The Career Goal of the Moment Is a ‘Lazy-Girl Job’

Parents Forum Parent Cafe
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Rather than lean in, young workers say they want jobs that can be done from home, come with a cool boss and end at 5 p.m. sharp

Some people would call Victoria Bilodeau’s decision to work as a freelance digital marketer a move to gain work-life balance. She calls it a “lazy-girl job.”

Bilodeau, 23 years old, says she used to work 10-hour days as an environmental technician, helping clean up low-level radioactive dirt for $26 an hour. Now, she logs about three hours a day promoting makeup and skin-care products online. She earns less than she used to, but in her newly abundant free time, she exercises, meditates and plays with her cats, Jinx and Fang. Living with her boyfriend in Belleville, Ontario, helps defray expenses.

“I really do have such a chill life in comparison to what it was,” she says.

Bilodeau and scores of other women online are bragging about their work setup using the hashtag #lazygirljob. To fans, the ideal lazy-girl job is one 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. Veterans of such jobs say roles such as “digital marketing associate,” “customer-success manager” and “office administrator” are good bets for achieving the lazy-girl lifestyle.

The phenomenon, essentially the opposite of “leaning in,” has detractors, who say that aspiring to a lazy-girl job is the wrong attitude for building a meaningful career. Yet, many young women who have branded themselves “lazy girls” online insist they are anything but. After growing up hearing about the horrors of overwork, they say they’re happy in their jobs and celebrate striking work-life balance gold.

Do you see this amongst your kids’ peers? I’ve certainly heard a lot about it (even though its not characterized as such) - as I’ve mentioned before my S gets a lot of negative comments from his friends (they all graduated in 2022) about him working 50+ hours a week. He has a job he loves, most of them don’t, and many seemingly want to get away with doing the minimum necessary.

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First, it’s not easy to make that much money in this fashion - it’s the exception, not the rule. However, I totally understand wanting more time to live life and not be stuck in an office. Most people don’t love their jobs. I have no issue with wanting a better life/work balance. I think the days of people bragging about working long hours is over.
I know many young adults who are much more selective about employment so that they have more free time.

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Probably most people throughout history have or had jobs that they don’t love so much that they want to work as much as possible to the exclusion of other activity and never want to retire. Sometimes, they have to because that is their only option to get paid enough, but that is different from wanting to.

But then the Wall Street Journal readership may be heavily weighted toward capital-owning people who may not like it when the labor that they hire just wants to do the minimum necessary instead of devoting unpaid overtime to enriching the owners of the associated capital. Of course, that is not different from what happened historically, although the notions of “minimum necessary” in both directions have evolved over time.

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I support young people exploring the work environment that works for them. Not settling for a 50 hour stressful, “keep up with the Jones” job. They may discover that non traditional doesn’t work out - or maybe it does! Better to explore when their hands are not tied with mortgages, kids, etc

I hate that this name is gendered towards females.

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I agree with abasket’s points, and absolutely support people who want to construct a life that has the right balance for them, regardless of their gender.

What’s the definition of a ‘meaningful career’?
I’m sure many define it differently, and I’m not going to judge someone who likes what they do for X hours per day and makes enough money to support themselves with a lifestyle they want. Lots of paths to success and happiness.

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My D very much values a good work/life balance and would be miserable in a job where she did not have it. She prioritizes mental health over all else and is very proactive about protecting hers. Her major was Strategic Communications and her current position is in this realm. Since graduating in 2019, she works for a corporation whose mission she is passionate about (clean energy sector.) She enjoys the people she works with and is very grateful that she is fully remote, with occasional trips into the office and annual multi-day offsites. She can log off at 5 every day, but if she is in a “zone” with what she is working on she may work longer. But it is never required and her work does not otherwise drift into her leisure time. She LOVES the flexibility of remote work and would now be hard-pressed to take a job that required her to commute and be in the office at a desk all day. She wants to do good work, be recognized for her skills and continue to grow in her roles and positions (and salary), but she is not a go-getter trying to rapidly climb the corporate ladder and maximize her earnings. The culture of her company suits her personality and priorities, which some/many may consider leaning towards “lazy girl” (a terrible label, IMHO.)

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Unless you are darn sure those 60+ hour work weeks will get you to a certain level overall they are not worth it. Your health and family well being is much more important. Any job that starts to contact you or require responses at non work hours is a sign to run.

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Those jobs are fine if that’s what a person wants to do, I mean, what if they actually like the job where they work 60+ hours per week (or whatever)?

Again, everyone has different priorities and goals, variability in what constitutes work/life balance, etc.

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I think many young people are cynical about corporate life and have no desire to work a traditional 8-5 job where they commute into the office every day. Since many young folks are getting married later (if at all) and having kids later (if at all) they have less financial pressure which allows them the flexibility to search for work/life balance. If you aren’t worried about a mortgage, childcare and the like you can make do with less.

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I think it is great to prioritize work life balance so long as one accepts the consequences. That seems to be the sticking point.

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Yes it seems this generation is smarter than we were. Work life balance is important to them. They also don’t have loyalty to the employer and switch jobs every couple years which results in faster promotions and higher pay. Good for them. It’s all job specific though. IB, accounting, law requires long hours. Some tech jobs while have very high pay do not

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This 150%

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Assuming you either have parents who were wealthy enough to pay for your college costs or you never intend to repay your student loans?

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Right – or you live at home. I can’t imagine someone with a ton of loans being able to afford a lazy girl lifestyle while paying for rent, food etc.

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Not in my D’s friend group. They are all happily employed in “traditional” full time jobs.

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Seems like this is not a question of being “smarter” but just a byproduct of a long boom and a shortage of entry-level workers. At some point you can’t continue climbing the corporate ladder if you are prioritizing work-life balance. If we end up in a recession, then this generation will face harder choices.

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My 23 year old daughter works 60+ hours a week in an industry she’s passionate about, hoping to build a career for the future. My 26 year old son works maybe 32 hours a week at a job he could care less about. He works in the field as a territory manger visiting retailers, implementing marketing plans etc… He and his sister make about the same salary, but he has perks like quarterly bonuses, a company car, gas, insurance, phone, internet, etc… that bring his overall comp up significantly. He enjoys this free time and money to pursue the hobbies he’s passionate about. His sister is constantly overworked and stressed. So who’s the chump? This is something they’re constantly arguing about, what does it mean to be successful?

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Most social media influencers and content creators spend many many more hours behind the scenes prepping for their 3 hours of air time content.

Living with her boyfriend in Belleville, Ontario, helps defray expenses.

Lol dh grew up in Belleville and most of his family including his parents still live there. He would like to retire there. I would not. It’s really not that “Belle” and not much of a “ville”.

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Employers mostly do not have loyalty to employees, so it is not surprising that employees do not have much loyalty to employers. Loyalty in either direction exists only to the extent that changing jobs or hiring replacement employees has some costs or if replacement jobs or employees are hard to find.

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Of course, if you spend less than you earn and invest wisely and luckily, you may be able to join the capitalist class early (FIRE), then you may be able to stop caring about unfavorable labor markets (and become the Wall Street Journal reader complaining about lazy labor that wants some kind of “work life balance”).

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