Unpacking The Viral "Lazy Girl Job" Trend That's Taking Over TikTok

You’ve probably heard of quiet quitting before, but for the uninitiated, quiet quitting is a workplace trend that was popularized in the wake of the pandemic and is essentially the Gen Z response to millennial hustle culture. Instead of going the extra mile in the workplace, younger workers on the quiet quitting bandwagon opt to do the bare minimum and skate by. 

Quiet quitters clock in at 9 and out at 5, barely fulfill the minimum requirements of their job description, and espouse zero career ambition. They’re in it for the paycheck, and nothing more. While the term has fallen out of the limelight a bit as of late, there’s now a new trend on the rise of the same ilk: the Lazy Girl Job.

What Is a Lazy Girl Job?

According to the Wall Street Journal, a Lazy Girl Job is loosely defined as a job "that can be done from home, comes with a chill boss, ends at 5 p.m. sharp, and earns between $60,000 and $80,000 a year – enough to afford the basic comforts of young-adult life, yet not enough to feel compelled to work overtime." 

Earning $60,000 to $80,000 a year for very little work might sound too good to be true, especially considering the fact that the ideal lazy girl job is one that you can also work remotely. But the term, which has generated close to 18 million views on TikTok, appears to be a very real phenomenon – and more and more women are jumping on the “lazy girl” bandwagon. 

So what are some examples of Lazy Girl Jobs? Gabrielle Judge, the popular anti-girl boss TikToker with nearly 150k followers who coined the term, explains that lazy girl jobs are typically non-technical tech roles with rather ambiguous titles, such as “Marketing Associate, Account Manager, Customer Success Manager.” You work at an established company, so your role is safe, but it’s not one of the make-or-break ones that requires you to work overtime or constantly stress about your job performance.

Another perk of a Lazy Girl Job is that, since the roles are typically remote and have flexible working hours, child care is much more manageable. And if you don’t have kids, you simply have more time to spend with your loved ones, pursue your hobbies, and embrace a healthy work-life balance.

Like any other cultural hot topic, the Lazy Girl Job is somewhat controversial. On its face, the idea of encouraging laziness in the workplace certainly sounds like bad advice. But is it really so bad to promote a healthy work-life balance, especially among young women?

Is It Really So Bad To Be a “Lazy Girl”?

The Lazy Girl Job is essentially the opposite of the "lean in" trend popularized by former-Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg in the early 2000s. During that time, “girl bosses” were on the rise, and women were encouraged to throw themselves into their careers and work as hard as possible while paying little-to-no attention to their personal lives. 

There were some undeniably great aspects of this trend. Women learned to speak up for themselves in the workplace, became more confident in their roles, and female entrepreneurship rose to new heights. But there was a dark side to the girl boss phenomenon.

It’s all well and good to work hard, but not everyone wants to do that at the expense of their personal lives – especially women. If women want a family (as many do), then they have a shorter biological window to pursue that than men do. Women also have different energies in the workplace than men and different priorities in life. 

Men are natural protectors and providers, and getting ahead in the workplace is where many of them seek their sense of self-worth. Feminine energy is more nurturing, creative, and soft, which doesn’t always translate well in a high-stress corporate environment. That’s part of the reason why so many women gravitate more toward paths in nursing, teaching, and caretaking.

This is not to say that women shouldn’t pursue demanding professional career paths. If that’s what you want to do, then great! Go to law school, get a job in STEM, or work on Wall Street. But if you don’t want to do any of those things and would prefer to be a stay-at-home mom or work a “lazy girl job” that affords you a great work-life balance, there is nothing wrong with that either. 

Girl Boss vs. Lazy Girl

Not every woman wants to be a girl boss. In fact, I’d argue that most women actually don’t want to be girl bosses, and they shouldn’t be looked down upon or considered “less than” for not wanting to work 100 hours a week. There’s a reason that the “I girl bossed too hard and now I regret it” trend is on the rise – because that too is a very real phenomenon which often results in high levels of unhappiness among women.   

There are many women out there who bought into the girl boss phenomenon only to find themselves wondering if all the stress and hardship were really worth it. This is especially true if pursuing their professional goals meant foregoing personal relationships and starting a family. 

While "lazy" is a harsh moniker and not an attitude that should be encouraged in the workplace, a job where you work to live and don't live to work isn’t a bad thing at all. In fact, it’s something that we should encourage more often, especially among women. 

The Lazy Girl Job is a much-needed modern antidote to the girl boss, and it’s a good thing that younger generations are having this conversation instead of blindly throwing themselves into their careers.

Closing Thoughts

Whether you’re an aspiring girl boss or a bonafide “lazy girl,” a healthy work-life balance is something we should all be able to get behind. While the “Lazy Girl Job” title feels a bit like clickbait, there’s a lot of wisdom behind this idea that shouldn’t be overlooked just because it’s a hot trend going viral on TikTok. 

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