From quiet quitting to revenge quitting

One of the work trends I kept hearing about a lot over recent years was quiet quitting, and the idea of doing just enough at work without burning yourself out seemed to resonate with a lot of people. Fast forward to now, and it seems the conversation has shifted in a very different direction.

A recent survey by Tokyo-based Scholar Consult found that around 10% of workers in Japan have experienced colleagues or bosses engaging in what they've termed "revenge quitting." This goes beyond simply walking away from a job, and includes things like deleting important data before leaving, quitting suddenly during peak busy periods, scattering documents everywhere, or even sending sarcastic or hostile farewell emails.

Overall, the most common frustration when someone resigns was simply having to pick up the extra workload, cited by nearly 30% of respondents. But the revenge quitting cases stood out because they leave behind a real mess for colleagues to clean up.

For us as expats, I thought it was an interesting contrast. Japan is often painted as a country of harmony and collective responsibility, and in many workplaces that's probably true. But like anywhere else in the world, dissatisfaction can boil over, especially if employees feel undervalued or ignored. I know that sometimes it would be nice to leave work in a huff (I've dreamed about it in certain jobs!), but as experts warn, it can damage reputations and careers in the long run.