Akilah Bradford is a Human Resources expert and career coach.
"[Quiet firing is] a subtle passive way that employers push employees out the door," Bradford said.
Part 1 - Our Chicago: Workplace Trends
She explained that it's an employer's way of saying, "I don't want to fire you, but I'm not invested in you."
Bradford says the "trend" is not new - simply it now has a title.
Some things employees might notice include being excluded from meetings, not being up for promotions or raises and nitpicking behaviors.
Another workplace trend is something Gallup calls "the Great Detachment."
This trend refers to people who are no longer engaged with their jobs and might be feeling stuck.
Part 2 - Our Chicago: Workplace Trends
Andy Challenger is a senior vice president and labor expert for outplacement and executive coaching firm Challenger, Gray and Christmas.
"When people feel anxiety, for too long they go into a feeling of numbness or detachment from their positions. So, if there are expectations being set for them that they are unable to meet. If their boss is changing directions back-and-forth over time it creates this feeling of detachment among employees that can last for quite a long time," Challenger said.
He expained that ongoing political and economic what's happening in society now, is playing a role in the detachment that many employees are experiencing, "We know that is happening society-wide in the U.S. based on uncertainty, really difficult politics, lots and lots of bad economic data that seems to be coming in. And that can be affecting people really widely. There's brand new scary technology with AI that people don't quite understand yet and it's making everybody feel anxious and then eventually disengaged." Challenger says disengagement from the workplace is happening across generations, "However, we are seeing that it is especially concentrated in the youngest generations that are in the workforce."