https://financialpreparedness.substack.com/p/quiet-dividend-quitting

DEI is just one of the factors working against investors by reducing the profits of corporations.

. . . I also don't think it's a coincidence that “the first known use of 'quiet quitting' was...[in a] video posted to TikTok,” or that it was “driven largely by social media.” The people who control these companies are dedicated to bringing about the downfall of America and the free market (for their own reasons). A society where people get paid to sham is doomed to collapse.

So if most employees are just taking up space, how does that affect a company's bottom line, and what does that mean for shareholders? Less free cash flow and therefore lower dividends. Since the value of a company is equal to the present value of its future cash flows (discounted at an appropriate interest rate), the value of the company (and therefore its stock) is also lower.

. . . Many companies have since resumed paying a dividend, but often at a far lower level. Many others stopped increasing their dividend each year, which during a time of 8% inflation is a cut. And many others never resumed paying a dividend.

I track over 2,000 dividend-paying stocks from around the world on a massive spreadsheet. There are over 100 companies in the Flat Dividend (for 1-3 years) section and about 75 Dividend Deadbeats—which haven't increased their dividend for at least four years. There are 55 companies in the Reduced Dividend section and over 200 in the Eliminated Dividend section. There are many other companies that I simply deleted from my spreadsheet once they eliminated their dividend.

The real numbers are even higher, for the following reasons. First, the vast majority of foreign stocks aren't included in the totals above because the dollar value of their dividends (nearly all of which are paid in a foreign currency) fluctuate with exchange rates, which makes it more challenging to track how their dividend has been changing over time. Second, many stocks should be in one of the categories above, but are also in other excluded categories, such as Low 10-Year ROIC, High Short Interest, Low Beneish M-Score, Low Dividend Safety Score, Low Corporate Social Credit Score (weak dividend growth is probably correlated with all of the preceding factors), Low Trading Volume, Short History, Insufficient Data, or they're in an industry that I don't invest in.

. . . When the company is late with their announcement or payment, I look for signs of financial distress and accounting fraud, and often times I find it. I'm like a demanding landlord who expects the rent on the day it's due and becomes irate if it's not paid, because as an investor, you can't afford to be one of the last ones to figure out that a company has cut its dividend.

In conclusion, there is a real financial consequence to having a lot of employees who are shirking on the job. When investors finally figure this out, they will wish that they had “phoned in” their sell order to their broker sooner.