Grumpy Staying: The Workplace Trend Leaders Can’t Ignore
Explore the impact of 'Grumpy Staying: The Workplace Trend Leaders Can’t Ignore'. Learn how to address this trend for a more engaged team.
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DECEMBER 2025
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TABLE OF CONTENTS
IMPORTANT:
Update Emails & Addresses for W-2 Delivery
As we approach year-end, be sure to remind your employees to update their addresses in isolved for accurate W-2 delivery if receiving via paper – if electronic, be sure they have up to date email addresses. (Due: December 31, 2025)
We also want to remind you that
All quarter-end and year-end adjustments must be completed no later than:
3:00 p.m. MDT / 5:00 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, January 7, 2026.
Any corrections submitted after this timeline will have to be completed after February 28, 2026, due to the tax blackout period. This includes adjustments for SCORP, owner distributions, missed earnings, HSA corrections, third-party sick pay, etc.
If you are not sure if adjustments need to be made for your business, please contact your Payroll Specialist with any information and questions.
REGISTER NOW!
- This course is offered for free to all Vida HR Clients -
Description:
New laws. New thresholds. New risks. What employers need to know for 2026.
The rules are changing again- and not just the numbers. Join Vida HR’s annual Compliance & Hot Topics session for a fast-moving look at what’s new, what’s coming, and what deserves your attention for 2026. You are not going to want to miss this important update!
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What’s changing with pay, benefits, and leave-and what’s not?
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Which 2026 updates carry hidden compliance risk?
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How do you prioritize policy, payroll, and communication changes now to stay ahead?
We’ll unpack the latest federal and Colorado updates, share what’s quietly taking effect behind the scenes, and highlight where employers are most likely to get tripped up in the new year.
Grumpy Staying
The Workplace Trend Leaders Can’t Ignore
If 'Quiet Quitting' had a cousin, it would be 'Grumpy Staying'. This emerging workplace trend is quickly becoming an issue for leaders, and unlike Quiet Quitting, everyone knows when it is happening.
Grumpy Stayers are unhappy in their jobs but choose to remain. They hit their performance targets and do what is required, but with a simmering undercurrent of dissatisfaction that can dampen morale across entire teams.
What Is 'Grumpy Staying'?
Grumpy Staying refers to employees who are deeply dissatisfied but choose to remain in their roles. They are frustrated, burned out, or simply over it, yet they are staying put for reasons that often feel practical (or unavoidable):
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Fear of economic instability or a tough job market
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Need to maintain health insurance, retirement vesting, or tenure
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Lack of energy or bandwidth to job hunt
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Belief that a “better option” might not exist
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It is the workplace equivalent of staying in a bad relationship because moving out sounds worse.
Why Employers Should Care
At first glance, Grumpy Staying may seem like a “better problem” than turnover. After all, you are not losing headcount or scrambling to fill vacancies. But the hidden costs are real:
Morale erosion: Negativity can spread faster than enthusiasm, dragging down culture and motivation.
Team conflict: Short tempers and cynicism strain relationships.
Customer impact: Disengagement often bleeds into customer interactions.
Lost productivity: Doing the bare minimum rarely leads to innovation or continuous improvement.
Grumpy Staying can be contagious. When employees see their peers unhappy and unaddressed, they may start questioning their own level of engagement. Employee engagement slid to 21% in 2024, and Gallup estimates disengagement drains roughly $8.8 trillion in productivity, proof that “staying but unhappy” is not a harmless status quo.
How to Spot a Grumpy Stayer
Grumpy Stayers do not always shout their unhappiness from the rooftops, but they are not exactly subtle. Common signs include:
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Increased complaining or eye-rolling in meetings
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Withdrawing from social or team activities
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Less willingness to volunteer or take on new projects
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Meeting goals, but with visible resentment or irritability
A key difference from 'Quiet Quitting'? Grumpy Stayers are not trying to fly under the radar. Their discontent is noticeable and, at times, disruptive.
Why Employees Are Staying Despite the Misery
The reasons employees “grumpy stay” are often rational. Health benefits and financial security weigh heavily in decisions. Some employees fear leaving only to find themselves in a similar (or worse) situation elsewhere. Others are simply too burned out to mount a full job search.
What Employers Can Do About It
The goal is not to root out Grumpy Stayers with a heavy hand. It is to re‑engage them if possible and address the underlying causes that got them there in the first place.
Diagnose root causes:
Conduct anonymous pulse surveys or candid one-on-one conversations. Is workload unrealistic? Are employees feeling unrecognized or stuck?
Re-recruit your employees:
Remind your team why your organization is worth staying at. Offer growth opportunities, job crafting, or lateral moves to spark interest again. If you are a smaller organization, perhaps assign a new project to reengage them. Small but meaningful shifts in responsibilities can go a long way in helping employees feel valued and motivated again.
Train managers to intervene early:
Managers should know how to spot disengagement and have conversations before frustration festers.
According to the Wall Street Journal,
only 27% of managers reported being engaged in 2024.
Disengaged managers set the wrong emotional tone, often dragging down their teams unless they are equipped with the right training and support.
Be transparent about career paths:
When employees can see a future with your organization, they are less likely to mentally check out.
Do not tolerate toxicity:
If someone is actively harming the team, address it compassionately but firmly. Letting disengagement spread unchecked is far more damaging than a difficult conversation. One visibly resentful ‘bad apple’ can shift norms and performance for an entire team, addressing behavior early protects everyone else’s engagement.
The Bigger Picture
Grumpy Staying is a trend worth watching because it highlights a larger truth: retention does not equal engagement. Just because employees are staying does not mean they are happy, productive, or contributing at their best.
Organizations that address Grumpy Staying head-on by improving communication, growth opportunities, and workplace culture will be better positioned to re‑energize their teams and retain top talent for the right reasons.
After all, keeping an employee on the roster is not the same as keeping them engaged, and a disengaged team can hold an organization back more than an open position ever could.
QUESTION:
With winter coming up, I’m worried my business might not be prepared if the weather gets bad.
What should I do if my employees can’t come to work due to bad / inclement weather?
Answer:
If an employee can work remotely, you should allow them in times of inclement weather. For non-remote employees, consider closing the office and allowing them to take advantage of available vacation or other paid time off to substitute for otherwise unpaid time. Some states may grant them protected leave they are able to use for inclement weather.
Long Answer
Vida HR primarily operates out of Colorado, so we’re no strangers to inclement weather. When that ice hits the road, it’s no joke. For the safety of your employees, we strongly recommend having an inclement weather policy if your company is based in an area with a consistent record of hazardous conditions.
But what exactly should you do?
There aren’t many laws or regulations that relate to inclement weather, and most of them are related to employee leave, rather than dictating what an employer must do. The only exception is exempt employees – deductions from their pay can only be taken in narrow circumstances, and inclement weather isn’t a qualifying reason. In cases where the weather makes traveling to the workplace hazardous, we recommend you close your offices if possible. Many employers look to nearby school districts to measure how dangerous the weather is – if the school closes down, the business does as well.
In the event of a closure, if you have employees that can work remotely, you can still require that they work for the day. This gets more complicated if your employees don’t have that capability. In most cases, employers opt to give an unpaid day off – though we recommend allowing employees to use any accrued vacation or PTO to supplement the unpaid time should they wish. Some employers may be tempted to require this – we don’t generally recommend that, and some states may limit your ability to do so, especially if you don’t have a written policy indicating vacation/PTO must be used in the event of an office closure.
In cases where it’s a little more uncertain, or where the weather may affect some employees’ commute more than others, we recommend giving the employees the choice of whether or not to come into work, especially if they can work remotely. If they can’t work remotely, and your business can handle the absence, we again recommend giving them the choice to either take an unpaid day off, or use vacation/PTO to supplement the unpaid time.
It is important to note that some states allow employees to use accrued leave in the case of inclement weather. Colorado allows employees to use paid sick leave if inclement weather forces them to evacuate their home, or if they need to care for a family member whose school or place of care was closed due to the weather. Minnesota also allows employees to use sick leave in the event their place of business was closed due to weather.
When it comes to inclement weather, caution is generally the best practice. Remote work has made this issue much easier to deal with, but there are still cases where an employee’s job cannot be done remotely. Consider creating an inclement weather policy so you are prepared when, as the song goes, the weather outside is frightful.
Secure 2.0
To comply with the SECURE Act 2.0 section 603 requiring Highly Paid Individuals (HPIs*) to make all retirement plan catch-up contributions on a Roth (after-tax) basis, isolved is releasing the following updates
isolved will be using a “deemed” Roth method for HPI catch-up contributions.
The system will automatically switch to the Roth Catch-up deduction once an HPI reaches the annual deferral limit of 23,500.
This applies to plans that have been updated with the recordkeeper and reflected in isolved. If you’re unsure whether your plan meets the requirements, contact your Plan Advisor and notify Vida HR of any changes.
At the start of the following plan year, isolved will revert HPI contributions to pre-tax regular deferrals until the regular limit is reached, then automatically apply Roth catch-up for HPIs.
*HPIs include those individuals who earned over $145,000 in FICA wages in the prior year.
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