First it was “quiet quitting.” Now there’s more anti-work discourse with Gen Z’s rallying against the hustle culture of earlier generations as they introduce the buzz phrase “Lazy Girl Jobs” to the workplace. The viral term represents a revolution against a work-crazed culture that says, “We’re no longer willing to burnout or kill ourselves for a job.” More Gen Z’s are looking for work that requires minimal effort, pays decently and is time flexible, leaving room for work-life balance. They see this trend as healthy medicine for an overworked corporate world gone awry. And they are unwilling to be inducted into a job that requires them to sacrifice their quality of life.
Burnout Prevention Isn’t ‘Lazy’
Eliza VanCort, bestselling author of A Woman’s Guide to Claiming Space: Stand Tall. Raise Your Voice. Be Heard, explained to me by email that the “Lazy Girl Jobs” trend is essentially when people look for well-paying, flexible jobs (possibly remote) that offer leisure time and lean away from burnout culture. But she took issue with the term. “The phrasing ‘lazy girl job’ is less than ideal—prioritizing your mental health and work-life integration is NOT lazy,” she declared.
Self-proclaiming a “lazy girl job” is a satirical way for a younger generation to give the finger to critics who label them “lazy” because they refuse to succumb to the mental health problems they have observed in generations preceding them. According to Danielle Roberts, who calls herself an “anti-career” coach on TikTok, “Rather than calling the people who are divesting from that system lazy and telling them that they just need to work harder, we need to talk about why it’s a trend in the first place and go one level deeper.”
Before the pandemic, workplace burnout had already reached epidemic proportions, according to Gallup with nearly two-thirds of full-time employees dealing with burnout at some point. The “Lazy Girl Jobs” trend draws a line between self-care and sweat equity—going too far, working too long and compromising your mental and physical health. It involves a sustainable awareness of work-life balance and setting boundaries on how much you’re willing to invest in your career at the expense of your well-being.
While study after study cites tips on how employees can manage stress and prevent burnout when building their careers, younger workers see the solution differently. Put your mental health, balance, flexibility and leisure—instead of sweat equity—at the top of your priority list from the get-go so you don’t burnout in the first place. While sweat equity is often a necessary part of building a new business or getting your efforts noticed by company honchos, 70% of Gen Zs say their mental health needs the most attention or improvement. This group has been at the forefront of reporting mental health concerns more than any other demographic.
The Great Disconnect
With a continued tug-of-war between employers and employees and deepening mistrust, company leaders continue to be clueless when it comes to workplace mental health priorities, according to Ellen Rudolph, founder and CEO of WellTheory. She cites the statistic that just 24% of U.S. employees believe their organization cares about their overall well-being. Yet, at the same time, she says, large employers are spending on average $3.6 million on well-being programs.
“There’s clearly a disconnect here,” Rudolph notes. “Despite their best intentions, many employers are still missing the mark when it comes to health and well-being. And it’s costing them their best talent—especially up-and-coming millennials and Gen Zs. More than older generations, physical health issues prevent us from bringing our full selves to work. We’ve got greater health and wellness demands at work—and we’re not afraid to job-hop until they’re met.” Rudolph explains that wellness is a long-term investment and should be woven into a company’s very fabric. “After all,” she says. “Even the ‘best’ mental health benefits can only go so far if your company culture expects workers to be online 24/7.”
Proponents of the “Lazy Girl Jobs” movement aren’t buying the 24/7 expectation anymore, and they’re fed up being vilified for prioritizing their mental health. In fact, VanCort explains that the rejection of burnout/hustle culture is so popular with Gen Z (both women and men) because they are incredibly disillusioned—and it’s even worse for young women. “This generation feels that the traditional American dream is out of their reach, and that’s more pronounced for young women,” she points out. “The young women of this generation have observed how hard it is to be a woman in this society. They do the same amount of work, but get less of a return on their career investment than men do. The response to this is that many of them have simply decided not to participate in a system that is inherently unfair. They’ve had it.”
VanCort believes it’s so important for people, especially women, to prioritize fighting burnout at work because traditionally, women have had to do more to get the same acknowledgment for their work product. “It’s incredibly important that we begin to lay down boundaries so that we aren’t doing more for less,” she insists, citing the Deloitte’s Women at Work 2022: A Global Outlook. The report found that 53% of women said their stress levels were higher than a year prior, and almost half of them said they feel burned out. “That’s terrifying!” she exclaims. “Women must learn to communicate their accomplishments better. Often they underplay them or credit other people. It’s important to be acknowledged for your work so that you don’t have to do unfair labor to achieve your career goals.”
When all is said and done, work success doesn’t have to come at the expense of sweat equity, burnout and loss of mental and physical health and wellness. “Since mental health is a core part of who we are as human beings, employers who want to care for their employees can’t ignore mental health,” says Dr. Reetu Sandhu, manager of Limeade Institute. “We also know there is a connection between work and well-being. Work can be a source of purpose, passion and energy—or it can sometimes be a source of stress, anxiety and exhaustion. These experiences can either have positive or negative influences on our mental health—and our overall well-being. Similarly, our mental health can impact how we think, feel and perform at work.”
So, whether you take the conventional career route or the “Lazy Girl Job” route, VanCort says she doesn’t see any cons to these jobs in the short term, as long as young workers are putting some money aside for retirement. “If you’re in your 20s, go have fun, explore the world, develop your passions,” she advises. “Eventually, however, you do need to plan for the fact that you won’t be twenty forever. One of the main ways Americans build wealth is through home ownership, and that just isn’t possible with some of these jobs. Eventually, you might have to find a job that transitions from a ‘Lazy Girl Job’ to a ‘Boundary Setting Woman’s Job’ with a bigger salary,” she concludes.
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