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Quiet Quitting and Automation

by Michelle McNally | Sep 13, 2022, 14:09 PM
Michelle McNally, EVP of Customer Success at BoxCrush

As EVP of Customer Sucess, I start Mondays at BoxCrush with team meetings to get the week in order before we dig into our work. We review client needs, internal projects, and team workloads. It makes our standing morning call more productive the rest of the week, and it helps set priorities for our clients, too. 

This week, Dan (founder and president of BoxCrush) asked me if I was ready for something happening Thursday. My answer? “Not right now. But I will be ready by Thursday.” Then I added, “Guess I’ve been quiet quitting here all along, Dan.” 

Not everyone can say that to their boss, but I knew he’d laugh and agree with me. 

I’ll admit I haven’t watched a single TikTok about quiet quitting, and I’ve only listened to one sound bite on one podcast about it. But honestly, I strive to be this kind of employee. Not the kind who does the bare minimum but the kind who can shut her computer on Friday afternoon and really not think about work until Monday morning. 

If you’ve managed to avoid the online chatter about quiet quitting, this article from CNN frames it well:

"Some say it means doing the bare minimum at work or just not going above and beyond. Others say it's about setting healthy boundaries or not mindlessly buying into 'hustle culture.' And then there are those who say it's about taking back control of your time and standing up to employers expecting you to do more without paying you more."

So if you’re like me, here are some of my favorite hacks for being a quiet quitter who believes in those healthy boundaries and spending time where it counts. 

Quiet Quitting Hacks

Agendas

Not every internal meeting has a formal agenda, but Friday afternoon I take the last half hour of my work day to prepare for Monday. I make notes on any topics I need to cover in any of the three consecutive calls I have Monday morning. 

Set Communication Patterns

At BoxCrush, during the workday, we use Slack to communicate with each other and only email if we are including outside parties (vendors or clients). Over the weekend and on days off, it’s not expected that anyone checks those things. If it is a true emergency or access issue, a direct call or text message is sent. 

Vacation Responders and Cross-training

When you work at a large company, your vacation responder goes to internal contacts, and when you work for a small company, your vacation responder goes to external contacts. Either way, set that up and let it do the work for you. At BoxCrush, we always give the email address of another team member so that clients can have concerns addressed no matter who is taking a day off. That team member will have at least cursory knowledge of the other person’s workload and clients so that work doesn’t stop when one person takes a day off. 

Project Management Systems

All of our clients use our project management software, monday.com. This allows everyone working with a client access to everything we need to help the client succeed. I may not usually answer questions for a particular client, but if they communicate while their point person is away, I can at least acknowledge the message and let them know someone will be in touch soon. 

Up-to-Date Calendars

Everyone at BoxCrush uses Google Calendar, where we can quickly and easily see each other’s schedules. This allows us to schedule meetings, know when others are off, and even when someone is briefly out of office to run an errand. 

Triggered Responses, Workflows, and Schedulers

Being a digital marketing agency means we have campaigns running for BoxCrush as well as our clients that are created to reach users and prospects on specific days and at specific times. Automation tools help us to plan emails, social media posts, and more to be delivered at the correct time. No one is getting up early to prepare for an 8 AM email delivery - that’s been scheduled ahead of time. 

We also like to link a sales platform to our website to help us see what actions users have taken in order to qualify leads ahead of time and be more informed about prospects without doing hours of research. And automating replies to information and quote requests means we're not checking and responding to emails after the workday is over. A lot of these things are easier with the right tools. BoxCrush has recommended tools for everything from website maintenance to marketing automation.

In the end, it turns out that I’m the kind of quiet quitter who believes in working smarter, not harder, rather than spinning my wheels for the heck of it. By automating processes, and having procedures that are easy for each team member to follow, Crushers have the ability to take meaningful time off while our clients receive the level of customer service they’ve come to expect from us.

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