I'm not going to call it “quite quitting”, I am going to call it “growing a spine”. I currently work in a job that is both my career and a hobby. I've found that the individuals I work with are totally switched off, they've been in their roles for 10-30 years. They do the bare minimum (or less), have no interest in skilling up to today's standards, and do not care for the work (Most have been shuffled from unrelated teams through either mergers or because they were problematic).
For the past 3 years, I've put in >100% effort and my manager has identified this in my yearly performance assessments:
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I help other colleagues do various tasks (some of which they should know)
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I'm constantly the point of contact for colleagues' questions
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I have Senior members of my defer to me for help and sent me tasks that are “too hard” for them to solve
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Jobs and Issues that Seniors pass to me, are atop of my expected workload
Now please, don't get me wrong. I'm not trying to “toot” my own horn. I feel like my skill level is at about an intermediate level that the job demands (Personally I'd like to have more advanced colleagues above me to learn from).
What I've discovered is the more I help others, the more of a doormat I've become. People start to expect me to help them, then turn around and complain when I'm not available. I get given tasks by default once colleagues find them “too difficult”. Most of this more “difficult” work, is normally that which takes more time and patience. This results in me working long days and having more stress. What is annoying is that in some cases I've been given a difficult task by a colleague, and I'm busting my ass on it while they're off enjoying lunch with all of their newly found free time. All of this while we're on approximately the same salary. Some colleagues will also conveniently forget the help they were given when mentioning to management in our meetings how the work was done.
I'm not the only person suffering from this in the team, I have a colleague who is in the same boat. What I've become acutely aware of is that Managers easily give up on “low performers” and load up those who appear to care. It appears my reward for being competent at my job is just more work. While at the same time, I get jeered by said colleagues for having “no life”, while they offload their difficult work onto me. Or tell me in the same breath, how good their house/new car/family is.
My “New Years” Work Resolution will be a few things:
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Saying “no” more often
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Getting out of work on time, when the clock hits “quitting time”, I'm going to tools down and leave.
I've started to realize that I need to focus on myself more and be more selfish. That work, even if I don't help will eventually get done (or won't). But in the scheme of things, it doesn't really matter if it does. The “system” keeps moving onward either way. Year in, and year out I've tried to find the light at the end of the tunnel of work. There is no “winning” or “finishing” work, there is always more work and at any minute my current role could go away and I'm left with nothing tangible from all the “extra” effort I put in. I could leave tomorrow and everything would just “keep going”. Some of those leaning on others would feel more pain but in reality, it's only sapping me of time/energy to make their lives a little easier.