What’s trending in the workplace this week?

HR news this week has been full of workplace trends that are influencing workers for better or worse.

“Lazy girl jobs”, back-to-office mandates, and satirical pet policies have all got a mention in the news this week.

Lazy girl jobs

Following quiet quitting, the latest workplace trend propelled in popularity by TikTok is the “lazy girl job” trend.

As reported by The Guardian, the jobs are those that pay well enough, require little passion, and are very undemanding. Gen Z women are reportedly loving this trend, with comments on TikTok reading: “I love my lazy girl job”, “I don’t have to talk to people, only come to the office twice a week”, and “Me at my lazy girl job that lets me do whatever the heck I want as long as I answer emails and keep everything clean.”

The Guardian noted that these anti-work sentiments have surrounded younger workers for a while now, with many wanting to enjoy life and work as little as possible to achieve that. Lazy girl jobs are just another consequence of a generation disillusioned with capitalism.

Back-to-office mandate sees opposition

As seen on Nine News, one Sydney council’s decision to force workers back into the office has been met with criticism.

Randwick Council has announced that all staff will be required to be permanently back in the office from 11 September, claiming customer service, collaboration, and learning opportunities will be improved.

However, not all agree, with deputy mayor Rafaela Pandolfini criticising the decision on 2GB.

“I’m not supportive of a five-day mandate. I don’t think just jumping straight into that offers any flexibility,” she said.

With the cost of living increasing, Ms Pandolfini believes this decision will put more financial strain on workers.

“We’re not seeing the economy slowing, are we? Why should we all head into the city, or head into these main hubs, and spend our money there?” she said.

Pet leave parody

The Betoota Advocate poked fun at pet leave in a recent article, claiming employees who ask for it “have rocks in their head where their brain should be”.

While The Betoota Advocate is satirical, it begs the question: Can employees take pet leave?

According to Employsure, compassionate care does not include pets, only immediate family. Pet leave, therefore, falls to the organisation, and they can choose whether to implement policy or not.

There have been steps towards making this policy more common, as Mars Petcare created a pet care leave certificate late last year. This document is provided by vets upon request by the pet owner and can be shown as proof to an employer that time was needed to be taken off work to care for an animal. However, employers don’t have to acknowledge it.

Companies have begun forming pet care leave policies, such as Hive Legal, which introduced “pawternity leave”.

The executive director and experience designer at Hive Legal, Melissa Lyon, said employees have used the policy to grieve and look after their pets: “Since we introduced pawternity leave last year, a number of our team have taken it up. In some cases, it has been to grieve lost pets or look after pets who have been injured or to settle a new pet … it has been welcomed and is valued by our team.”