Apparently a quarter of us intend to change jobs over the next 12 months. This would come as a shock to my dearly departed grandfather who worked at the Post Office his entire life and would never have dreamed of changing jobs. Back then when you had a job, it was for life. Not anymore.  

A workplace wellbeing survey of 1200 workers showed a large chunk of us feel undervalued, under supported, and under staffed at work. I can believe it.  I don’t know anywhere that isn’t under staffed right now, we’re under staffed in here at the moment. It’s been a perfect storm for many employers- Covid, winter ills, long overdue trips overseas for people finally taking some annual leave and able to get out of the country. What it means for those left behind of course, is they have to pick up the slack, more work for them, fewer people to carry the load, and perhaps at a time where they're feeling fatigued with this post-Covid malaise we all seem to be suffering.

 External circumstances right now like a cost of living crisis and a looming recession puts a lot of pressure on people before they even get into their workplace, let’s be honest. And we know how hard it is to get staff right now, every sector in this country is crying out for help. Yet despite borders being open, help’s not coming. Add to this that the newer younger workforce coming through which simply expects more from their work. According to the survey, “78 per cent of respondents say flexible hours or hybrid working was most important." 

But how do already under the pump employers offer more flexi work schedules if they’re struggling for staff in the first place? Hybrid working is a by-product of Covid too. Getting to work from home was good for lots of people, many want that model to continue. In fact in the UK it’s been so hard to get people back into the office that the government’s faced with selling off whole office blocks now, as more public servants opt to work from home. Everybody wants wellbeing, but how do you define it? 

That’s a slippery slope many employers must be traversing at the moment. How much wellbeing is enough? How much is too much? And then if you don’t get enough wellbeing are you ‘quietly quitting’? I heard one commentator suggest quietly quitting is basically just adding some work life balance, working at a slower pace for your mental health. But if everybody just did the bare minimum and checked out mentally from their jobs we really would be in a race to the bottom, which is what it feels like in this country at the moment anyway. 

But is quiet quitting worse or better than actually quitting? Is an employee sitting there doing the bare minimum better than no employee at all? It’s sad if that’s what we’ve come to, just weighing up the lesser of two evils. I like that people care more about their wellbeing these days, but not if it ends up down a rabbit hole of never ending ‘wellbeing’ over and above doing any work. There’s a fine line.

So with a quarter of us apparently changing jobs in the next year, I just wonder if we stay in that job, or if it's just a case of the grass is always greener and we're just going to rotate jobs more often now than we ever have?  

• Professor of Human Resource Management on 'quiet quitting'
• The Sunday Panel with Brodie Kane and Nick Mills: Is quiet quitting just doing your job?