I do not think quiet quitting is something new. It has been with us since companies started but was either called something else or just ignored till now.

A company does not get 8 hours of work from the average employee. I think it is somewhere around 6 hours in an 8 hour day. Yet they are paid for 8 hours of work. So the employer is not getting what they are paying for.

Now they are not the ones suffering here only. Too many employers demand 50 or 60 hours of work while paying for 40. That is equally wrong.

If a person wants to get ahead, they need to do more than the bare minimum of work. That doesn't mean spending their whole life on the job. It means taking special assignments, learning new skills and coming up with ideas that help the company. Do that and in most cases you are rewarded and make more. Do the bare minimum and chances are you will be paid accordingly.

That is the way it works. It probably has always been that way. I don't know because I have not been around forever and have "only" worked with 300 or so companies. But this is what I see and know from that.

You may disagree and you are entitled to do so. But if you treat a job as a drudge and just show up to get paid, chances are good you will not progress. That is your right. But don't look down on those giving extra effort. They want to get ahead and will do what they can to do so. That is their right and what sets them apart from the quitters.