A passive-aggressive form of management is making headlines: quiet firing, the practice where bosses make working conditions so unpleasant for an unwanted employee that the person leaves on their own accord.
It’s not a new maneuver, but it does seem to be growing in popularity. In a 2025 HRTech survey of over 1,000 U.S. managers, 53% admit to using quiet firing tactics. And a 2022 LinkedIn survey found that nearly half of 20,000 respondents had experienced it in the workplace.
Related: Why Quiet Firing Doesn’t Work (and What to Do Instead)
The sinister part of this technique is that it plays on people’s fears and doubts without getting concrete feedback. Employees are left to wonder if they are imagining slights, if they are being too sensitive, which puts layers of stress on an already stressful situation.
“[T]he hope is that you will eventually quit,” Jason Walker, Psy.D., Ph.D., the program director and an associate professor of Industrial-Organizational and Applied Psychology at Adler University, told USA Today.
The newspaper spoke with Walker and several HR and management experts to come up with a list of clear signs that a person has become the target of quiet firing.
1. A reduction in support and responsibilities. If resources are suddenly taken away and several important tasks are reassigned to someone else, take it as a sign that your manager is attempting to extinguish your ability to grow.
2. Getting grunt work thrown at you. Conversely, having menial work that is well beneath your abilities piled on is a tactic used to make you miserable enough to walk out the door.
3. Being left out of meetings. Being cut out of communications and planning for upcoming initiatives is the biggest red flag that you are being quietly fired, the experts told USA Today.
4. Cursory reviews. Minimal or no feedback on the quality of your work is a clear indication that management doesn’t see you as someone they want contributing to the future of the company.
Why do managers engage in quiet firing?
The experts told USA Today that there are a few reasons for the rise in quiet firing. One is that it reduces a company’s risk of wrongful termination lawsuits and also sidesteps having to pay severances. Another is that with the hybrid world we’ve lived in for the past few years, many managers lack the training and experience of having honest and hard conversations with employees.
What should you do if you are experiencing quiet firing?
It’s not a career death sentence if you are noticing any of these signs, according to Brandon Dawson, the chairman and co-founder of 10X Health System.
“If you’re sensing signs of quiet firing, don’t retreat,” he told USA Today.
Dawson suggests that you speak directly to your manager about your concerns. And keep a record of everything — save emails and request feedback in writing, and keep all of this documentation on a personal computer. As the experts point out, quiet firing isn’t necessarily illegal, but it is if it is tied to discrimination or workplace retaliation.
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A passive-aggressive form of management is making headlines: quiet firing, the practice where bosses make working conditions so unpleasant for an unwanted employee that the person leaves on their own accord.
It’s not a new maneuver, but it does seem to be growing in popularity. In a 2025 HRTech survey of over 1,000 U.S. managers, 53% admit to using quiet firing tactics. And a 2022 LinkedIn survey found that nearly half of 20,000 respondents had experienced it in the workplace.
Related: Why Quiet Firing Doesn’t Work (and What to Do Instead)
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