Millennials — known for being socially conscious, entrepreneurial, and avocado-toast-loving — pushed the workplace toward better technology integration, demanded better access to upward mobility, and often favored the stability of well-paid, benefitted jobs. Lest we forget, Millennials were the stewards of #girlbossing and doing it all.

But their predecessors, Gen-Z, are looking to lean out instead of lean in — their desires and demands of the workplace are poised to completely redefine what it means to be a successful woman in the workplace.

Cue a new wave of female empowerment, “lazy girl jobs,” coined by Gabrielle Judge: jobs that pay well, aren’t too demanding or stressful, and allow women to prioritize personal well-being and happiness over career aspirations.

A term popularized by Gen-Z on TikTok and Instagram, lazy girl jobs — like girl dinners and bed rotting — are a direct response to the rise and grind mentality of girlbossing. While they might just seem like trends or clickbaity material for likes — and sure, “lazy girl jobs” have garnered lots of rebukes, too — the virality of these terms cannot be written off as just another quippy TikTok trend. Nor written off by what many older generations see on the surface: are we really saying laziness is okay?  

Here’s the thing: lazy girl jobs aren’t actually about laziness. The phrase actually encapsulates so many of the needs and desires of working women everywhere. “Lazy” doesn't necessarily mean that most women want to do nothing – the connotation of  “lazy” in this context is more of a countercultural protest against hustle culture and the demand to always do more. 

Aside from the burnout that women faced, the pandemic also normalized remote work, and the possibility of flexible work. Employees finally had time in their day to accomplish things they needed or wanted to do: laundry, cooking and eating a full meal, and starting a hobby (hello breadmaking and birdwatching). And while perhaps not the intention, the ability to take on hobbies actually proved to enhance work performance — leisure activities often make people feel fulfilled, happier, and more confident in their jobs. 

Given that, how could we expect Gen-Z to clock into a strict 9-5 knowing there's a whole other world of possibility and happiness out there?

And more than that, the pandemic exposed young people, newly graduated and entering the workforce, to the fragility of life, physically, socially, and economically. They saw how easily jobs could be eliminated, and salaries cut in half. They saw innocent lives all over the globe end abruptly, spurring them to consider the meaning and purpose of life and how we might measure it all in the end. And when faced with the prospect of working laborious 9-5 jobs with limited flexibility and poor pay, I mean, who can blame them for rejecting the concept entirely?

While other generations still might see this rejection of the standard desire for productivity as just laziness, it’s worth noting that the shift in attitude away from hustle culture, and toward lazy girl jobs or leaning out, is actually advantageous for organizations to accept, understand, and facilitate in order to remain successful and sustainable in the long term. In fact, “lazy girl jobs,” or demand for a more human-centric approach to work, can actually promote diversity and inclusion, help us reevaluate traditional notions of productivity and success, and prioritize personal fulfillment and overall well-being over climbing the ladder. The demand for lazy girl jobs might even make the growing demands for access to affordable childcare, parental leave, and other family-friendly benefits even louder.

And perhaps most importantly, lazy girl jobs help to broaden the conversation around the possibility of women having both successful careers and personal lives — without burning out. To accomplish this, managers, mentors, and decision-makers at organizations have to understand the core needs and interests of this young workforce: more flexibility, better hours, more meaningful work, more benefits (like mental health support), and a more human-focused approach to work. By offering more human-centric work, businesses can actually benefit from more productive, motivated, and happier employees, which is quite the win-win for everyone. 

All generations have defining characteristics, and Gen-Z’s are stemming from the growing frustration of working women with unheard needs. Characteristically bold, and countercultural in many rights, this new generation of workers might just be pointing out the flaws in the system, demanding more humanity, and bringing a boil to a pot that was already simmering and in need of attendance. 

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