What Nobody Tells You About Being A 'Quiet Quitter'

What are the three steps to overcome quiet quitting at work

“know yourself better because if you're in a place right now where you're doing something that you really don't like doing it probably means that you're not creating as much value as you could in the world”

— Eben Pagan▶ 1:00

The three steps are: 1) Know yourself better through personality tests like Myers-Briggs or Big Five, 2) Learn to create more value by asking others about their challenges and opportunities, and 3) Increase the level of challenge and complexity in your work to match your skill level.

How do you help an employee who is quiet quitting

“go to the person who is on your team that you feel like is quiet quitting and say to them hey you know you seem like you're not engaged you feel a little checked out let's do something to help you to learn more about yourself”

— Eben Pagan▶ 5:40

Help them take personality assessments to understand their unique gifts, teach them how your business creates value and where they can contribute, and give them more challenging work that aligns with their personality type rather than easier tasks.

Why do people become disengaged at work

“if you're quiet quitting it probably means right if you're checked out when you're doing your work it probably means you don't feel like the work that you're doing is creating a lot of value”

— Eben Pagan▶ 2:33

People become disengaged when they're doing work that doesn't align with their personality type, doesn't create meaningful value, and isn't challenging enough for their skill level. This leads to emotional exhaustion and checking out.

What personality tests does Eben Pagan recommend

“I recommend the Myers Briggs test I really like that one the the big five test from uh it's the scientifically validated model uh I even think the anagram is valuable the Colby and the dis models are also really useful”

— Eben Pagan▶ 1:00

He recommends the Myers-Briggs test, the Big Five test (scientifically validated), the Enneagram, the Kolbe assessment, and the DISC model for understanding your unique personality type and gifts.

How do you find where you can create more value at work

“ask individual people whether they're the people you work with whether you're they're your customers whether they're people that you'd like to work with what are your big challenges what are your big frustrations”

— Eben Pagan▶ 3:38

Ask the people you work with or want to work with three key questions: What are your biggest challenges? What's making your life hard and work difficult? What are your biggest opportunities for growth?

Reframing Quiet Quitting as a Symptom, Not a Trend

Pagan challenges the conventional view of quiet quitting as a generational workplace issue, instead positioning it as the natural response when talented people are trapped in work that doesn't utilize their unique gifts. This reframe shifts the focus from managing the behavior to addressing the root cause of misalignment.

The Three-Step Framework for Re-engagement

The core methodology involves deep self-knowledge through personality assessment, active value creation by solving real problems for others, and deliberately increasing challenge levels to match skill capacity. Each step builds on the previous one to create sustainable engagement.

Managing Quiet Quitters: The Leader's Approach

For managers dealing with disengaged team members, Pagan advocates for the same three-step process applied collaboratively. Rather than reducing workload or implementing standard motivational techniques, effective leaders help people discover their gifts and then provide appropriately challenging work that aligns with their personality type.