Overheard my boss say 'quiet firing' is just 'managing expectations' and it hit different

I was grabbing coffee near the break room and heard my manager tell another supervisor that if someone isn't performing, you just don't give them raises or good projects until they quit. He literally called it 'managing expectations' with a straight face. I've been here 2 years and got a 1.5% raise last cycle with zero feedback on my work. Has anyone else dealt with this and found a way to call it out without getting yourself on the chopping block?

2 comments

2 Comments

grace_knight7010d ago

My sister works in HR and she told me this is actually pretty common now. Companies have this whole playbook for it, they just don't say it out loud. My neighbor got pushed out of her retail job the same way, zero hours for three months straight until she quit. They call it "rightsizing" or "performance management" but it's all the same game. The pattern I keep seeing is that middle managers are being told to hit turnover targets without making it look like layoffs. It saves them unemployment payouts and severance. Honestly, the only way I've seen people fight it is to document everything, keep your own record of your work, and start quietly looking for something else before they force your hand.

terrybennett9d ago

Zero hours for three months? That's stunning to hear but I believe it. A friend of mine worked at a big grocery chain and they did the same thing to her after she asked for a raise. She went from 35 hours a week to maybe one four hour shift every two weeks for two months straight. They knew she couldn't survive on that. Sure enough, she quit and they never had to pay a dime of unemployment. It's a shame that companies get away with treating people that way.