13 Gen Z workplace terms and phrases

It’s probably not a great sign for the relationship between labor and management that most of the workplace neologisms associated with Gen Z are about finding ways not to go to work, or to go to work but to have your mind be somewhere else. Gen Z is taking a lot of heat for these practices, but they might also be on to something profound about redefining our relationship between work and life into something healthier and more sustainable.

Acting your wage

When you’re “acting your wage” you’re pegging your effort to your salary. Someone stuck in a low-paying job, or someone who believes they should’ve received a promotion, and thus a wage, may engage in this practice. It sounds similar to the “quiet quitting” trend that got so much attention in the aftermath of the Covid pandemic, when employees were briefly in the driver’s seat of a very tight labor market. “Acting your wage” means “doing the core requirements of your role without going above and beyond to please your employer or clients,” said Business Insider.

Bare minimum Mondays

A tool to manage the so-called Sunday Scaries — when the looming arrival of the workweek causes anxiety that ruins your Sunday — “Bare minimum Mondays” means starting out on the first day of the week with small, achievable tasks and low expectations, punctuated perhaps by completing some household tasks that went unaddressed over the weekend. Coined by Tik Tok influencer Marisa Jo, the practice might help ease some into the workweek but also “could lead workers to procrastinate to avoid stress,” said CNBC.

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Boreout

Boreout is like burnout, but instead of feeling exhausted and overwhelmed, an employee is apathetic and uninterested in the work they’re doing. It goes beyond the occasional feeling of disengagement and means that “boredom becomes a regular feature of work, a chronic condition that can zap people’s motivation,” said Inc. Someone suffering from boreout might also model the so-called Gen Z stare, a blank expression designed to communicate disinterest or contempt.

Career cushioning

The employee using a sick day or a personal day might actually be on a job interview, engaging in what is known as “career cushioning.” Employees who are dissatisfied with their work or just want to have multiple options available in a time of economic upheaval and AI-driven disorientation want to have multiple jobs lined up, just in case. That’s because even “those employees who have experienced steadiness in employment can feel nervous about their future within their company,” said U.S. News & World Report.

Coffee badging

A term that arose out of struggles between companies and employees over returning to the office in the wake of the Covid pandemic, “coffee badging” refers to someone who shows up to work to be seen quickly, swipe their badge and perhaps pour themselves a coffee in front of their co-workers before jetting back home for the day. It’s a way of maintaining the “freedom to work remotely while adhering to the rules,” said Yahoo Finance.

Downshifting

For most people, the career ladder is climbed in only one direction. But a new trend has emerged, particularly as AI cuts into career mobility opportunities for college-educated workers: downshifting, part of a larger trend of career minimalism.

It can mean either reducing hours and commitment in an existing job, avoiding management positions in what’s known as conscious unbossing, or even moving into trade work. Today it is “increasingly common to see interior designers become bakers, ex-bankers opening up cheese shops and marketing officers taking up electricians’ tools,” said The Conversation.

Microbreak

The hours-long, three-martini lunch has been dead for years, but younger workers are changing the workplace in even more significant ways. One is the practice of taking very short breaks, or microbreaks, during the workday rather than — or even in addition to — a long, somnolent lunch break. Microbreaks are “effective energy management strategies and help employees bounce back from fatigue,” said Forbes. They can also help address many other pathologies of workplace culture against which Gen Z seems to be rebelling.

Quiet firing

The counterpart to “quiet quitting,” this practice is often seen in remote workplaces in which an employee is being ignored by their boss, and not receiving the support, mentoring or guidance they need to succeed. Sometimes supervisors will even “allow employees to have truly toxic or miserable experiences at work as a way to squeeze them out,” said Gallup.

Rage applying

When someone is particularly aggrieved about something at their current job, they may engage in “rage applying,” which means firing off multiple applications for new positions elsewhere. In a world in which employers are increasingly using AI to sift through applications, or even posting fake jobs, this approach might not be particularly effective, but it “can be cathartic for dissatisfied employees,” said Xref.

Resenteeism

A play on the word “absenteeism,” and another sibling of “quiet quitting,” it refers to workers who show up to the job but don’t want to be there and therefore don’t work hard or effectively. The rise of resenteeism is part of a “widening perception gap between organizational leaders, employees and their managers,” said Forbes. If this is how employees are feeling, a company is clearly doing something fundamentally wrong.

Snail girl

A "snail girl” is the counterpart to the Millennial “girlboss” archetype. Instead of pursuing career ambitions at all costs, a snail girl prioritizes work-life balance and works to live rather than lives to work. It’s the “antidote to years of perpetually hustling,” said Fortune, although the practice isn’t necessarily a “death knell to ambition.” It is also sometimes rendered as someone being in their “snail girl era” to suggest that the condition is temporary.

Taskmasking

Also known as “productivity theater,” taskmasking is a way for employees to look like they are busy or engaging in work when they are actually checked out or even doing other things, like watching Netflix or running errands. It might be someone who is logged into Slack and occasionally responding to messages but who fundamentally isn’t there. For in-person settings, that might mean “moving quickly though the office while carrying a laptop or clipboard,” said The Guardian. This is also known as live action role-playing or “larping” your job.

Toxic productivity

The obsession with constantly working and the accompanying paranoia about whether you’re doing enough, even on nights and weekends, is known as “toxic productivity.” It’s a term that many Gen Z workers think applies to their Millennial and Gen X colleagues and supervisors who seem to value career advancement above all else. It’s a phrase used by those who believe that while “working hard and chasing dreams is a good thing, pursuing it in unhealthy ways as we sacrifice our well-being and mental health is not,” said Trill Mag.