Gabrielle Judge/TikTok
- NYU professor Suzy Welch told CNBC that a desire to avoid anxiety was behind the viral "lazy girl jobs" trend.
- Overprotective parenting made "a bunch of 20-somethings who have never really had to make hard decisions or do very hard things," she said.
- TikTokers have defended the viral trend as a valid demand for work-life balance.
Fear of anxiety and overprotective parenting are the driving the viral "lazy girl jobs" trend, according to Suzy Welch, an NYU Stern School of Business professor.
On a July 26 episode of CNBC's Squawk Box, Welch said the viral trend was not about laziness but rather Gen Z's "strong desire to avoid anxiety at any cost."
Welch also told the outlet that overprotective parents created "a bunch of 20-somethings who have never really had to make hard decisions or do very hard things. And when they start to feel it, they're like ow, ow, I want to run away."
She clarified to CNBC that her comments were based on a prior interview with Jennifer Sotsky, a psychiatrist specializing in Gen Z anxiety.
Welch's conversation with Sotsky also served as the basis for her editorial in the Wall Street Journal on "lazy girl jobs," where she said that Gen Z's "overweening parents—baby boomers like me—failed to prepare them for adulthood's challenges." Welch told Insider via email on Thursday that she was "describing an expert's take on the trend, not necessarily my own," in her Journal editorial.
The "lazy girl jobs" trend has gone viral on TikTok, with videos under the #lazygirljobs hashtag racking up more than 17.9 million views since May. In these videos, users — typically women working at a desk — flaunt their low-stress, high-paying, and frequently remote gigs.
TikToker Gabrielle Judge, who popularized the trend, urged her followers to seek out "lazy girl jobs." In her viral video posted on May 23, Judge said, "A lazy girl job is basically something you can quiet quit."
"There's a lot of jobs out there where you could make $60,000 to $80,000, so pretty comfortable salaries, and not do that much work and be remote," she said in her video.
@gabrielle_judge Career advice for women who don’t know what remote job to apply to. You can bay your bills at not feel tired at the end of the day. Women are here to collect those pay checks and move on from the work day. We have so much more fun stuff happeneing in our 5-9 that is way more important than a boss that you hate. #corporatejobs #jobsearchhacks #remoteworking #antihustleculture #9to5 ♬ original sound - Gabrielle👸🏻
Judge told Insider that she started the trend to encourage women to prioritize work-life balance, saying "I really want people to understand our time is so valuable and should be focused on efforts that are most aligned with their individual priorities, not a company."
However, TikTok users — including Judge — have begun warning users to stop sharing their lazy girl jobs online to avoid becoming "socially outcasted," Insider previously reported.
"Don't get on the internet and tell on yourself," warned TikToker Kevin White about the risks of oversharing.
@kevin.preston.white Stop oversharing at your corporate job #greenscreen #stitch #careeradvice #corporatetiktok #corporatehumor #corporate #jobsearch ♬ original sound - Kevin White ✨
Welch's remarks are the latest in the debate over work-life balance stirred up by the lazy girl jobs trend.
In response to critics, TikTok user Bonnie Dilber said in a video posted July 18, which received more than 26,000 likes: "It is not lazy to expect a job like this like it is a weird thing in the US where we have branded this as laziness."
@bonniedilber Theres nothing lazy about wanting a lazy girl job! We all deserve it! #lazygirljobs #workculture #remotework ♬ original sound - Bonnie Dilber
"At the end of the day, people in remote well-paying jobs that take care of them are producing good results. Otherwise, they're not going to stay in those jobs," Dilber added.