In today’s workplace, we’ve heard all about “quiet quitting”, employees disengaging emotionally while remaining physically on the job. But lurking quietly on the other side of the coin is a far more damaging, insidious trend: quiet firing.
Unlike layoffs or formal terminations, quiet firing happens indirectly and often intentionally. It’s the silent erosion of an employee’s role, support, and opportunity done not by policy, but through passive-aggressive leadership behaviors that push employees out without ever having to say the words, “You’re fired.”
What Does Quiet Firing Actually Look Like?
You might not see it listed in your exit interview data, but it’s happening more than you think. Quiet firing includes:
Repeatedly denying promotions or development opportunities without explanation
Reducing an employee’s responsibilities until they feel irrelevant
Withholding feedback, coaching, or performance conversations altogether
Being excluded from key meetings, emails, or project opportunities
Giving someone unrealistic workloads or setting them up to fail
Sudden shift in tone from managers: cold, distant, unapproachable
Deliberately keeping employees “on an island” with no growth path or mentorship
It’s not a policy, it’s a pattern. And the message is loud and clear: “You don’t belong here.”
Why Does Quiet Firing Happen?
Most often, it’s a leadership problem disguised as a performance problem. Managers either don’t want to deal with uncomfortable conversations, or they lack the training to provide direct, constructive feedback.
Other times, it’s strategic avoidance:
“If they quit, we won’t have to document poor performance or offer severance.”
But let’s call it what it is: a cowardly way to manage people that exposes your organization to risk and destroys trust.
The Cost of Staying Silent
Quiet firing isn’t just poor management, it’s a silent killer of engagement, culture, and retention. It creates fear-based workplaces where employees feel disposable. It sends high-performers searching for jobs where they’ll be respected. And it can lead to legal consequences if marginalized employees experience disparate treatment.
Even worse, it leaves HR in the dark until it’s too late:
- An employee files a complaint
- Another top talent exits quietly
- Your Glassdoor score drops
- A wrongful termination suit lands on your desk
How HR Can Prevent Quiet Firing
This is where HR must step in, not just as a policy enforcer, but as a culture protector.
1. Train Leaders to Have Tough Conversations Equip managers with the tools to give honest, empathetic feedback. Most aren’t avoiding it out of cruelty, they’re avoiding it out of fear or discomfort.
2. Watch for Red Flags in Exit Patterns Is one department seeing more resignations than others? Are top performers suddenly disengaging? Dig deeper. Don’t take “personal reasons” at face value.
3. Promote a Culture of Accountability—For Managers, Too HR often holds employees accountable, but forgets to hold managers accountable for toxic patterns. Make quiet firing a topic in leadership development. Call it out.
4. Create Safe Channels for Employees to Speak Up If an employee feels sidelined, they need a place to say so without fear. Make sure your reporting processes are accessible, confidential, and effective.
5. Align Performance Management with Growth Ensure your performance reviews and check-ins focus on development, not just evaluation. Every employee should know where they stand and where they’re going.
Silence Is Not Strategy
Quiet firing may feel like the path of least resistance, but it’s a shortcut to long-term damage. As HR professionals, we must recognize the signs, train our leaders, and intervene when needed. Creating a high-trust, transparent culture doesn’t happen by accident, it happens by intention.
Let’s end the silence, and start managing with courage.
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Elga Lejarza, Founder & CEO
HRTrainingClasses.com | HRDevelop.com | HR.Community | LejarzaWorkforceSolutions.com | HRGreenHouse.org
