Employees Quiet Quitting
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, we were worried about the Silver Tsunami. Our oldest and most experienced employees either retired or took part-time jobs with less stress and a better work-life balance.
Then came work-from-home, and employees quiet quitting. If an employee’s workday is eight hours plus a one-hour lunch, they were logged on to their computers for precisely nine hours. The employee’s mentality changed from work until I dropped to what the British call work to rules.
The worst part for me occurred in October 2022, when Callie Crossley reported on National Public Radio, “Gallup backs up the trend, reporting a decline in engagement and employee satisfaction, particularly among millennials and Gen Zers. Gallup’s biggest takeaway: at least 50% of the U.S. workforce is quite quitting.”
Then came the apps designed to replicate computer mouse movement so that workers would appear to be busy at their computers:
- The Microsoft App Store sells Move Mouse — “a simple utility that can be used to simulate user activity.”
- The Google App Store sells MouseJiggler — a straightforward “application which, by moving your mouse cursor periodically, prevents your computer screen from locking.”
- The Apple App Store sells Mouse Mover — an application whose sole function is to “fake mouse input” to your computer.
The mouse mover apps sound terrible, but they may be how employees cover their short breaks while still accomplishing a full day’s work without raising questions from their boss.
Customer Quiet Quitting
Customers are not obligated to spend more money with you after their initial purchase unless they purchase something under a special purchase agreement. However, they will eventually need support, replacement parts, software upgrades, training, consumables, and on-site service work.
You should be concerned if your company has not heard from a new end user or their purchasing department when you usually expect to receive a call. Your first reaction will probably be, “Why are they not using the machine we installed two months ago?” When you check with accounting, you will probably find out they paid promptly.
Since the customer accepted the product and was satisfied, your next step will be to ask the salesperson who sold it if they have heard from the customer. They will probably answer, “I called them two weeks after the field engineer left, and the machine was humming along.”
What could have happened in the months after the salesperson checked in? If the customer is not yet due to reorder consumables or wear parts, then no news is good news. But if a high percentage of customers call support with questions during the first three months and you have not heard anything from the customer since the salesperson checked in with them, something important may be happening at the account.
Before you call or send an email or instant message, you should consider why they may not have called so you can plan your next action.
3 Reasons Why Customers Are Not Communicating
Customers may not communicate with you for several reasons when you expect them to. Here are three:
- The best news is that when you call the production manager, she says, “Everything is going great. We were lucky to hire a machine operator with experience with this model product. He has been making any necessary changes and knows to contact you when he needs a replacement part or more consumables.”
- The bad news could be when you hear: “We are in the middle of an unexpected financial situation. We have shut down over half of our production department and laid off half of our production team. Your equipment has not run for three months, and if the situation does not improve in the next month, we will contact you about returning it.”
- The worst news is: “We filed for Chapter 11 and are making an arrangement with an industrial auctioneer to sell everything on the floor within 30 days.” In this case, you want to know who buys your equipment so you can offer to reinstall and commission the machine. Then, you can restart their service relationship with you.
No matter what happens, you did the right thing by monitoring calls from your new customers and following up when they did not follow the usual communication patterns.
I hope you always get option one but be prepared for options two and three. Remember that quiet quitting does impact customers.
Related articles:
- Are You Prepared for the Great Resignation?
- The Aging Workforce – The Challenge and the Opportunity
- Are Your Customers Satisfied? Too Bad! – Follow Up
About Middlesex Consulting
Middlesex Consulting is an experienced team of professionals with the primary goal of helping capital equipment companies create more value for their clients and stakeholders. Middlesex Consulting continues to provide superior solutions to meet the needs of its clients by focusing on our strengths in Services, Manufacturing, Customer Experience, and Engineering. If you want to learn more about how we can help your organization create or retain more customers, please contact us or check out some of our free articles and white papers here.