Quiet Cracking Is the New Quiet Quitting (And It’s Far More Dangerous)
What is quiet cracking?
People are still talking about quiet quitting, but quiet cracking is something different. Quiet quitting was a choice. It was employees saying, “I’ll do my job, but I won’t burn myself out for it.” Quiet cracking is what happens when the pressure builds quietly over time until motivation and energy break down. The term has appeared in recent workplace research, but it describes something I have seen for years.
Unlike quitting, this isn’t intentional. People keep showing up, but they feel disengaged and unhappy. High performers are often hit the hardest. When their output slips from 120 percent to 90 percent, they believe it is personal failure when it is really the system around them that has failed.
Real stories from the workplace
I coached a VP who built her reputation on being the most reliable person in the room. She took on every challenge and thrived on pressure. One day she told me, “I don’t even recognize myself anymore. I used to care so much, and now I feel numb.” That is quiet cracking. She was not broken. She was exhausted by a system that asked for more than anyone could give.
Another client in retail admitted she had stopped sharing ideas in meetings. Not because she didn’t have them, but because she felt no one listened. Her words were, “What’s the point?” That small crack quickly spread to the team around her. Energy dropped. Conversations grew shorter. The culture shifted.
Why cracks appear
The truth is that quiet cracking is both personal and systemic. On the individual side, traits like perfectionism, poor sleep, or the inability to unplug make people vulnerable. On the organizational side, it is unrealistic workloads, poor managers, and cultures that reward sacrifice instead of sustainability. Put those together and cracks widen fast.
The ripple effect is real. I worked with a product team where one disengaged team member began missing deadlines. Instead of addressing the stress, leadership piled more work onto others. Within weeks, creativity dried up and communication broke down. What started with one person became a culture problem.
The hidden costs
The numbers back it up. More than half of U.S. employees say they are disengaged. Engagement is at a ten-year low. The economic cost runs in the billions, even trillions by some estimates. The human cost is harder to measure: careers stalled, confidence lost, people who once loved their work now struggling to get through the day.
What leaders can do
Small actions go a long way.
Recognize effort. A two-minute acknowledgment can change someone’s week.
Ask better questions. Try “What feels heavy right now?” instead of the usual “How’s it going?”
Clarify roles. Chaos and unclear expectations are toxic. When people know what is expected, they can focus and breathe.
Over the long term, invest in your managers. Most people don’t quit jobs, they quit managers.
What individuals can do
The first step is not to mistake cracks for weakness. They are signals.
Set one real boundary. It could be no email after dinner or keeping Sundays clear.
Prioritize rest and recovery. Sleep and movement are not luxuries, they are fuel.
Use micro-resets. I have seen clients change their entire day by taking a five-minute walk after a stressful meeting.
Seek connection. Stress isolates. Connection pulls us back.
One executive I worked with began leaving her phone in the kitchen overnight. At first it felt impossible. But a month later she said, “I feel like I got part of myself back.” That is what a single boundary can do.
The risk of silence
If companies ignore this, they lose people. Not always to resignation letters, but to disengagement that is harder to see and harder to reverse. Once culture cracks, it can take years to repair. But if leaders act with empathy and clarity, things change quickly. Teams reconnect. High performers stop asking “What’s wrong with me?” and start remembering why they cared in the first place.
Why WITH/in exists
This is why I started WITH/in. Too many organizations try to grow at the expense of their people. Quiet cracking is the signal that the old way isn’t working. WITH/in helps leaders and teams reinforce their foundations before they break, by working on both sides: systemic fixes that make work more human, and individual practices that help people reset and recharge.
If this feels familiar to you or your team, it is time to act.
You can reach me at justin@wearewithin.co or visit wearewithin.co.
WITH/in: Clarity within. Growth together.