Career cushioning. Bare minimum Mondays. Quiet quitting. The last year has seen a proliferation of work-related micro trends spearheaded by Gen Z, most of which are about taking your foot off the gas professionally and sinking into an anti-pressure, anti-ambition life free from burnout.
The latest in this vein is ‘Lazy Girl Jobs’. TikTok videos referring to the trend have amassed over 47 million views and counting, ever since user @gabrielle_judge coined the term while admitting that she had an easy but well paid job. By her definition, Lazy Girl Jobs (LGJs) are flexible, remote, high paying and without performance goals for people who prioritise their life outside of work. “We have so much more fun stuff happening in our 5-9 that is way more important than a boss you hate,” she said, adding in another video that these jobs were about work/life balance rather than actual laziness and the name was an “anti hustle dig”.
Since then, legions of self-confessed LGJ holders including receptionists, data entry clerks and customer service managers have come forward to reveal their own takes on the trend with the overwhelming consensus being that they are low stress, decently compensated roles that – and this is crucial – those who work them feel little to no passion for at all. Others cited “no dress code”, “I talk to no one”, “l can leave whenever I want” as perks of LGJs. On Twitter, plenty of people covet LGJs: “V into the lazy girl jobs trend… what’s wrong with just doing enough to get by at work and then living your life?”
LGJs aren’t a stepping stone to something better. They don’t demand responsibility. They aren’t the first rung of a stellar career ladder. They are not happening in a fast-paced environment. They are just a job. Except they are also a nod to a smooth ride – or as Gen Z might call it a “soft life”. This is a shocking anathema to Boomers, Millennials, and Gen X women for whom having the work ethic of a Trojan is a whole personality. We have prided ourselves on being exceptionally busy, stressed and “up against it” since we entered the workforce. For Millennials like me, being labelled ‘lazy’ is mortifying: we were raised on a diet of pure, distilled hustle culture - an army of ‘yes’ women with buzzing BlackBerries who boasted incessantly about late nights in the office and never having days off. If we weren’t girl bosses, we probably had one who modelled herself on Miranda Priestly. We romanticised the grind.
But Gen Z aren’t having it. “No one cares about being busy,” says Matilda, 24, who works as a house sitter. “I think maybe my generation is more focused on what makes them happy rather than whether other people think they’re doing well?” This is a result of Gen Z being increasingly disenfranchised: they simply don’t have the same opportunities and advantages as previous generations did. Renting – especially in London - is bleak: who hasn’t seen listings for windowless bunkers masquerading as bedrooms for a grand a month?
My generation is more focused on what makes them happy rather than whether other people think they’re doing well
And everything else is more expensive too: studying, eating, heating, transport. No wonder their priorities centre on having fun and not being broke, rather than busting a gut for a job that is high in stress and low on cash. “Post-Covid, the uncertainty of the cost-of-living crisis, climate anxiety - there’s a real sense of ‘what’s the point?’” says Andy Whiteaker who heads up the employment team at law firm Boyes Turner. “My clients are seeing colleagues really question what they want out of life and how much they’re prepared to sacrifice in their day-to-day for their careers. They don’t necessarily see their identity tied up with work in the way others might.”
Clearly, micro trends do not speak for everyone. New data from research company GWI counters the LGJs narrative, finding that of all age demographics, 16 to 24-year-old women in the UK are the most likely to say it’s important to be “ambitious, career focussed and successful”. Meanwhile Deloitte found that almost half of Gen Zers have a side hustle.
LGJs also have plenty of detractors – with good reason. “For me, the term “lazy girl job” is problematic,” says Kate Palmer, HR Advice & Consultancy Director at Peninsula. “Not only does it include a level of job-shaming, the gendered language has sexist undertones, suggesting that females are lazy and lacking ambition. Laziness is not something that can be attributed to any gender or age group. For an employer to make that assumption would mean they are in breach of the Equality Act 2010 where gender and age are both protected characteristics from discrimination.”
Meanwhile, Whiteaker points out that those wanting to coast at work “could see disquiet from team members who resent “going the extra mile” when others are unwilling to do so, and feel held back by the performance of their colleagues”. LGJs and their lack of challenges might lead to chronic boredom, which studies have shown can result in mental health issues including depression.
The gendered language has sexist undertones, suggesting that females are lazy and lacking ambition
But, it could easily be argued that the trend is both savvy and realistic. Being broke is not fun or romantic: this narrative has been pedalled for far too long and all too often by people who have no idea how frightening and exhausting it is to worry deeply about a lack of money. With LGJs, Gen Z seems to be rejecting the idea that working really hard for very little money is some kind of honourable rite of passage. Millennials like me would do well to stop glorifying burnout and the self-imposed stress that comes from fostering so much professional ‘pick me’ energy in a bid for workplace approval.
And LGJs aren’t always indicative of lack of ambition, despite the name. Bryony Stickells, co-founder of recruitment company jelli Group agrees. “Why are people seen as ‘lazy’ if they want to balance work and life?” She asks. “Would a better term be ‘Work that Fulfils’?”
“We all recognise there has been a shift in how people want to work, with a focus on flexibility, achieving personal goals and creating a better work/life balance. This isn’t a bad thing, for years people and organisations have been talking about work/life balance, the old adage of work to live not live to work. We definitely aren’t finding that the work life balance is only for the ‘lazy girls’ or the wealthy. Actually, it is for the very motivated people who have a goal in mind and are comfortable with the unknown, I applaud them for that.”
LGJs are less a rallying cry to down tools and quiet quit – it’s a TikTok trend, not a revolution (not to mention that ‘money for nothing’ jobs aren’t exactly easy to come by) but there is definitely food for thought here. This is a trend which highlights the sheer impossibility for so many working class or not independently wealthy people to have creative careers, for example. They are also a reminder that it is entirely possible to not let your job define you. We are asked to consider the notion that we are not our work and our worth is not our profession and our value as a human does not need to be tied up in careers. This feels, to me anyway, really radical and almost rebellious.
For too long we’ve made judgements about people based on their jobs – ironically the LGJ trend gives hope that this might not always be the case.
