Overview

• TalentLMS, which coined the term, reports that over half of employees experience the phenomenon, including 20% frequently or constantly and 34% occasionally, based on its proprietary survey.
• Experts say this differs from quiet quitting, with warning signs such as crying during commutes, sleep loss, stress eating, flashbacks to difficult situations, and feeling trapped.
• Reported drivers include unmanageable workloads, unclear role expectations, and skills gaps, with lack of recent training linked to higher job insecurity in TalentLMS data.
• Recommended actions focus on clarifying responsibilities, holding direct manager–employee check-ins, and offering targeted upskilling, with AI tools like Asana’s AI Studio, ClickUp workload balancing, and Wrike risk alerts cited as supports.
• Public attention is rising through local news coverage and viral TikTok posts, while Upwork-backed research suggests AI can boost output yet correlates with elevated burnout among heavy users.