How to Combat Quiet Quitting In Development Teams

1. What Is Quiet Quitting & Its Consequences

Quiet quitting is not laziness, poor performance, or intentional underperformance, nor does it mean an employee is planning to resign in the near future. Employees who quietly quit typically continue to meet their job requirements and performance standards; they simply stop going beyond what is contractually expected. Rather than disengaging from work entirely, they are disengaging from unpaid extra effort, unclear expectations, or unsustainable demands.

1.1. What Is Quiet Quitting

Quiet quitting occurs when employees mentally disengage from their work while remaining employed. They complete assigned tasks but withdraw initiative, creativity, and problem-solving effort.

In a tech context, these are typical quiet quitting behaviors:

• Writing code strictly to spec, without optimization
• Avoiding architectural discussions or refactoring
• Minimal participation in sprint planning or retrospectives
• No longer proposing improvements or challenging decisions
• Declining ownership beyond assigned tickets

1.2. Consequences of Quiet Quitting

Quiet quitting may appear harmless at first, but its long-term impact on organizations, especially development teams, is significant. 

• Gradual loss of productivity
• Lower quality of work
• Loss of creativity and experimentation
• Higher risk of sudden attrition
• Increased pressure on high performance
• Weaken team culture and collaboration
• Higher cost per output and delay in project delivery

The consequences of quiet quitting extend far beyond individual disengagement. Left unaddressed, it quietly undermines productivity, innovation, team morale, and long-term business performance.

2. Common Causes of Quiet Quitting

Quiet quitting in development teams is most often driven by stalled technical growth, ineffective leadership, and unclear career progression. Developers disengage when they lack opportunities to learn new technologies, feel constrained by micromanagement, or cannot see a clear path for advancement. These issues are amplified in offshore setups when HQ-centric decision-making limits ownership and when prolonged workloads or unclear overtime expectations lead to burnout.

2.1. Lack of Technical Growth and Learning Opportunities

Developers are driven by continuous learning, and when they feel their technical growth has stalled, quiet quitting often follows.

This situation commonly arises when:

• Engineers repeatedly work on the same legacy systems or outdated technologies
• There is limited exposure to new tools, frameworks, or modern architectures
• Developers are excluded from design discussions or technical decision-making
• Offshore teams handle execution-only or maintenance-heavy tasks

In fast-moving tech environments, developers may continue delivering tasks while quietly disengaging from innovation and improvement.

2.2. Poor Engineering Leadership and Micromanagement

In development teams, overly rigid management and micromanagement significantly accelerate quiet quitting. Common leadership-related triggers include:

• Micromanaging how code is written instead of focusing on outcomes
• Excessive tracking of hours or productivity metrics
• Unrealistic deadlines and constant urgency
• Limited trust in engineers’ technical judgment

As seen in quiet quitting scenarios across Southeast Asia, experienced developers rarely voice frustration directly. Instead, they just do exactly what is required and no more.

2.3. Unclear Career Progression 

When developers do not understand how their careers can progress, quiet quitting becomes a rational response. A lack of transparency around advancement makes extra effort feel unrewarded.

Disengagement increases when:

• Promotion criteria are unclear or inconsistently applied
• Technical career paths are poorly defined compared to managerial roles
• Engineers do not know how to move from mid-level to senior or principal roles
• Career frameworks exist, but are not communicated to offshore teams

2.4. Misalignment Between HQ and Offshore Teams

When decision-making is centralized at headquarters, offshore engineers may feel excluded from meaningful work. This misalignment often leads to:

• Vietnam-based developers feel like execution-only resources
• Limited ownership over architecture, tooling, or sprint planning
• Reduced willingness to challenge decisions or suggest improvements
• Lower emotional investment in product success

In such environments, quiet quitting becomes a passive coping mechanism rather than an act of open resistance.

2.5. Burnout Disguised as Compliance

Burnout is one of the most overlooked causes of quiet quitting. Developers may continue to meet expectations while mentally disengaging from their work. Main culprits are:

• Long working hours and repeated crunch cycles 
• Consistently high delivery pressure 
• Unclear or informal overtime expectations 
• Work practices not aligned with local labor regulations

3. How To Combat Quiet Quitting?

When developers feel trusted, valued, and supported, both technically and legally, engagement rises, and quiet quitting becomes far less likely. Here are the best practices for organizations to handle quiet quitting in the workplace. 

3.1. Redefine Performance Metrics for Developers

To effectively combat quiet quitting, companies must move beyond output-based metrics and focus on impact, quality, and collaboration. Measuring performance purely by tickets closed or hours logged often discourages thoughtful engineering and reinforces disengagement.

• Rewarding code quality, maintainability, and scalability, not just delivery speed
• Recognizing problem-solving, ownership, and cross-team collaboration
• Valuing contributions to documentation, mentoring, and technical improvement
• Avoiding the assumption that longer working hours equal higher productivity

When developers feel their actual contributions are recognized, they are far less likely to disengage quietly.

3.2. Create Clear Technical Career Paths

Quiet quitting frequently occurs when developers feel their career growth has plateaued. Engineers should not feel compelled to move into people management simply to advance.

Effective career structures typically include:

• Clearly defined Junior → Mid → Senior → Principal Engineer tracks
• Transparent promotion criteria based on technical skill, impact, and leadership influence
• Regular technical evaluations, feedback cycles, and personalized growth plans

These strategies are beneficial when hiring local Vietnamese engineers, who often prioritize long-term stability, skill development, and visible career progression within foreign-led organizations.

3.3. Invest in Engineering Autonomy

Autonomy is one of the strongest antidotes to quiet quitting in development teams when engineers feel trusted and empowered, engagement and accountability increase significantly.

• Allowing teams to contribute to architecture and tooling decisions
• Encouraging ownership of services, features, or modules
• Supporting experimentation, refactoring, and continuous improvement initiatives
• Giving engineers space to influence technical direction, not just execution

A lack of autonomy signals low trust, which often leads developers to disengage rather than push back.

2.4. Strengthen Communication in Distributed Development Teams

Quiet quitting often begins with reduced communication. In offshore or distributed teams, silence can easily go unnoticed unless leaders actively create space for dialogue.

• Regular one-on-one check-ins between engineers and managers
• Retrospectives that emphasize psychological safety, not blame
• Anonymous feedback channels to surface concerns early
• Open forums for offshore teams to share ideas and challenges

Consistent, two-way communication helps detect disengagement before it becomes entrenched.

2.5. Align HR, Management, and Legal Compliance

Disengagement intensifies when developers feel expectations are unclear or unfair. Strong alignment between HR, management, and legal frameworks is critical, especially for foreign companies operating in Vietnam. Companies should ensure:

• Clear job scopes and role expectations aligned with the Vietnam labor law
• Transparent overtime, leave, and compensation policies
• Full compliance with local employment regulations and social insurance requirements

Strong HR foundations reduce uncertainty and build trust, addressing one of the root causes of quiet quitting in offshore development teams.

4. Case Study: Quiet Quitting in Singapore

Quiet quitting in Singapore gained attention as a widespread workforce trend during the post-pandemic era, reflecting a shift in how employees view work, boundaries, and engagement. 

4.1. The Context of Quiet Quitting in Singapore

In a 2023 survey of 1,000 Singapore workers, 35% reported quietly quitting their jobs, a rate higher than the global average, indicating that disengagement is widespread across roles and industries. 

Across these examples, common underlying themes include:

• Compensation disparities and salary dissatisfaction
• Lack of career growth or recognition
• Work-life imbalance and burnout
• Feeling undervalued compared to peers or expatriate colleagues

In these cases, employees continue to meet job descriptions but have withdrawn their emotional and discretionary effort. Regional surveys show that salary dissatisfaction and burnout are key drivers. Research showed that 45% of Singapore workers cited dissatisfaction with pay and 44% noted feeling overwhelmed as primary reasons for planning to quiet quit, especially among younger (Gen Z) employees.

4.2. Singapore Employers’ Initiatives

In Singapore, quiet quitting is widely recognized not as employee laziness but as a signal of disengagement, burnout, or misaligned expectations. Employers, HR leaders, and policymakers address it through a mix of organizational practices, leadership changes, and workforce policies.

• Shifts performance evaluation from long working hours to outcomes, impact, and quality of work, reducing burnout and presenteeism
• Establishes clear career development and progression frameworks, helping employees see long-term value in their roles
• Invests in strong people management, training leaders to reduce micromanagement and build trust
• Encourages open communication and early intervention through regular check-ins and engagement surveys
• Normalizes work-life balance by setting clear boundaries around working hours, leave, and rest

5. How Reco Manpower Helps Your Organization

Reco Manpower is a Vietnam-based IT recruitment and HR solutions provider that supports local and foreign companies in building and managing teams in Vietnam. By combining recruitment expertise with local HR insight, we help foreign companies build development teams that remain engaged, compliant, and resilient, reducing the risk of quiet quitting over time.

Reco Manpower supports companies by:

• Hiring developers and IT professionals aligned with long-term technical and career growth plans
• Defining clear job scopes, role expectations, and reporting structures
• Advising on career frameworks and progression pathways suited to Vietnam’s talent market
• Guiding HR policies, labor compliance, and employee engagement
• Acting as a local partner to bridge communication and cultural gaps between HQ and Vietnam teams

6. Conclusion

Quiet quitting is not a passing trend or an employee attitude problem but a clear signal of disengagement driven by unmet expectations, unclear growth paths, and unsustainable work practices. In development teams, where collaboration, innovation, and discretionary effort are essential, the impact of quiet quitting can quietly undermine performance long before it becomes visible. For foreign companies building teams in Vietnam, addressing quiet quitting requires a proactive approach: investing in strong leadership, clear career frameworks, open communication, and compliant HR practices.

Looking to hire reliable and highly qualified tech professionals in Vietnam? Reach out to Reco Manpower today for tailored recruitment solutions that match your business needs.

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