What is Live Quitting? Understanding the Latest Employee Exit Trend

Even if you’re not on the social media app TikTok, you may have seen the viral videos of employees quitting their jobs and recording the interaction for the world to see. In these videos, employees often catch their managers completely off guard, and worse, don’t let the other party know they’re being recorded.

Coined as “live quitting,” the trend has become so pervasive that it’s taken on a name and an entire section of social media all its own: #quittok. 

Whether the recording of the resignation is aired live (hence the phrase, live quitting) or is saved and shared later, the threat to employers is real—and should be dealt with head-on. 

In this article, we bring employers up to speed about this novel subset of the Great Resignation: one that has the potential to seriously impact the reputation, goodwill and recruiting efforts of employers worldwide. More importantly, we’ll let you know what you can do to get ahead of it. 

What is Live Quitting? 

Also referred to as “digital resignation,” live quitting is what happens when an employee quits their job and either documents the interaction in real time or unloads a barrage of tweets or an entire video shortly afterward.

Often, employees catch their employers off guard with these resignations, knowing that their employer’s reaction might make for a more dramatic experience for the audience. 

The TikTok videos, Instagram Reels, Tweets, Facebook posts and LinkedIn posts frequently go “viral,” meaning they are pushed to users of these social media apps that don’t purposely follow the user posting them.

This can pose serious negative consequences for employers, who aren’t able to tell or share their “side” of the story, but are painted in a negative light in front of droves of social media users. 

RELATED: Signs an Employee is Going to Quit >>

The Impact of Live Quitting on Employers

The live quitting trend has roots in the Great Resignation and is fueled in large part by the perceived cultural elements that make up the essence of Generation Z. This generation of workers grew up as digital natives, often documenting everything online, from major milestones to everyday musings.

While there are arguments to be made on both sides of the issue, this age group is often alleged to possess a negative attitude toward the employment relationship and authority in general. 

You can think of live quitting as the more aggressive cousin to the passive trend of “quiet quitting,” although the two trends have distinctly different negative effects on employers. While quiet quitting takes a huge blow to a business’s productivity and culture internally, live quitting can have a far-reaching negative impact on the business’s reputation with future employees and customers alike. 

You may have seen this viral clip of McDonald’s workers quitting unexpectedly and recording the interaction on TikTok. In the 2021 incident, all of the workers at the UK McDonald’s location quit at once midway through a shift, forcing the entire restaurant to close down. 

Fast forward to present day 2024, the hashtag "quittok" now has more than 41 million views, with countless users—many of them young—documenting the exact moment they resigned from their job.

Some videos feature actual footage of the interaction between the creator and their supervisor, even documenting the supervisor's real-time response to the employee's news.

Others are structured as immediate confessional-style tell-alls relaying the creator's version of the events, from what led to the resignation to a retelling of a supervisor's reaction. As the trend picks up speed, employers have to wonder—could an employee's live resignation be in their future?

RELATED: Getting Your Employees to Stay: Creating a Better Workplace >> 

Is Live Quitting Illegal? 

Whether live quitting is legal is a loaded question, and typically, the legality of the situation depends entirely on its unique circumstances. Some of the legal considerations involved include: 

• What is being said by the employee during the interaction 
• What is posted online during or after the “live quitting” incident
• The veracity of the employee’s claims
• The laws regarding recording permissions in your state
• The terms of the agreement(s) the worker signed or acknowledged
• And more 

As we’ve covered above, live quitting can lead to serious negative consequences for employers. It’s always best practice to reach out to qualified legal counsel or an HR compliance expert before pursuing legal action against a former employee.

However, you can keep the following items in mind as you’re determining which legal protections may apply to your business: 

• Whether you have a valid non-disparagement provision in place with your employee

  Speaking negatively about an employer may go against the terms of your agreement(s) with your employee. Many employers maintain restrictive covenants of varying types within documents like offer letters, employment contracts, employee handbooks or other policy documents, nondisclosure agreements, and separation agreements. 
  
  While non-disparagement provisions have come under some amount of regulatory “fire” in recent years, it’s a good idea to consult with an expert about the protections your agreements with your employees offer you. 

• The defamation laws in your state

  Generally, negative and untrue speech about a former employer is illegal—but the particulars rise and fall according to the defamation laws in your state. If a former employee puts out false information about your organization in an attempt to bring harm to the business, you may have recourse. 

• The privacy and recording laws in your state

  Most states’ laws maintain that a recording is legal as long as one party to the recording (i.e., the employee) consents. This means, generally, that the manager or supervisor who is being informed of the resignation—and filmed without their consent—could have little to no legal recourse when the video is shared online. Some states, however, require the consent of all parties being filmed or recorded. 

The above considerations are just a few involved in seeking recourse against an employee who has engaged in live quitting. If you have been affected by a live quitting incident, you can (and should) speak with qualified legal counsel or an HR compliance expert to learn more. 

How Can We Prevent Live Quitting? 

While negative events like live quitting may feel totally out of an employer’s control, there are steps you can take to ensure that you aren’t affected by this trend.

Consider the following: 

• Develop a compliant social media policy

  Build and strengthen a compliant social media policy that limits what employees may share online. 

• Create non-confrontational channels for employee feedback

  Maintain avenues for employees to share their concerns in a non-confrontational and productive way, so issues can be resolved before an employee feels the need to quit abruptly. 

• Request notice from departing employees

  Ask for notice from departing employees in your offer letters or employee handbooks. While notice provisions are not always enforceable in at-will employment states, employers can offer incentives (such as a week’s pay) in exchange for abiding by a prescribed notice period. 

RELATED: Four Ways to Counter the Great Resignation >> 

Axcet HR Solutions: Your HR Compliance Partner & Workplace Culture Expert

Live quitting and other inappropriate workplace practices can change the trajectory of a successful company. Whether your organization has been a victim of the live quitting trend, or you suspect it might, Axcet HR is here to help you get a handle on your workplace culture. 

Our HR compliance and workplace culture experts are ready to work with you to understand (and potentially adjust) your employment practices. To learn more, schedule a consultation today.