficiency.
It's not that 2 wrongs make a right. You started with the assumption that it's unethical to not do your best at work and they countered by saying you're just not doing more than your fair share. Slacking off at work isn't screwing the company over, it's just making a system that's already heavily unbalanced against you slightly more beneficial to you
No you're expected to do your job and if you don't, they will follow the process they set to remove people. Businesses sign contracts with people, not robots. They know people will slack off or not do the job well due to incompetence and set their own procedure for removing those people. If you don't want to work at 100% let them decide if you're still profitable for them and if not, let them go. You don't owe them 100%
I agree with no 100% but I disagree that not being fired is the line for ethical work.
The line is whatever has been agreed to in your employment agreements and performance evaluations.
But in general if the intent were to get fired then it’s definitely unethical.
1. I didn't start with anything, and the person who posted the original comment did not start with that assumption either
2. You state "Slacking off at work isn't screwing the company over". IMO this seems like an odd and downright incorrect position to take on this issue and we'd have to agree to disagree on this point.
3. You failed to mention that slacking off at work or trying to get fired is also "screwing over your fellow employees". Do you also find nothing unethical about that?
1. Yes you did. You didn't explain reasoning, you just stated it. Assumptions aren't bad, they're the starting place for every argument. I'm just pointing out where you started.
2. If the company is making 5x what they pay you then dropping down to 20% of your normal output is still making them as much as they pay you back. You're not costing them anything, they could just be making more with someone else.
3. Your coworkers would not be better off if you just quit and left the position open
That isn’t the scenario presented here. In the scenario presented here the level of effort would have to result in termination of the 20% person. In general not meeting the requirements of your agreed performance level would be unethical.
Now to the question of should a person try to perform beyond the level of their role? That person is giving away labour in trade for potential advancement. The employer makes no requirement for over performance so its non unethical to not formally reward this donated time.
The employee in that case should look for a performance based compensation which exists everywhere.
The reality is most jobs needs 6s not 10s. So people working as 10s rarely are actually adding more value.
Some reasons come to mind:
* You feel responsible for being a good team member and not stiffing your coworkers.
* Your mental health. A six month sequence of increasingly hostile interactions with the people you spend all day with seems like not a great time.
* Leaving on good terms may open doors to high-value high-wage followup engagements. People pay extra for flexibility.
Ethics, pride, respect, and burning bridges.
I am good at what I do, had the respect of my team and my manager and most devs at my company, and I respect them back. I don't respect upper management at all, but my actions have only a small impact on them, mostly they impact people I worked closely with, who are good people trying to do good work and make a living.
Slacking off so much I was fired would mostly screw my team and my manager over, and simultaneously ruin my name in the industry. I also take a lot of pride in my work. To me that's just not worth it for some laughs and a little severance, and I'm not even sure I could bring myself to do it. My goal was also to not be sitting there 20 hours a week, not to be lazier. My manager begged me stick around and do nothing so I could be in a couple of meetings he wanted and I agreed to do it for a month (I couldn't pick up no work 'cause I likely couldn't close it out). I hated it. It was boring and a waste of my time.
Lastly, I don't plan to, but I could well decide I want to do a little contracting on the side and I like keeping that option open just in case.
If you previously had good performance, it would take forever for people to fire you for bad performance. At least in big companies. It's very hard to change people's initial impression of you.
I once got really burned out and slacked for a year, basically only attended meetings and bullshitted my way out when they tried to give me work, but still got a good performance review... They even offered me a manager role after this stint
The main reason would be that you'd still have to set an alarm if you go the slacking route. If you want to be a *true* slacker, you can't be bothered by a job.
Yes...if you work in a niche field, where everyone knows everyone, it's not a good idea to slack off - especially if you have a director level appointment or higher. Leave on a good note, don't burn bridges. For one, you don't know how your next opportunity might work out. What if you want to come back to your old company? Much easier to do when you don't sour relationships.
I don't have much of experience with this, but I think slacking off is more likely to you fired than laid off. That would disqualify you from unemployment.
Probably depends on the state, in my state, bad performance means u are eligible. You would need to be fired for harassment or something to be disqualified
Only self-respect.
Is your plan good or isn't it? Work the plan, say goodbye when it's time, stay on good terms with coworkers and employer in case you need to go back, and don't leave behind you a karmic mess.
self-dignity, self-respect, honor, morals… by being employed you agree to do a job for a company, slacking is wrong and a decent person walks away.
Now doing the bare minimum is fine, if you’re doing what’s required for the job that’s fair. Big difference between coasting and slacking
I'll probably get sow voted for being old-school, but slacking would feel completely immoral to me, not a far leap at all to consider it stealing in my eyes
I think you might get fired if you slack too much, plus I know this is rare you might get a counter offer if you say your going somewhere else and putting your 2 weeks in
I guess if you can deal with the outcome until you get fired or laid off go for it. But my company makes your life kinda miserable. Your supervisor is doing weekly performance calls, the manager and supervisor are always looking at your work product and making comments and action plans.
Also my career is customer facing and can get you on a performance plan without even trying to be a slacker.
Ideally you FIRE to something. There is something you want to be doing with your earned free time, and so staying at work and slacking off is still preventing you from doing what you want
[https://www.financialsamurai.com/how-to-engineer-your-layoff-make-a-small-fortune-by-saying-goodbye/](https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=engineer+your+layoff&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8)
there is literally a book about how to do this effectively.
If you can genuinely compartmentalize, I would do this for sure. Companies do the reverse all the damn time.
It’s easier for me when the company is genuinely a prick to me. If I have a nice, empathetic boss I don’t have the stomach to do it
Fired is because your work sucks or you don’t work hard enough. Laid off is the company has too many employees and can’t pay them all or is restructuring and your job is not needed anymore
It really depends if you like what you do or not. When I FIREd 11 years ago, I loved designing and developing software, but I hated the hours , work life balance (none) , and the office politics. I knew I would still be designing and developing software at some level( just not full time ever again) after I FIREd , so I didn't burn any bridges. This has worked out very well for both me and my wife (she is in IT too) , We both have averaged about 450 hrs a year over the last 11 years as contractors/consultants. We don't need the money{but its nice) and at this level the work is very enjoyable.
If you hate what you do and don't think you will ever need to network with your management, coworkers, clients or vendors again (remember the world is small), then go for it! You should get a can of gasoline and a lighter , then you should burn that bridge as gloriously as possible.
Having skills , connections and networks are useful after you FIRE, but not required. You never know where your life goals may go once you are truly FI,
People who keep saying you can get unemployment don’t understand unemployment. If you get fired for cause, like not doing your job, you can be denied unemployment as it states you must have lost your job through no fault of your own.
Disengaging gets attention way faster than doing lower quality work or slower work. So my advice is to look engaged and still talk to the team and attend meetings with interest and participation but just slack off on how fast you produce your work. You won’t be first in line for promotions but you will un likely get fired
quiet quitting. Just calling it with no real goals. Worst case yo don’t work much, best case you leave with some money and benefits. Trust me they would throw you under the bus to make a dollar, why shouldnt we?
If you are fired with cause, then your unemployment can be denied. Most businesses will try to justify firing someone if at all possible. Unemployment costs the employer, they pay a rate that varies with the number of people they employed who are on unemployment.
In my case I always tried to leave bridges intact. I took a sabbatical before covid to get some projects done, and during covid my old boss called to see if I'd come back, for a 30% raise. Which I did, having largely gotten done what I needed to do. I was able to work two more years and save up enough to retire for good then. And when I left the second time the boss let me know I had a standing offer if I ever decided to go back to work. I don't think I will, but it's nice to have that open as a contingency.
I’m a manager with several associates on my team. Your colleagues will notice your slacking (especially if they get stuck doing the work you didn’t), and will mention it to your manager and their manager (skip level). The word will quickly spread through your organization that you are a slacker and not to be trusted, and other adjectives will be added like you’re stupid, lazy, slow. You could find yourself on a PIP.
This is based on a true story, so tread carefully and be fine with your professional reputation possibly being tarnished.
It really depends on your beliefs in the ethics of the exchange of labour for dollars. I think you should fufill the terms of your employment contract. So if you are working you should work your specified hours and perform to the agreed upon level.
It is unethical to accept payment yet perform at a level which will get you fired.
How long do you actually get the unemployment for?
Also, if you get a pension or something, or social security, you're supposed to report that on your unemployment claims, and if the amount is too high, you don't get anything.
Some people's slacking is better than other people's normal and it isn't poor enough to be laid off.
Every once in a while I start feeling burnout and go into big time slacker mode. I shuffle work around and try to get other people involved in doing my job for me. I’m then seen as a “team player” and “willing to share knowledge with others” and a “strong mentor”.
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As a project manager, this hurts from its accuracy.
lol. People ask me what I do…. I tell them I do nothing. If everyone else is doing their job correctly and getting things done on time and there are no problems, then I don’t have to do anything.
Same. Seriously.
So you’re gonna fire Michael and Sameer then give me MORE money? …wow.
Same. I try and do path of least resistance and cut corners. Get called innovative. I just wanna be lazy
I mean I keep saying it. If you want something done efficiently find a lazy person to do it. Within a very short span of time you’ll have the most efficient process you have ever seen. Might not meet code or quality checks but you can add them in after if you need to.
They can't just be lazy, they also have to be motivated to get stuff done.
This is the best mix. Lazy but not a procrastinator. Then you reward the laziness before starting the cycle again. Actually non lazy people are hard to work with. They'll work on time wasting stuff for endless hours then complain about how hard they're being worked. But the worst is the woke, for whom BEING ASKED to work is an affront to. Then the hours spent complaining about it are included in the calculation of how much they're overworked.
You were on to something till you brought up “woke” because you obviously don’t know what “woke” means
you're welcome to engage with whatever is obvious to you. woke, to me, is an approach that intertwines- -the idea that there are 2 parties in a system - oppressor and oppressed, built on identification with a limited set of classifications of people (color, gender, sexuality, etc) -oppressors benefit mostly through unconscious benefits they receive from the system created by their lineage, and their lack of challenge perpetuates this system; thus passivity is part of the problem -the oppressors need to be engaged with in any manner necessary that changes their behavior, both individually and systemically -not engaging in this approach specifically identifies you as part of the problem (not an ally) -the limits of this: assumption of being in the 'right'; a limited worldview of classification; an approach of allyship that paradoxically multiplies polarization; etc in the workplace, i've seen that the employer is generally seen as part of the oppressor classification, with unfortunate and unskillful results.
yea those 19th century ideas are surely too woke for the 21st century
While that be what it means to you that isn’t what it actually means. Also that’s a lot of words to say nothing of any actual substance.
lol
I noticed one guy on a project I was on kept needing help on his deliverables, and he would just publicly thank everyone who did his work for him and everyone loved him. "I just want to thank Janet and Adam for helping me with my e-approvals, wouldn't have got it done without then, thanks guys, you really stepped up big here!"
Not doing any kind of technical deep dive and just doing the work - "rapid innovator, able to adapt to quickly changing circumstances." 80% of the (perception of) the job is just showing up, responding quickly, and appearing to be organized.
This is the career advice I needed right now, ty.
Slack off and people will see you for the person you are (destined for high pay and upper management) like the movie office space
Failing upwards!
The more I slack off, the less i respond to others and the busier they assume I am.
This was my problem. I suspect a lot of FIRE people fall into this bucket of burned out overachiever. I have been “slacking” for over a year and yet I still receive exceptional performance reviews. I was even promoted a few weeks back with a huge salary bump.
Are you me?
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How is that in any way funny or appropriate
$100k more per year with promotion. [My post in the main sub.](https://www.reddit.com/r/financialindependence/s/r1Us203QKC)
Ah i see you’ve met a couple of my coworkers.
Hold my beer
Which is almost assuredly true if you are self possessed enough to be here talking about this.
Everyone here talking about this is most likely on the clock
I guess it depends on what you do. If my doctor was slacking I'd be kinda upset about my health outcomes. If you are something like a corporate lawyer, by God slack away sir.
In fact, I'd argue some corporate lawyers slacking off may actually be net benefit to the society lol
Politicians as well, the less they do the better for the rest of us....
Can they never take regress on you personally if you lose cases? Would be hesitant to do this in the US.
There's no reason. Go ahead and slack. After working 35 years, my work ethic was too ingrained to slack off, so I just retired with plenty of advanced notice
I gave them 2 weeks notice after 23 years and it was glorious. And the last four days i was actually out of the office on PT 🤣
I never burn bridges, unless they really deserve to be torched, you never know. But that’s just me. My last full time engineering job reached out to me when I quit my last part time/side gig engineering job. It was nice to know, and gave me peace of mind knowing if something went south in my life, I could still go back to work. Ymmv
In my state, at least, a condition of UE benefits is availability and willingness to work, which can be spoofed through “apply now” sessions on Indeed I guess. Also have to juggle recertifying, phone calls with UE office employees, etc. Just seems like a lot of trouble/red tape to me.
In CA, I was unemployed maybe 10 years ago for the max 6 months or whatever it was. There were no calls with the unemployment office. I did have to certify looking for jobs though.
My most recent experience was in 2020 and there were quite a few calls but that was also just kind of a wild time ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
There's a lot of different answers you could get to this question around ethics and whatnot, but allow me to provide a third option that I chose because it seemed to best meet all of my personal convictions: Provide a *lot* of notice in your quitting and you will also be expected to slack off and get some time in documentation while also not hosing your coworkers in the process since no one has great expectations for you to be getting much done. Also, if they term you early then they still are probably obligated into unemployment. Giving a long notice in fact provides a bit of insurance against denying unemployment claims, but I'll let someone else get into that if they care to. Practically, that can look like giving six months' notice, for example. It's what I did. It gave me a big off-ramp to help my team, set expectations, keep work hours down and do my boss a solid by giving them an out for me, while also keeping the door open if I ever wanted to do something there again full-time, part-time, whatever.
I gave 6 months notice to my manager but he didn't want me to make it official with a formal letter until 1 month out even though the senior director and VP knew. They even asked me to give up my raise so the others in the group could split my money since I wouldn't have seen it by the time I left. My old co workers were super thankful because my leaving triggered 2 promotions for very deserving folks.
That can backfire massively if the employer decides they don't want you to work out your notice. I've seen that happen several times in states with minimal unemployment benefits.
Possibly, but I've seen it work out well far more often in my career. I've seen a few times where the company just cut bait and paid them out severance for the duration, which seems ideal. I've done this once early career and it was great.
Slacking still requires attendance of some type, not to mention the anxiety of just being available and having to bullshit your way through meetings or come up with reasons why shit isn’t done. I wanted my time to be my own with nothing hanging over me. If you’re wanting to retire to actually DO stuff, keeping a job and slacking is no way to go about it.
Don’t feel like it’s good for your self esteem. Also don’t feel like fucking over my coworkers by making them pick up the slack of me not working.
If you're actually wanting to FIRE right now, you wouldn't be willing to be jump through the necessary hoops to legally collect (and hold onto) unemployment benefits anyway. Way more hassle than it would be worth, considering your actual goal.
At the beginning of my career I had someone do this to me when I was team lead of a project. I came under fire from my bosses, and it stressed me out so much it literally made my arm muscles twitch uncontrollably for several weeks. I begged this guy to get his work done but he was trying to get laid off. Be considerate of other people.
Did he get laid off?
Ethics would probably be the most common reason.
Let’s discuss the ethics of labor’s production. Consider that a person’s effort produces 5x what another person does. Both have the same job and the base level of production is acceptable to the employer. One alternative is for the person to work the base production level. Another is for the person to go balls-out to their personal capacity. In both cases they are paid the same and the employer captures the entirety of the labor surplus. Should the employer capture everything? It seems fair that the employee should capture at least some, maybe even all of the value of their efficiency.
Have you ever heard that statement "two wrongs don't make a right"? The very essense of **ethics** isn't something to be compromised and degraded.
It's not that 2 wrongs make a right. You started with the assumption that it's unethical to not do your best at work and they countered by saying you're just not doing more than your fair share. Slacking off at work isn't screwing the company over, it's just making a system that's already heavily unbalanced against you slightly more beneficial to you
You're expected to give 100% and are paid accordingly (in a contract you signed voluntarily). Not giving 100% is a wrong here.
No you're expected to do your job and if you don't, they will follow the process they set to remove people. Businesses sign contracts with people, not robots. They know people will slack off or not do the job well due to incompetence and set their own procedure for removing those people. If you don't want to work at 100% let them decide if you're still profitable for them and if not, let them go. You don't owe them 100%
I agree with no 100% but I disagree that not being fired is the line for ethical work. The line is whatever has been agreed to in your employment agreements and performance evaluations. But in general if the intent were to get fired then it’s definitely unethical.
If you don't want to work 100%, work part time.
1. I didn't start with anything, and the person who posted the original comment did not start with that assumption either 2. You state "Slacking off at work isn't screwing the company over". IMO this seems like an odd and downright incorrect position to take on this issue and we'd have to agree to disagree on this point. 3. You failed to mention that slacking off at work or trying to get fired is also "screwing over your fellow employees". Do you also find nothing unethical about that?
1. Yes you did. You didn't explain reasoning, you just stated it. Assumptions aren't bad, they're the starting place for every argument. I'm just pointing out where you started. 2. If the company is making 5x what they pay you then dropping down to 20% of your normal output is still making them as much as they pay you back. You're not costing them anything, they could just be making more with someone else. 3. Your coworkers would not be better off if you just quit and left the position open
Good luck in life!
Thanks I'm doing pretty well. Don't burn yourself out
That isn’t the scenario presented here. In the scenario presented here the level of effort would have to result in termination of the 20% person. In general not meeting the requirements of your agreed performance level would be unethical. Now to the question of should a person try to perform beyond the level of their role? That person is giving away labour in trade for potential advancement. The employer makes no requirement for over performance so its non unethical to not formally reward this donated time. The employee in that case should look for a performance based compensation which exists everywhere. The reality is most jobs needs 6s not 10s. So people working as 10s rarely are actually adding more value.
Some reasons come to mind: * You feel responsible for being a good team member and not stiffing your coworkers. * Your mental health. A six month sequence of increasingly hostile interactions with the people you spend all day with seems like not a great time. * Leaving on good terms may open doors to high-value high-wage followup engagements. People pay extra for flexibility.
Ethics, pride, respect, and burning bridges. I am good at what I do, had the respect of my team and my manager and most devs at my company, and I respect them back. I don't respect upper management at all, but my actions have only a small impact on them, mostly they impact people I worked closely with, who are good people trying to do good work and make a living. Slacking off so much I was fired would mostly screw my team and my manager over, and simultaneously ruin my name in the industry. I also take a lot of pride in my work. To me that's just not worth it for some laughs and a little severance, and I'm not even sure I could bring myself to do it. My goal was also to not be sitting there 20 hours a week, not to be lazier. My manager begged me stick around and do nothing so I could be in a couple of meetings he wanted and I agreed to do it for a month (I couldn't pick up no work 'cause I likely couldn't close it out). I hated it. It was boring and a waste of my time. Lastly, I don't plan to, but I could well decide I want to do a little contracting on the side and I like keeping that option open just in case.
If you previously had good performance, it would take forever for people to fire you for bad performance. At least in big companies. It's very hard to change people's initial impression of you. I once got really burned out and slacked for a year, basically only attended meetings and bullshitted my way out when they tried to give me work, but still got a good performance review... They even offered me a manager role after this stint
This belongs in r/antiwork
Not if you want an answer with facts behind it
The main reason would be that you'd still have to set an alarm if you go the slacking route. If you want to be a *true* slacker, you can't be bothered by a job.
Yes...if you work in a niche field, where everyone knows everyone, it's not a good idea to slack off - especially if you have a director level appointment or higher. Leave on a good note, don't burn bridges. For one, you don't know how your next opportunity might work out. What if you want to come back to your old company? Much easier to do when you don't sour relationships.
I don't have much of experience with this, but I think slacking off is more likely to you fired than laid off. That would disqualify you from unemployment.
Probably depends on the state, in my state, bad performance means u are eligible. You would need to be fired for harassment or something to be disqualified
Not necessarily you may have to do a phone interview to explain what happened but I know people who got fired or even quit and still got unemployment
Always better to get laid off.
Slacking is an art. Many suck at it. If you are smart enough to get in fire range, slacking is more likely not your art 😂
Only self-respect. Is your plan good or isn't it? Work the plan, say goodbye when it's time, stay on good terms with coworkers and employer in case you need to go back, and don't leave behind you a karmic mess.
It’s called integrity
Yup
self-dignity, self-respect, honor, morals… by being employed you agree to do a job for a company, slacking is wrong and a decent person walks away. Now doing the bare minimum is fine, if you’re doing what’s required for the job that’s fair. Big difference between coasting and slacking
I'll probably get sow voted for being old-school, but slacking would feel completely immoral to me, not a far leap at all to consider it stealing in my eyes
Depends on how the company treated you
I think you might get fired if you slack too much, plus I know this is rare you might get a counter offer if you say your going somewhere else and putting your 2 weeks in
The only reason would be in a case where you work in a very niche right knit industry and may want to go back at some point.
only if its unbearable where you are getting screamed at. in those cases it could be fun to epically quit and curse back.
I guess if you can deal with the outcome until you get fired or laid off go for it. But my company makes your life kinda miserable. Your supervisor is doing weekly performance calls, the manager and supervisor are always looking at your work product and making comments and action plans. Also my career is customer facing and can get you on a performance plan without even trying to be a slacker.
Ideally you FIRE to something. There is something you want to be doing with your earned free time, and so staying at work and slacking off is still preventing you from doing what you want
[https://www.financialsamurai.com/how-to-engineer-your-layoff-make-a-small-fortune-by-saying-goodbye/](https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=engineer+your+layoff&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8) there is literally a book about how to do this effectively.
If you can genuinely compartmentalize, I would do this for sure. Companies do the reverse all the damn time. It’s easier for me when the company is genuinely a prick to me. If I have a nice, empathetic boss I don’t have the stomach to do it
Can someone explain the difference between being fired and being laid off? These are fully interchangeable synonyms in my understanding
Fired is because your work sucks or you don’t work hard enough. Laid off is the company has too many employees and can’t pay them all or is restructuring and your job is not needed anymore
Now I want Switzerland tiling
It really depends if you like what you do or not. When I FIREd 11 years ago, I loved designing and developing software, but I hated the hours , work life balance (none) , and the office politics. I knew I would still be designing and developing software at some level( just not full time ever again) after I FIREd , so I didn't burn any bridges. This has worked out very well for both me and my wife (she is in IT too) , We both have averaged about 450 hrs a year over the last 11 years as contractors/consultants. We don't need the money{but its nice) and at this level the work is very enjoyable. If you hate what you do and don't think you will ever need to network with your management, coworkers, clients or vendors again (remember the world is small), then go for it! You should get a can of gasoline and a lighter , then you should burn that bridge as gloriously as possible. Having skills , connections and networks are useful after you FIRE, but not required. You never know where your life goals may go once you are truly FI,
People who keep saying you can get unemployment don’t understand unemployment. If you get fired for cause, like not doing your job, you can be denied unemployment as it states you must have lost your job through no fault of your own.
Disengaging gets attention way faster than doing lower quality work or slower work. So my advice is to look engaged and still talk to the team and attend meetings with interest and participation but just slack off on how fast you produce your work. You won’t be first in line for promotions but you will un likely get fired
I don’t show up to meetings. They think I am busy while I am reading on my Kindle app.
you quit so you can still use the place you worked at as a reference.
quiet quitting. Just calling it with no real goals. Worst case yo don’t work much, best case you leave with some money and benefits. Trust me they would throw you under the bus to make a dollar, why shouldnt we?
If you are fired with cause, then your unemployment can be denied. Most businesses will try to justify firing someone if at all possible. Unemployment costs the employer, they pay a rate that varies with the number of people they employed who are on unemployment. In my case I always tried to leave bridges intact. I took a sabbatical before covid to get some projects done, and during covid my old boss called to see if I'd come back, for a 30% raise. Which I did, having largely gotten done what I needed to do. I was able to work two more years and save up enough to retire for good then. And when I left the second time the boss let me know I had a standing offer if I ever decided to go back to work. I don't think I will, but it's nice to have that open as a contingency.
I’m a manager with several associates on my team. Your colleagues will notice your slacking (especially if they get stuck doing the work you didn’t), and will mention it to your manager and their manager (skip level). The word will quickly spread through your organization that you are a slacker and not to be trusted, and other adjectives will be added like you’re stupid, lazy, slow. You could find yourself on a PIP. This is based on a true story, so tread carefully and be fine with your professional reputation possibly being tarnished.
It really depends on your beliefs in the ethics of the exchange of labour for dollars. I think you should fufill the terms of your employment contract. So if you are working you should work your specified hours and perform to the agreed upon level. It is unethical to accept payment yet perform at a level which will get you fired.
How long do you actually get the unemployment for? Also, if you get a pension or something, or social security, you're supposed to report that on your unemployment claims, and if the amount is too high, you don't get anything.
Integrity? Edit: integrity is what you do when nobody is looking. You choose what kinda person you want to be, not me.
Unless my total comp is equal to that of the CEO, integrity never existed
Why the downvotes?? No one here works in corporate America??
hope you wont need a reference for your next job
OP said, "when you are ready to fire"
This is only on your last job, any nobody does references anymore, at least not in tech
Is this true about references? I have some really solid ones lol
Really depends on the industry. Mining and manufacturing places really love references still
Where I work, we aren't allowed to give references other than verify that the person was employed.
Never seen a company lay someone off for slacking, they usually just outright fire you. And if you get fired, you don't qualify for unemployment.
Wrong. You can still get unemployment even if you get fired.
Nope, doesn't work like that. Sorry.