An employer doesn’t have to fire you outright to get you to leave a job - they could just subtly push you out in a tactic known as quiet firing. It’s when a manager or company deliberately makes a job so unpleasant, unfulfilling or isolating that the employee feels pressured to quit, instead of being formally fired.
While you may not have heard of quiet firing, it’s actually pretty common. According to a 2025 HRTech survey of more than 1,000 U.S. managers, 53% of employers admit to using quiet firing strategies, and nearly half of 20-thousand people surveyed on LinkedIn in 2022 had seen it in the workplace or went through it themselves. It’s the easy way out for employers, since they can avoid the expense of severance packages and legal risk.
There are some clear signs of quiet firing and these are the most common, according to HR and career experts.
- Being excluded from meetings - If you’re suddenly not invited to meetings you were once a key part of, that’s a serious red flag they may be passively letting you go.
- Shifting responsibilities - Sudden changes in your workload, whether they’re piling it on with unrealistic goals or sticking you with meaningless projects, that could be a bad sign. It doesn’t always signal quiet firing, but Wende Smith, head of people operations at BambooHR says the way your manager goes about it can be revealing. She suggests asking for the reason behind the shift and if you get vague or no answers, that’s a red flag.
- Support decreases - They may pull back on support, leaving you feeling abandoned or alone, and making it tougher to handle your workload. If you feel like it’s unbearable and you just can’t do it, then you’ll quit and that’s the idea.
- Development stops - If your future at the company used to be discussed, but now you’re passed over for promotions or raises for no apparent reason, that’s a clear sign of quiet firing. And in some cases, this can drag on for years.
- Policy-driven quiet firing - Employees being required to return to the office can be a form of quiet firing, as some employers expect some workers to decide to leave the company instead.
Source: USA Today