In late May, 26-year-old Gabrielle Judge sat in front of a camera in oversized glasses and pigtails to film a TikTok about what she called the “lazy girl job” – a low stress, fully remote job with little oversight and a good salary.
“A lazy girl job is basically something you can just quiet quit,” she says in the two-and-a-half minute video. “There’s lots of jobs out there where you could make, like, 60 to 80 K and not do that much work and be remote.” As an example, she zeroes in on non-technical roles, where she feels the hours fall within a 9-to-5 schedule, and believes the pay is enough to allow for some financial freedom.
Judge’s concept – and the now-viral video about it – have struck an ongoing chord with workers, especially women.
Beyond the nearly 350,000 likes on Judge’s post as of this writing, the #lazygirljob TikTok hashtag currently has more than 17 million views, with other young women describing their own lazy girl jobs. In one video, a creator says all she does is “copy and paste the same emails, take 3-4 calls a day, take my extra long break, take more breaks AND get a nice salary”.
But both full-time content creator Judge and workplace experts alike say the “lazy girl job” isn’t necessarily about being lazy at all.
Instead, the term reflects a new mindset that’s taken hold in the era of the Great Resignation – one in which workers are increasingly demanding sustainable salaries and flexible conditions, while challenging the notion that hours clocked equates work accomplished.
Subverting entrenched expectations
Colorado, US-based Judge says the idea dawned her after her own experiences with overwork. She explains racking up 50-to-60 hour weeks as a consultant – a schedule not “normal or sustainable”, and one that ultimately eroded both her mental and physical health.
The main idea behind her term, she says, is reframing what a job can – and should – be for workers.
Gabrielle Judge, 26, coined the term ‘lazy girl jobs’ on TikTok in May (Credit: Courtesy of Gabrielle Judge)
She argues burnout and sickness shouldn’t have to be part of the equation in the working world, when autonomy and flexibility have become possible with remote working, and mental health is a larger priority than ever. There’s a way to have a positive experience with work, she says – something she says Gen Z are increasingly taking up the mantle on, after millennials began the conversation.
Judge says a lazy girl job looks slightly different to everyone, because each worker has their own unique circumstances and needs.
Instead of a strict definition, she says these types of positions generally meet four criteria: a sense of safety (no long shifts, arduous commutes or dangerous working conditions); remote- or hybrid friendly; a “comfortable” salary; and a healthy work-life balance. Ultimately, the idea boils down to a healthy work environment that leaves time for workers to prioritise themselves.
The ‘lazy’ part of the term, says Judge, who describes herself as an “Anti Work Girlboss”, is meant in jest – but it’s important. “Everything I’m talking about is considered lazy if you compare it to traditional workplace expectations,” she says. “I try to treat the lazy girl job trend as a mindset, too, because jobs are so nuanced, and everyone’s in a different situation.”
This trend isn’t surprising to some experts, including Montréal-based career coach Tiffany Uman. She views the trend as a reflect of the changing desires of professional women specifically, who increasingly want jobs that make them happy, provide a decent income and allow space for their priorities beyond work. Employees are seeking more work-life balance, she adds, and are not as willing to “overdeliver at work in a way that risks compromising their well-being and personal life”.
Eliana Goldstein, a New York-based millennial career and success coach, believes the the lazy girl job is a direct response to and rejection of the culture of overwork and hustling that dominated labor for decades.
And, she adds, Judge’s branding of the term with an attention-catching name is savvy – primed to start a necessary discourse. Labelling the trend “gets attention and starts a conversation, and that’s what this is doing. Because what a ‘lazy girl job’ actually means is showing up for your work doing it to the best of your ability – because that is literally what you’re being paid for – and then having space to do things that bring you joy”, she says.
‘A wake-up call’
Judge agrees the “lazy girl job” movement can be a learning opportunity, and that the trend isn’t about explicitly securing one specific type of job that ticks all boxes.
Instead, she believes the idea is about taking control of one’s working life. “We spend a lot of time at our jobs,” she says, “and lazy girl jobs can show employers what is and isn’t working.”
Goldstein agrees. Milennials, she says, have been advocating for greater work-life balance for years, but have had a hard time figuring out how to actually do it in practice. The lazy girl job movement, she believes, “could be a wake up call for them … If millenials and Gen X can understand that Gen Z isn’t actually being lazy, but instead acting on the shared desire for more balance, it could be a great thing for them to pay attention to”.
Plus, for many workers, the label itself may not even matter – what’s important is instead simply the realisation that a lazy girl job is essentially a good role packaged under a different name.
In late July, recording from a parked car at at Target department store in the middle of her working day, another TikToker describes her lazy girl job – but gives a caveat. “I am really over the whole lazy girl job thing because it is not lazy to expect a job like this … There’s nothing wrong with expecting to have a job that pays you well, gives you good work-life balance, and doesn’t overwork you.”