Employees who do not go beyond their job descriptions and the common managerial complaint of “there is something strange about this new generation”, and this phenomenon, known as “quiet quitting,” is rewriting the codes of working life in Türkiye as it is around the world.
Sociologist Prof. Barış Erdoğan evaluated the desire of the younger generation of employees to be limited to their job descriptions, saying: “Young people do not want to give more to the system than what they are paid. This is a kind of emotional withdrawal. It is not that young people do not want to work. They ask, ‘Why should I spend my time, energy, and health to make someone else rich?’”
Prof. Barış Erdoğan, Head of the Department of Sociology at Üsküdar University, assessed from a sociological perspective the increasingly widespread idea among youth both in Türkiye and globally of working just enough to make a living, commonly referred to as “quiet quitting.”
All dynamics of working life are changing
Pointing out that similar behavioral patterns to “quiet quitting” are also observed among younger workers in Türkiye, especially in metropolitan areas, Prof. Barış Erdoğan said:
“The general feeling among young people is: ‘Too much work, too little appreciation, zero job security.’ Today's workers bring their bodies to the workplace but leave their souls outside. We live in an age where job security is eroding, work does not offer a future perspective, and labor is not fairly compensated. For this reason, younger generations are questioning what work serves and what it brings them. This questioning is changing all the dynamics of working life as we have known and grown accustomed to so far.”
Young workers want to stick only to their job descriptions
Evaluating the desire of young workers to remain within their job descriptions, Prof. Erdoğan continued: “In the past, loyalty and dedication to the job were rewarded with promotions or the boss’s appreciation. Today, the biggest reward is portrayed as merely keeping your job. In the end, what remains is usually a salary eroded by inflation and high levels of stress. Therefore, young people do not want to give more than they’re paid for. Older generations and employers often interpret this as laziness. But in fact, it is a kind of emotional withdrawal. Young people are not refusing to work; they just feel they are not being fairly compensated for their efforts. They ask, ‘Why should I spend my time, energy, and health to make someone else rich?’ Their parents, who worked long hours with dedication, may have lost their health or did not get to spend enough time with them, but they were at least rewarded materially. Now that reward has disappeared, leading to a serious rupture in the work culture.”
For Generation Z, work is not at the center of life
Noting that members of Generation X who are still in the workforce are currently gritting their teeth and enduring, Prof. Barış Erdoğan stated:
“They are counting the days, doing their jobs soullessly. This generation, for better or worse, managed to build up some savings. They dream of retiring as soon as possible. But with current pension payments, that dream could turn into a nightmare. Even though they were raised with a very different work culture, they too are now quietly entering the ‘silent quitting’ mode. They look at younger generations and begin to question their own past. Generation Y (1981–1996) entered the workforce with great hopes but encountered nepotism and financial anxiety. They have no savings and a long working life ahead. Material rewards may still appeal to them. As for Generation Z (born after 1997), the notion we were taught which is ‘Work hard, and one day it will be yours’, sounds laughable to them. For these young people, work is not at the center of life. Work is merely a means of survival.”
Young people are focusing on their own lives, not the company
Saying that “In today’s world, it has become a distant dream for young people to buy a home, own a car, or raise children with an average job,” Prof. Erdoğan continued:
“It is entirely reasonable for this generation, which cannot access the opportunities their parents had through hard work at a young age, to not show the same loyalty to their workplace. Because the work life that used to reward loyalty no longer exists. In this case, young people are focusing on their own lives instead of sacrificing for their workplace. They are trying to find meaning in life outside of work.”
Young people demand value, respect, and a livable wage
Prof. Erdoğan concluded by emphasizing that many older-generation managers in Türkiye struggle to understand this transformation: “Especially in traditional sectors, managers interpret young people's lack of corporate loyalty as ‘indiscipline’ or ‘ingratitude.’ However, this is a very superficial interpretation. The expectations of young people from their workplaces have changed. They demand value, respect, and a livable wage. A system that constantly prioritizes the needs of the workplace under a strict chain of command suffocates them. That is why they are pushing the system toward a new work ethic.”
Üsküdar News Agency (ÜNA)