What is 'lying flat', a work trend that came before 'quiet quitting'

(Representational image).

The coronavirus pandemic compelled people around the world to re-evaluate their lives and careers. After the "Great Resignation",  there is much discussion about  "quiet quitting", where employees refuse to go over and beyond what's expected of them in their roles.

Before "quiet quitting", there was another trend where employees sought relief from the grind of incessant work. It was seen in China and called "tang ping" or "lying flat".

In a country with an inherent culture of overworking and a government that called for continuous effort in its push for self-reliance, young people increasingly said no the crushing pressure.

It was a quiet form of protest, something that President Xi Jinping openly castigated.

"It is necessary to prevent the solidification of social strata, smooth the upward flow channels, create opportunities for more people to become rich, form a development environment where everyone participates, and avoid 'involution' and 'laying flat'," he had said in a Communist Party journal, according to the BBC.

What the Chinese people were feeling was apathy, as they grew tired of dealing with COVID-19, an analyst for the news network observed.

Chinese commentators opined that "lying flat" did have precursors across generationsa and countries.

In their opposition to materialism, young people around the world did lose their motivation to work for a" better life", Dr Gavin Sin Hin Chiu, an analyst in China, had told the South China Morning Post last year.

While some employees are stepping back, others are quitting or planning to quit their jobs altogether.

In India, a report by recruitment agency Michael Page in June, estimated that 86 percent of employees it surveyed were likely to quit in the next six months.

Another report, by cloud services provider DigitalOcean, gave an industry-specific estimate. It said over 44 percent software developers could quit their jobs this year.