‘Companies would much rather you leave’: Ex-HR worker says companies will ‘manage you out’ instead of firing you, sparking debate

Natasha Dubash - Yesterday

In a TikTok video that has gone viral with over 527,000 views, Joanna Briggs (@whatmatterscic) details the practice of being “managed out” of your job.


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Move over “quiet quitting,” there’s a new passive-aggressive behavior taking over the corporate workforce called "quiet firing." The Washington Post describes the phenomenon as being “nudged out by a manager who can’t fire you but is making your job increasingly unpleasant and unrewarding.” This is exactly what Joanna, the founder of youth career developmental organization What Matters CIC, warns followers of in her viral video.

The TikTok is a stitch that responds to user @jennahushka’s video in which Jenna asks people to elaborate on something that they were not prepared to encounter in the corporate world. “That instead of firing you, they will just manage you out,” Joanna says to the camera in her stitched video.

The ex-HR professional goes on to explain the practice. Many people believe that if they work hard at their job, they will simply reap the rewards that are due to them. Conversely, Joanna says, you might think that if you were bad at your job, “they will just sit you down, have a conversation and say, 'hey, this isn’t working.'"

But, the TikTok creator explains this is often not the case in large corporations. “Instead, your manager will talk to everyone else under the sun, apart from you,” she says, leading others at the company to also believe that you are bad at your job. This will “just make it difficult for you to stay.”

“Companies would much rather you leave…rather than them having to actually address the issues and train you properly or help support you become a better employee for their company,” Joanna says. But companies should be cautious about treating their employees as disposable assets as it leads to low morale and retaliatory behaviors like "quiet quitting."

A Time article from Sept. 10, 2022, suggests that employees who find themselves in this situation be vocal about their needs with their supervisors and co-workers and familiarize themselves with their company’s policies for promotions and raises. That way, when it comes time to have a conversation with their supervisor (or their supervisor’s supervisor), they can better present their accomplishments and progression at the company.

Ultimately, Joanna urges her followers to read the room and trust their intuition. “If you’re not getting those promotions, if you’re not getting those pay rises, and if something in you is telling you this isn’t right, trust me, your gut isn’t lying to you," she says.

The Daily Dot reached out to Joanna via email and Instagram direct message.

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