According to Frank Giampeitro, EY Americas’ Chief Well-being Officer, ‘quiet cracking’ is when colleagues “do their job, but they struggle in silence while they do it.”

Fears of job-switching can cow people into staying in roles they might’ve outgrown. It fosters a clock-in, clock-out mentality, leaving employees feeling dissatisfied and unhappy in their roles.

These latest trends demonstrate how much general doomerism impacts colleague sensibilities. Day-to-day work efforts feel like they should be insulated from greater threats, but the truth is their often top-of-mind for colleagues of all stripes.

What can communicators do? Responding to disengagement has been the main challenge for most of us since internal comms was invented.

‘Quiet cracking’ dissatisfaction often emerges in response to company trajectory. Hearing news of layoffs or other cost-cutting tactics makes it difficult to justify arguing for a promotion, with people perhaps even feeling lucky just to keep their job – it can cause real stagnation. The typically positive motivations for a positive and effective workplace feels like it comes at the cost of their own career goals.

Your culture and your comms are only as strong as how they manifest in times of trouble. More emotive conversations can be framed as ‘difficult’ in organisational environments, but letting these concerns fester is a surefire way of great talent disengaging.

You can read more about how to have these conversations, and other new workplace trends such as ‘job hugging’, and ‘polyworking’ here.

The juiciest bites from the IC grapevine 🍇: 

• Set clear boundaries – 63% of communicators reported communication responsibilitieswere being taken on by other departments, particularly in HR and Operations. (IOIC’s Future of IC Profession)
• Middle managers can’t do everything! – 71% middle managers feel overwhelmed, rising to 75% for those under 35 (IOIC’s October Trends report)
• Two-way community engagement is in danger – SWOOP Analytics’ Two-way Relationships score for Viva Engage fell to 17.4% down from 19.5% in 2024/25 meaning less people are engaging with each other on the channel. (SWOOP Viva Engage Benchmarking Report)

In the news 📰: 

Nikhil Rathi, Boss of the Financial Conduct Authority, has told leading financial figures at Mansion House that the UK is “not prepared, tactically or strategically” for the way modern conflict and other threats could hit companies and markets.