Who else admits to having a Lazy Girl Job?

[isolabella]

Read this interesting article and realised I finally have what I've always wanted: a lazy girl job that leaves me lots of time for family, exercise, pursuing my interests, life admin etc. Zero guilt.

In my case this is made possible by having put in the effort early on in my job so I've earned trust and I'm efficient so do all my tasks and deal with emails quickly so I can chill out again and do what I want: walk in the woods, go for a run, cook, have a coffee and chat with family. Always take my phone with me so can pick up any calls. Only go to the office once a week max (often not even that) since Covid, thank the lord.

Also made possible because people in my organisation aren't exactly highly performing or skilled, so being efficient when it counts stands out and makes you look like you do an amazing job.

Anyone else?

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jul/09/gen-z-lazy-girl-jobs-tiktok-work

I would find it more effort and stress to work in an organisation with people that weren’t highly performing/skilled. I also don’t think it’s lazy to have a work-life balance or work from home!

Work smart not work hard was the mantra when I was young.
I'm not going to read the Guardian , but that headline "lazy girl" has pushed a few of my buttons this morning.

No, never had a job where I was less than absolutely flat out and stressed to the max. I’d love a lazy girl job, but I don’t accept that I didn’t work hard enough to “earn” one. I did a degree and masters on top of working full time, 40-50 hours a week and driving hundreds of miles a day visiting clients, having 3 children, and looking after my father, and keeping his and my home.

I'm a support worker so I guess I meant that many of my equivalents aren't necessarily very high-performing, but it doesn't affect me. Our bosses, on the whole, work very hard and have difficult jobs.

I'm now in leadership in education and my main stress now is people management rather than the horrendous paperwork, planning, assessing, mental load of the children workload I had as a classroom teacher. Not exactly 'lazy girl' (wtf is up with the 'girl' 🤢) but I am efficient, skilled and get my job done within my working hours for the first time in my life.

And I also mean the sort of culture where people beaver away even when there isn't strictly the need to, doing pointless admin etc. I think there are plenty of those in my organisation. I look at the endless, pointless files of my predecessor and am amazed at all the time wasted on just keeping yourself occupied.

" don’t accept that I didn’t work hard enough to “earn” one"

I was just explaining how I got to this point rather than criticising anyone else.

@woopdedoodle Yes, ‘lazy girl’ is really grating. It has connotations of ‘pin money’ to me.

My job is pretty low stakes, undemanding, flexible and I work from home, so can easily fit life in around it.

I am very happy in it and do make sure to be a good colleague and to do my work well because I don’t want them to ever get rid of me!

Hmm, I mean I’m very career driven so don’t agree with the wanting a ‘menial’ job that it’s talking about. But it’s absolutely a priority for me to have a job where I’m not constantly flat out. I have chronic health issues and I know I can fit in calling drs, chasing up appointments etc in my day and just work a bit later if I need to in my job as it’s a ‘always important but rarely urgent’ type role. Likewise if I don’t feel well, I definitely do the minimum and can get away with it and then power through on other days. I’ve chosen a role that suits my lifestyle.

No. I had a baby when I was 18 so I've never had a career really. I'll have to wor

I read this article and thought it was just a job with work life balance.

Work hard into my 40s that should say!

WTF a lazy girl job? I didn’t realise there were jobs like that. My job has always been stressful; working deadlines and dealing with highly strung clients. Just thought everyone had different types of stress to deal with in their jobs.

Mine really ebbs and flows - last week was 12-14 hour days, this week I took two days off and the days I did work (from home) were “easy” days of pottering on things I have going on in the background without urgency. On balance I think I’d prefer something that was more steady all the time than having high highs and low lows in terms of demand. It makes the busy parts feel way more stressful.

I think it's the attitude of 'my work doesn't define me' that resonates. I've worked in menial jobs that have been hard work for minimal pay, and other jobs where there was a culture of presenteeism that was the norm before Covid, having to be seen to put in an effort all the time etc, so my present feels wonderful to me.

I think it's great that these Gen Z women have discovered lifestyles that really deliver for them without having to work themselves to death either in high-flying jobs or menial ones while feeling good about themselves!

(Although I'm Gen X 😁)

Hmm , this makes me think of the people I know who have smugly got away with doing very little for ages and then been astonished when their roles were made redundant ...

I bet men don't talk about their "lazy boy" jobs.

It's up there with "Girl boss" 🙄

Haven’t read the article but I would say that since covid there is a much higher focus on work life balance.

But all companies need a mix of highly motivated high achievers and plodders. Which group you fall into is irrelevant, totally horses for courses, neither is right or wrong, it is what it is.

I thought that was the point! The example given is working is a very quiet art gallery cafe (I know which one she means, and if there are 2 customers in there over a weekday lunchtime, it is busy).

Obviously not busy at all, but also not very well paid.

My two ridiculously quiet jobs were:

Selling ice cream on Brighton Pier in winter (pre-mobile phone and we weren’t allowed to read a book, so I used to work out my earnings before and after tax, per hour and per minute, using a bit of till roll and a biro.

Overnight medical registrar in a hospital with two rehab wards and an elective orthopaedic centre. No A&E or Acute medical wards, they were all on a different site. They needed a medical registrar on site to run cardiac arrest calls, but if there wasn’t one (and they aren’t that frequent) I could go to bed at 21:30 and not be disturbed until 07:30.

My brother did night shifts in a petrol station on a bypass in Sussex (so no walk-ups using the shop). I have no idea why BP wanted it open 24/7, but they did. Apparently 1-2 customers max between 1am-6am.

I think i may have one of these. I didn't but then dc came along & couldn't juggle the demanding jobs (no flexi or wfh option then).

I have a job that involves spreadsheets & I can 99% log off & forget about it. Busy periods but not uber stressed. Chat a lot & relaxed office with lots of holiday. Not sure if the pay is good enough to qualify though?

And I also mean the sort of culture where people beaver away even when there isn't strictly the need to, doing pointless admin etc. I think there are plenty of those in my organisation. I look at the endless, pointless files of my predecessor and am amazed at all the time wasted on just keeping yourself occupied

Ime this is rife in the public sector

I don't like the tone of the article tbh.

We are pre programmed to think work = stress. The more you work, less free time f you have, the more valuable you are as an employee.

What we are moving away from is this attitude... it's not lazy. It's being more than your job and not being frazzled.

I moved into the public sector after I had kids. I used to look down my nose at these jobs as an easy option. Work your hours. No more. Flexi time. Then I realised that I needed that made the shift. I am so much happier. Maybe it's the other system that's wrong? Not one that actually gives you a life ?

I think it's great tgst young people are shifting. I suspect the fact that work isn't really paying the way it used to is contributing. Housing is expensive. You make nothing from savings. So people are taking pleasure elsewhere. This can only be good for women. The world of work based on one person in a household devoted solely to work at the expense of all else, makes no sense. We have working families now and the work place needs to reflect that employees are 3d people with lives outside the office.

Bring it on! The only person that will remember you answered calls and emails on holiday are your kids...

Hmm , this makes me think of the people I know who have smugly got away with doing very little for ages and then been astonished when their roles were made redundant ...

I don't think the article is saying that, just more it was a thing to aspire to be the CEO, the law firm partner etc. Huge salaries but obviously a lot of hard work & long hours. Now it's ok to be a data analyst on 50k who clocks off at 5 & work doesn't consume their life.