The Lazy Girl Job is part of a wider trend that Gen Z and Millennials have been riding for a couple of years. The pandemic led to The Great Resignation, a tsunami of people realising their jobs or workplaces weren’t right for them and pursuing something better. Then Quiet Quitting was the answer to staying in imperfect jobs, doing what is expected and not going above and beyond. Lazy Girl Jobs are the comfortable next step. Coined by TikToker Gabrielle Judge, the LGJ offers a sense of safety, a comfortable salary, work-life balance, and is often remote or hybrid.

Work-life balance and Fear of Missing Out
The Lazy Girl Job has emerged for a variety of reasons, primarily, we have the pandemic creating a shift in work-life priorities. People want jobs they can do easily and leave the office with the time for leisure. More time with loved ones, more time for yourself, less commuting, and less stress taken home. People in their 20s-30s lost a significant chunk of their youth during lockdowns and FOMO has exploded. People don’t want to regret spending their life grinding to the top of a corporate pyramid, only to look back and have no notable personal achievements.

We haven’t got it all figured out yet
The biggest driver behind the Lazy Girl Job is the Quarter Life Crisis. A mass of pop culture surrounds the struggles of learning about yourself and what you want out of life, but the 2020s is the DECADE of the QLC. I myself have a full playlist of songs (many of which are titled Quarter Life Crisis) about being in your 20s, balancing relationships, friends, and ambitions and not knowing where your career is going. The Lazy Girl Job is our way of giving ourselves space to think. It’s empowering finding a job that you can do easily, offers enough income, and (if you’re lucky) some room for career growth whilst also not becoming your central identity or source of stress.

Lazy GIRL Jobs
Let’s not forget it’s called a Lazy GIRL Job. Many argue that women are called girls for too long, whereas in comparison a boy is a man from a fairly young age. Women are infantilised but we often still self-label as girls. I think in some ways this self-definition of girlhood is accepting that we are still learning and growing into women. We are still learning what we want to be and embracing our youth. And once we have that career pinned down, becoming “career women”, we will have womanhood in addition to girlhood.

The Lazy Girl Job may be the pendulum swing away from “Girl-Boss Feminism”. A lot of us grew up seeing our parents or older sisters stuck in hustle culture and defining their womanhood by their career success. Young women are realising they don’t want to exclusively focus on their career just to be a good feminist. More of us are recognising we are allowed to have our female experience be enjoyable and easy, not just something others say we should be proud of. Nowadays, especially in 2023 with the economic boom from feminine culture (Taylor Swift Eras Tour, Barbie, etc.), a lot of women want to spend their energy on things that bring joy, that embrace our youth and girlhood. Many of us have accepted we can define ourselves how we want and the priority for a career has shifted away. For many people, this is made possible with a Lazy Girl Job, make money easily and save your energy for making memories.

Additionally, many may argue the Lazy Man Job has existed for centuries, it’s our turn now.

Anti-burnout and anti-hustle culture
The Lazy Girl Job is a way of staying in work when that feels difficult. Not all jobs are accessible to everyone for multiple reasons, but the LGJ is turning around and saying “I don’t need THE job to be happy”. The phrase “I don’t dream of labour” comes to mind. Quiet quitting and Lazy Girl Jobs allow us to disconnect from our careers and workplaces, reducing the die-hard loyalty that open people up to be exploited by their employer. Do what you’re paid to do, and nothing more.

Furthermore, during a cost-of-living crisis, many young people are debating the superfluousness of working yourself into the ground to not even earn the salary to live your dream life that you were promised because you got a good degree. People are more accepting of finding ways to make do with a job that pays the bills, doesn’t make you cry when you close your laptop, and gives you the time to see your friends. Finesse work, finesse life, you only live once.

Employers panic when they hear about quiet quitting and LGJs, worrying productivity will drop. Instead, healthy boundaries allow for rest and recouperation and that helps people to stay well-rounded individuals and productive employees. I saw a career coach online mention how people think you should get a job that challenges you when actually you should find what is easy to YOU because what you find easy, others may not. Thus, a LGJ can increase productivity because someone is working without burning out or lacking the appropriate skills.

The Lazy Girl Job has been a long time coming. We are in an era fighting for intersectional feminism, and battling the cost-of-living, capitalistic climate crisis and other issues that are making us question our place in the world and in our individual lives. We need time to think and space to rest. We want to build our lives full of memories that we won’t regret and define ourselves how we choose. We do want a career, but we haven’t figured at how yet. We want to leave the office happy. We want to be with our friends and live our girlhood authentically.

We will be career women, just not yet.

Authored by Elspeth Wilson, Research Executive & future career woman