[AnonMessiah]

>why is this narrative happening now?

I think that it has a lot to do with the massive resurgence of labor organizing we've seen across the globe; People saw how much bullshit they're forced to deal with while applying for and doing their jobs. Seeing record breaking profits while facing down skyrocketing inflation, in many cases without so much as a COL adjustment, and have had enough. Meanwhile, these companies know, even if they refuse to acknowledge it, that labor creates value; If you can get more value out of something at the same or less cost that makes your bottom line look better, why would they not try and work employees as much as they can for the same price? So now businesses want to make it seem like employees are to blame for refusing to allow themselves to be continually exploited in the same manner, which is why it is framed as 'quiet quitting' instead of 'only doing what they're paid to do'.

I also think that the pandemic/WFH may have given people a reason/time to do some reevaluation of what is important to them, what they want to invest their time into, and what they want to do with their lives generally, and me personally, it isn't to spend my life clicking buttons to make some number somewhere go up.