Some bemoaned it as quiet quitting; others celebrated it as a much-needed correction to the toxic demands of hustle culture. But employees, it turns out, aren't the only ones distancing themselves from the office: Employers are quiet quitting on the whole idea of traditional full-time employment. If workers are going to be remote, the thinking seems to go, why not get the cheapest remote workers available? That ruled out contractors, because contractors work remotely. And that could be a huge problem for everyone, given America's insistence on tying basic benefits to full-time employment.

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Persons: Nicholas Bloom, Slack, they're, —, Gen Zers, It's, Bloom, they'll, Jessica Schultz, she's, Schultz, They're, it's, Liz Wilke, Aki Ito Organizations: Atlanta Fed, Stanford University, McKinsey Locations: American