Meanings
- uncountableThe decline in an employee's sense of well-being and motivation in a job.
What is “quiet cracking”? Think of it as a slow fracture in an employee’s psychological foundation at work.
2025 August 26, Claire Hall, “Management Professor Offers Advice on How to Combat ‘Quiet Cracking’ in the Workplace”, in UConn Today2 more examples
TalentLMS, a leading employee training platform, released a study of 1,000 U.S. employees that uncovers a silent crisis in the workplace that's going largely undetected — a phenomenon its researchers have coined "Quiet Cracking."
2025 April 9, “New TalentLMS Research Reveals 'Quiet Cracking' as a Hidden Crisis in the U.S. Workplace”, in PR Newswire2025 Caroline Castrillon, "7 ‘Quiet Cracking’ Behaviors That Are Killing Productivity," Forbes, 18 May 2025; updated 25 May 2025. Unlike "quiet quitting," where employees deliberately set boundaries by doing the minimum required, quiet cracking represents persistent workplace unhappiness that gradually leads to decreased performance, diminished productivity, and resignation.
Origin
quiet + cracking, on the model of quiet quitting.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
quiet cracking. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/quiet%20cracking
“quiet cracking.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/quiet%20cracking. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “quiet cracking,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/quiet%20cracking.
Source: quiet cracking on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.