TikTok accounts are beginning to warn that a new “anti-work” trend on TikTok could result in people being fired.
Key Details
- A recent TikTok trend has encouraged users to seek stress-free work environments or to brag about jobs that require low effort for reasonable pay—with “LazyGirlJob” growing to 16 million total views.
- The term was coined by TikToker Gabrielle Judge, who spread the term to her 113,000 last month and told Business Insider that she encourages viewers to avoid thinking of jobs as part of their identity and self-worth.
- She and other content creators like Kevin Preston White are now warning users not to be too cavalier in their use of hashtags, lest they potentially damage work relationships, get in trouble at work, or threaten livelihoods.
- “Please stop posting about your ‘lazy girl job,’” she says. “I do not want you to feel any type of retaliation from your boss. I don’t want you to get socially outcasted.”
Why It’s Important
It is no secret that Millennials and Zoomers engage with work very differently than their older colleagues. The recent “Quiet Quitting” and “Great Resignation” trends have shown that younger generations are less committed to finding meaning in their work and are willing to quit potential career paths for convenience or put in minimal effort to get by.
TikTok has been a key communicator for these ideas, with many of the most prominent trends and habits coming out of the younger generations being spread and popularized through the massive social media platform.
Both Judge and White are warning users not to let the trend become damaging. Judge is no longer working for an employer, and she is not facing the danger of retaliation for bragging about her lifestyle, but she warns users that they could damage their relationships at work if they are not careful and engage in “corporate snitching” against themselves.
“Corporate jobs, let’s face it, you’re not doing something at all times for your, let’s say, eight-hour shift. There’s going to be downtime. Don’t get on the internet and tell on yourself … That’s one of the main reasons why companies want people back in office. They don’t want to do remote work because they want to police you,” says Judge.
