People are bragging about "lazy girl jobs" on TikTok. What are they?

A new workplace term is going viral on social media to describe jobs that allow young professionals to achieve the elusive goal of work-life balance: the "lazy girl job." 

A number of Generation Z TikTok users are promoting this new approach to work, which bucks the trend of the United States' always-on, hustle culture that can lead to young people feeling they must be chained to their desks in order to succeed in their careers.

Members of Gen Z, the oldest of whom are now in their early- to mid-20s and are entering the workforce, came up with the lazy girl label themselves and are wearing it proudly. In fact, the hashtag has nearly 18 million views on the social media platform. Younger workers may be disillusioned by older generations' insistence that overworking is the way to get ahead, experts said.

"[T]hey're not convinced that buying into the system is going to get them anywhere," noted Suzy Welch, a professor of management practice at NYU's Stern School of Business and a senior adviser to corporations at Brunswick Group, an advisory firm, told CBS MoneyWatch.

She added, "They're saying, 'I'm not going to wait for my work-life balance and postpone my joy. I don't know that if I play by the rules I'm going to win the game.'"

Not actually lazy

A "lazy girl job" doesn't actually mean that a worker is lazy, as one TikToker noted.

"It is no dig on women, it's not you being lazy or a jerk at your job," Gabrielle Judge, who claims to have coined the term, said in a video she posted on TikTok. "It's that this job should be paying your bills and have so much work-life balance that you should feel as almost you're operating at a lazy state."

Workers across the nation are already burned out. Just 23% of workers said they were "engaged" at work in 2022, according to a recent Gallup survey. The remainder — 77% — were either doing the bare minimum and "quiet quitting" their jobs, or actively disengaged and "loud quitting" at work. 

What are "lazy girl jobs"?

Judge is encouraging young professionals — both female and male — to live authentically every day, as opposed to just on weekends and days off, or at some distant point in the future. 

So, what are some examples of so-called lazy girl jobs, and why are they desirable? 

"A 'lazy girl job' is basically something that you can quiet quit," Judge said in another video.

She described some such jobs as nontechnical roles at tech companies that pay between $60,000 and $80,000 a year, sometimes offer workers equity in a firm, can be done remotely and have flexible hours. They allow workers to cover the basic costs of living, and balance work with child care and other tasks. 

Marketing associate, account manager, or customer success manager roles often fit the bill, according to Judge. 

Lazy girl jobs versus the "toxic" workplace

"It's an anti-hustle gig," Judge said in one Instagram video. "Back in the day, you would be, like, the first one into the office and the last one to leave."

She said she deliberately chose the term "lazy" to describe the anti-hustle ethos from the perspective of a toxic job environment, not because she thinks workers seeking "lazy girl jobs" aren't motivated, or hard workers. 

"Everything that I'm talking about here is considered lazy if you compare it to the toxic corporate workplace expectations," Judge said.

While she wants to promote awareness of this alternative approach to work, Judge warns aspiring "lazy girl job" holders not to brand themselves as such on social media over concerns that it could lead to repercussions in the workplace. 

Judge herself is a self-employed content creator.

Generational discord

Certainly there's a difference in generational points of view driving the new phenomenon, Welch of NYU's Stern School of Business said. 

"There is a gigantic divide between how boomer bosses think about work and how their newest employees think about work," she said. "This is a situation where people are talking right past each other."

Welch said professionals in management positions logged years in a career to achieve a type of financial security that may be out of reach for younger generations, no matter how committed they are to their jobs. 

Welch, who teaches a class called "Becoming You: Crafting the Authentic Career You Want and Need," said many of her students are anxiety-averse, and she believes this is partly what's driving the "lazy girl job" trend. 

"The boss generation thought, 'If I buy into the system and play the long game, I will be rewarded for it.' Gen Z is saying, 'If I buy into the system and play long game, there is no guarantee I'll be rewarded for it, so I'm not going to act like you. This sets up a lot of tension," Welch said. 

"Lazy girl jobs" are "partly to avoid anxiety," she added.