Following months of collaborative work across the three partner organisations, the STAY Handbook has now been completed and published as an open-access resource.
The handbook is one of the central outputs of the Erasmus+ STAY project. It provides youth workers, mentors, trainers and youth organisations with practical, evidence-based guidance for recognising early disengagement among young people aged 18–28 and responding before it develops into a long-term pattern.
Quiet quitting does not mean that a young person has formally left a job, volunteering role or organisation. It refers to a gradual reduction of engagement to the minimum required level. A young person may continue completing basic tasks while no longer contributing ideas, taking initiative, seeking feedback or feeling emotionally connected to their role.
Such behaviour is often interpreted as laziness or a lack of motivation. The handbook offers a different perspective: disengagement is frequently a response to unclear expectations, prolonged overload, insufficient recognition, a lack of meaningful development opportunities or the feeling that additional effort will not be valued.
The purpose of the STAY Handbook is therefore not to pressure young people to do more. It is to help youth workers recognise what may be happening, initiate honest conversations and support young people in developing the communication, help-seeking and boundary-setting skills needed to remain constructively engaged in work and volunteering.
From understanding the problem to taking practical action
The handbook is organised into six interconnected parts. Together, they take readers from the conceptual foundations of quiet quitting to concrete tools that can be used in individual support, workshops, employability programmes, volunteering activities and non-formal learning settings.
Part I: Understanding Quiet Quitting
The first part explains what quiet quitting is, why it occurs and what research tells us about disengagement. It addresses common misconceptions, including the assumption that quiet quitting is simply a form of laziness or a temporary social media trend.
It also explores how young people understand work, purpose, autonomy and personal well-being, providing important context for organisations working with Generation Z.
Part II: Early Recognition Toolkit
Quiet quitting rarely happens overnight. It usually develops through a series of small behavioural and emotional changes that can be difficult to notice when viewed separately.
The Early Recognition Toolkit helps youth workers identify patterns such as reduced participation, minimal communication, avoidance of feedback, social withdrawal, loss of initiative and emotional distancing. It also highlights the importance of comparing current behaviour with the young person’s previous level of engagement rather than drawing conclusions from one difficult day or a temporary reduction in energy.
Part III: Micro-skills and Conversation Scripts
Young people may recognise that something is wrong but lack the language or confidence to communicate it. This section introduces practical micro-skills that can help them move from silent withdrawal to constructive expression.
The four core skills are naming an issue without escalating it, setting boundaries without guilt, asking for feedback before disconnecting and seeking help before silence deepens.
The handbook provides concrete sentence starters and conversation structures that youth workers can practise with participants. These tools are designed to support honest communication without forcing young people into confrontation or placing responsibility for structural problems entirely on them.
Part IV: Six Practice Sessions
The fourth part translates the framework into six ready-to-run learning sessions. These can be used in youth work, employability programmes, volunteering initiatives and other non-formal education settings.
The sessions include facilitated reflection, group discussion, scenario work, role-play, peer coaching and practical planning. Each activity contains clear objectives, preparation guidance and facilitation instructions, allowing organisations to use the material without developing a separate training programme.
Youthpass-linked learning outcomes are integrated into the sessions, enabling organisations to connect participation with the recognition and documentation of competences developed through non-formal learning.
Part V: Pathways and Referrals
Not every situation can or should be addressed through a single conversation. Some cases may involve burnout, discrimination, harassment, a significant deterioration in mental health or other concerns requiring additional support.
This part helps youth workers recognise when escalation or referral is appropriate, who should be involved and how to keep the young person informed throughout the process. The handbook emphasises that referral is not simply a handover. Youth workers should continue providing continuity, encouragement and a trusted relationship while specialised support is being accessed.
Part VI: Implementing the STAY Framework in Organisations
The final part focuses on embedding the STAY approach into everyday organisational practice. It recognises that even well-designed guidance has limited value if it is too complicated to use or disconnected from existing routines.
The handbook therefore proposes realistic measures such as regular check-ins, clearly assigned responsibilities, team reflection, accessible referral contacts and simple escalation procedures. It also examines implementation in hybrid and online environments, where disengagement can be more difficult to recognise.
The objective is not to create a perfect or highly complex system. It is to establish consistent conditions in which young people feel able to speak, youth workers feel supported in responding, and concerns are noticed before they become entrenched.
Grounded in research and designed for practice
The STAY Handbook combines current research with practical youth work methods. Its approach draws on established frameworks, including the Job Demands-Resources model, Conservation of Resources theory, research on meaningful work and validated instruments such as the Quiet Quitting Scale developed by Galanis et al. in 2023.
At the same time, the handbook has been written for direct use in practice. It includes facilitated activities, conversation scripts, self-check exercises, case scenarios, workshop plans and organisational implementation tools.
One of its central messages is that healthy boundary-setting should not be confused with disengagement. A boundary that is clearly communicated can support sustainable participation. Quiet quitting is more likely to develop when needs, limits and difficulties remain unspoken for too long.
An inclusion-focused approach
The inclusion perspective is integrated throughout the handbook rather than treated as a separate topic. Particular attention is given to young people who may face additional barriers to participation, including young people with disabilities, migrants and members of minority communities, young people from rural areas and young women working or volunteering in male-dominated environments.
These groups may experience exclusion, inaccessible communication, discrimination or a lack of recognition that increases the risk of gradual withdrawal. Effective early recognition therefore requires more than noticing when someone becomes quiet. It also requires organisations to create accessible and psychologically safe conditions in which different young people can participate and express their needs.
Supporting early reflection through the STAY Risk Scanner
The handbook is complemented by the STAY Engagement and Quiet-Quitting Risk Scanner, a digital self-assessment tool that enables young people to reflect privately on their current level of engagement and receive personalised guidance on possible next steps.
Organisations can use the scanner at the beginning of a programme, at regular intervals or before individual check-in conversations. It can help identify gradual changes that may not yet be visible in everyday interactions.
The Risk Scanner is designed to support, not replace, human contact and professional judgment. Its greatest value comes when it is used as a starting point for a safe and structured conversation.
No young person should have to disengage in silence
The completed STAY Handbook provides youth workers and organisations with a structured but flexible framework for recognising disengagement, opening conversations and responding proportionately.
Its key message is straightforward: young people should not have to withdraw in silence because nobody noticed, asked the right question or knew how to respond.
A regular check-in, an honest conversation, a clearly communicated boundary or a timely referral may appear to be a small intervention. However, when offered early and consistently, these actions can prevent temporary frustration from developing into a lasting loss of motivation, confidence and connection.
The STAY Handbook is now available as an open-access resource for youth workers, mentors, trainers, employability practitioners, volunteering coordinators and organisations supporting young adults.
The handbook was developed within the Erasmus+ STAY project by the three partner organisations: RISI, Pannonia Consulting and Asociación Pilcrow.
