‘Quiet Cracking’ Emerges as Hidden Workplace Strain, Study Warns

A new report has identified “quiet cracking” as a growing but less visible workplace issue than the widely discussed phenomenon of “quiet quitting,” warning that the persistent unhappiness it represents can be equally harmful to employees and organizations. The study, released by cloud learning platform TalentLMS, found that more than half of U.S. workers surveyed experience signs of quiet cracking, raising concerns about disengagement, lost productivity, and the broader labor market slowdown.

According to TalentLMS, quiet cracking refers to “a persistent feeling of workplace unhappiness that leads to disengagement, poor performance, and an increased desire to quit.” Unlike burnout, it does not always manifest in exhaustion, and unlike quiet quitting, it does not immediately appear in performance metrics, making it harder for employers to detect.

Work meeting | Source: Pexels

The March survey of 1,000 employees across industries revealed that 54% report some level of quiet cracking, while 47% said they rarely or never experience it. Frank Giampietro, chief wellbeing officer at EY’s Americas offices, described the trend as “two sides of the same coin” with quiet quitting, noting both are responses to burnout that can become serious issues if left unaddressed.

Experts say the changing job market has intensified the problem. During the “great resignation” of 2021–2022, employees often left roles for better opportunities, with 60% of job switchers seeing higher earnings, according to Pew Research Center data. But economic uncertainty and slower hiring have since reduced job mobility. “As job postings have become less plentiful, as wages have slowed down, people have been less encouraged to switch jobs,” said Cory Stahle, senior economist at Indeed.