While hustling has been trending among professionals, especially millennials who want to squeeze out all they can from life, another trend has been quietly emerging among Gen Z for its stress-free approach to work -- the "lazy girl job".
The hashtag, popular on social media, celebrates undemanding and easy-to-manage job roles wherein people clock fewer hours, work from home, make decent salaries, and have a healthy work-life balance.
The "lazy girl job" has been popularised by influencer Gabrielle Judge, who claimed that the corporate hustle culture will not get you anywhere.
In her viral clip, Gabrielle mentions, “A lazy girl job is something you can quiet quit.” She said, “Women are here to collect those paychecks and move on from the workday. We have so much more fun stuff happening in our 5-9 that’s way more important than a boss you hate.”
Judge apparently concocted the term after her own hustling experience. She used to work as a customer support executive for a tech company and spoke about clocking 50-to-60-hour weeks as a consultant back in the day, deprived of a regular or sustainable routine. The long and strenuous working hours impacted her physical and mental well-being, she said.
"And what we mean as lazy girl is a safe, high-paying, remote job that provides a safety net. Women are powerful beautiful and creative when we aren’t worrying about money. We have so many resources on how to get your next lazy girl job," Judge wrote on Instagram.
While supporters of the idea on social media argue that there’s nothing really "lazy" about the trend, Judge added that she deliberately chose the word "lazy" to describe the anti-hustle ethos from the perspective of a toxic corporate workplace. “Everything that I’m talking about here is considered lazy if you compare it to the toxic corporate workplace expectations,” she said in a video.
Danielle Roberts, who calls herself an anti-career coach and is an advocate for "lazy girl job", says that there is no such thing as laziness. She calls called the trend " a mini act of revolution" by workers whose demands go unmet.
"The solution isn't to work harder, especially when you’re on the brink of burnout," Roberts said in an Instagram post. "What we really need is change on a systemic level and access to fundamental resources to actually thrive and make a meaningful contribution to society and the world."
Marc Cenedella, a careers expert and founder of the job search site Ladders agrees that the trend is likely a direct consequence of how employees have been treated over time.
"This idea of not having so much loyalty to your employer is the natural consequence of everything that American business has done the last 50 years," he told Business Insider. "This is just a tit for tat."
But the new trend may also end up harming careers in the long run, Cenedella said.
"The problem with having the lazy girl job is that they're the first ones to get laid off when tough times come," he said, adding that these employees are not developing skills at work, which in turn hurts their career progression.
Read more: Gen Z, millennials breaking up with their 'spendy friends' to save money
Discover the latest Business News, Sensex, and Nifty updates. Obtain Personal Finance insights, tax queries, and expert opinions on Moneycontrol or download the Moneycontrol App to stay updated!
