The latest trend taking over social media is Quit-Tok, so what is it and why should businesses care?
Gen-Z and millennials aren’t leaving jobs quietly, particularly when it comes to redundancies and when they are being fired. They are videoing themselves on voice calls, whilst you can only see the employee you can hear others on the call. In some cases, employees have recorded their employer/manager’s face when firing them.
Social media especially TikTok is changing everything as people want transparency and oversharing for more likes/views, Quit-Tok is gaining a lot of attention across social media platforms as we see younger generations recording themselves quitting their corporate jobs to go freelance or being made redundant unexpectantly, it is a clear sign that social media has a strong impact on employer brands.
The videos are getting millions of views and likes.
Where did Quit-Tok come from?
Back in June 2021, an entire McDonald’s team quit in the middle of a shift and shared it on social channels. The video gained 16 million views leading to more people taking this approach. In an aim to go viral on social media.
Younger generations are labelling it as a positive movement showing people standing up for themselves against large corporate businesses, including standing up for their mental well-being.
Quit-Tok a PR nightmare for businesses
The latest trend on TikTok may be many businesses’ idea of a PR nightmare, businesses have made headlines for Zoom redundancies including Made.com and P&O. For both businesses this impacted the brand’s reputation, especially their employer brand.
Younger employees are also recorded quitting their jobs, one we have seen was after being questioned on sick leave due to mental health following 3 sick days in 4 months. Others due to their values and morals not matching the business or job role, furthermore others videoed quitting due to their side hustles growing.
The trend highlights where businesses aren’t being accountable and potentially where managers aren’t making the smartest decisions.
How can businesses stop Quit-Tok?
Within the UK, it is legal to record calls, but restrictions apply. As long as the recording is for personal use only and should not be shared without the other party’s consent.
If employees record the call and share the video without consent, they may be in breach of GDPR.
Consider what your workplace culture is, do you hold managers accountable or have a blame culture? Where employees feel the business needs to be held accountable and do this by recording videos during resignation or redundancy meetings.
Check out the Tik Tok’s here – https://www.tiktok.com/discover/Quit-tok
