Founder of Ms. Anti Work says her 'lazy girl job' allowed her to only work a few hours a day-and she built her media company on the side | Fortune

America’s career-focused culture prizes heavy dedication to work, but many young professionals are rejecting the grind. “Lazy girl” and “snail girl” jobs describe white-collar roles designed for a more favorable work-life balance. A content creator known as “Ms. Anti Work” popularized the “lazy girl job” idea and used it to build a media company. The trend connects to the Great Resignation, when many workers left jobs after COVID-19 lockdowns and gained leverage during aggressive hiring. Remote work increased comfort and made clocking in easier. Many young workers are also moving from corporate roles to entrepreneurship, with large shares of Gen Z planning or running businesses and many launching side hustles.

"“Lazy girl jobs came from The Great Resignation era,” Judge recently said onstage at Fortune's Workplace Innovation Summit. “I'm a huge high achiever, I'm a huge workaholic...and I didn't have a lot of balance. So what was really hard for me was to get a 'lazy girl job,' which was still a really good job.”"

"Disillusioned with their jobs in the wake of the COVID-19 lockdown, tens of millions of workers voluntarily left their roles in search of greener pastures. And during the pandemic years-when employers went on aggressive hiring sprees-professionals enjoyed a greater sense of power in the labor market. In the “Great Resignation” era, talent knew they could bargain for better wages, benefits, and work-life balance; remote life also meant increased comfort, clocking in from the couch."

"One year following the wave of professionals ditching their gigs, Judge took her idea of the “lazy girl job” to the internet. And young workers like her are increasingly trading the corporate ladder for the founder's chair. Around 62% of Gen Zers either already run their own businesses or plan to in the future-more than any other generation-according to a 2020 survey from WP Engine."

"The entrepreneurial pull extends well beyond new grads: 2024 research from software firm Intuit found that nearly two-thirds of 18- to 35-year-olds have either launched a side hustle or in"

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