Keegan Furtado challenges prevailing narratives around productivity and commitment
There was a time when work fit neatly between breakfast and dinner. Now it sits comfortably between waking up, replying to messages sent at midnight, pretending not to see calendar invites labelled ‘quick sync’ or ‘quick catch up’ and wondering whether finishing at 6 p.m. makes you appear either wildly efficient or worryingly disengaged.
Whole movements have emerged from this confusion. On one end is quiet quitting, where employees do precisely what they are paid to do and nothing more, which in any sane world would simply be called ‘work.’ On the other end is burnout, the dramatic cousin who attends every meeting, answers every email, and looks permanently attached to their laptop charger.
And then, occupying the middle, sits the largest and most misunderstood group of all: the silent middle. They are not burnt out, not disengaged, not on strike, not secretly job-hunting. They are simply getting on with it, feeling occasionally under-appreciated, occasionally overextended, occasionally caffeinated, and always striving for balance.
The Confusion of Signals
Workplace culture has begun speaking three dialects at once.
- Quiet quitters say, “My boundaries matter.”
- Burnout says, “I will rest once I have achieved inbox zero, global harmony and fixed the printer.”
- The silent middle says nothing because they are being asked to fill out yet another engagement survey.
The complication is that modern work equates volume with value. The louder you appear on email, chat, and shared documents, the safer you feel. Silence, ironically, is interpreted as indifference. This is how perfectly competent employees who simply work steadily and sensibly become mislabelled as disengaged.
When Quiet Quitting is actually Quiet Clarity
Quiet quitting is often presented as a rebellion: the radical act of logging off on time. In reality, it is sometimes just adults applying healthy boundaries. Some employees have finally realised that eating dinner at the same time as other humans is not a performance failure.
Quiet quitting becomes problematic only when it drifts into quiet avoidance. Less contribution, less ownership, less initiative, and eventually, less interest. At that point, boundaries stop being protective and start becoming a barrier.
When Burnout looks suspiciously like Dedication
Burnout, unfortunately, is still worn as a badge of honour in some organisations. The employee who replies at midnight is ‘driven.’ The one who takes annual leave is ‘resting up.’
Burnout is rarely loud at the beginning. It starts with ambition, accelerates with approval, and ends with fatigue disguised as loyalty. By the time it is visible, it is already deep. A truly burnt-out employee no longer pushes for excellence; they simply push to survive.
The Silent Middle: The Uncelebrated Majority
This group is neither disengaged nor overextended. They simply do their work, well and consistently. They attend meetings without dominating them, complete tasks without broadcasting them, and leave at a reasonable hour without apologising.
Yet this middle is often overlooked for promotions, recognition, and opportunities because they do not signal urgency with capital letters, late-night emails, or public declarations of productivity. Their contribution is steady, not spectacular. Their hours are sensible, not saintly. Their careers are marathons, not high-stakes sprints.
Perhaps the greatest irony is that the silent middle sustains the workplace. They are the ones who respond, contribute, complete, and adjust. They do not make noise because they are too busy doing the work.
What Organisations must learn
- Recognise Consistency, not just Intensity: Praise should not only go to the heroic and the exhausted. Steady performance is not mediocrity; it is maturity.
- Reward Boundaries, not Boundlessness:
Work should not feel like a moral test. Employees who recharge properly perform better over time.
- Redesign the Signal System: If visibility is measured only through message frequency, then burnout will always appear more committed than balance.
- Create Spaces for honest workload Conversations: The silent middle rarely complains. That does not mean they are coping. It means they are polite.
- Reframe Rest as Strategy: Time off is a preventative tool, not a reward for collapse.
The Bottom Line
Quiet quitting is not always a crisis. Burnout is not always a compliment. The middle is not always disengaged simply because it is quiet. The future of work lies neither in amplifying exhaustion nor glorifying withdrawal, but in respecting sustainable contribution. Employees who know when to stop are not less loyal. They are simply less flammable.
If organisations want long-term performance, they must stop rewarding volume and start recognising value. Not the loudest, not the longest logged in, not the last to leave the office. Just the ones who do the work; with competence, balance, and the occasional cup of tea
