During the worldwide pandemic, companies learned that remote work can be highly effective, with 83% of employers surveyed saying that the shift to remote work has been successful for their company, according to a PwC study. In addition, 54% of workers said they want to continue working remotely after the pandemic.
Millennials and Gen-Z workers have been actively seeking flexibility from employers and control over their lives, which means being able to work from anywhere and at any time. But fast forward to 2023 and we still see 9 to 5, work from the office culture alive and well.
Just like corporate employee and TikToker Julia Huynh (@jigglyjulia), who shared a viral video stating that despite liking her job, which she has only had for 6 months, she wants nothing more than to quit. The video has amassed 1.1M views and calls this outdated Monday-to-Friday work culture into question.
TikTok creator Julia Huynh has had her 9 to 5 corporate work for only 6 months, but it has left her so drained she wants to quit already
"I'm literally six months into my first corporate job, and I already want to quit"
"And it's not the fact that I don't like my job and the people suck and it's just horrible. It's actually a pretty nice job. Like, I love my coworkers, it's all around great. If you look at it at face value, it's great. My one thing that I hate most is the fact that it's been six months and I literally feel like nothing has happened in the past six months."
"I work 9 to 5, Monday through Friday"
"... actually, no, it's more like 8 to 5 and sometimes it's like 9 to 5. I'll be going through my work week and then by the time it gets to Friday, I'm just so exhausted to the fact where, like, I can't do anything on the weekend anymore."
"Something needs to change in this work culture"
"This is not cutting it, because I'm not gonna go through my entire life working for, like, 40 years and then I wake up one day and I think about it and I'm like, 'wow, it's been 40 years and I've done literally nothing'. The only caveat with quitting this job is that I will not have any money so how am I supposed to live, like what am I supposed to do? I don't understand. Anyway, that's my rant for today."
"I was scared that someone at my company would see the video and report me," the TikToker told us
Bored Panda reached out to Julia Huynh, who recently graduated college and started her full-time job a few months after.
“I started posting on TikTok in 2020 at the start of the pandemic to post beauty tutorials. My mission has always been to be a role model for young Asian American girls who feel underrepresented in the social media space. I want to be someone my younger self can look up to and feel inspired by!” the digital creator told us.
When asked about this particular viral video, Julia recounted: “After 6 months into my full-time job, I felt unmotivated and burnt out from the 9-to-5 work culture. I didn't expect that video to go viral and I was a bit nervous when it started gaining traction.”
The TikToker said she was scared that someone at her company would see the video and report her. “But I held my ground and did not delete it because I knew that others resonated with the sentiments that I expressed. I wanted others to feel seen and heard, and I also wanted to feel that I wasn't alone in feeling this way,” Julia explained.
"I have a job, I'm making money, I have a roof over my head, but at some point, I feel like I'm not even living"
In a viral video, Julia said that she likes her job despite the fact that she is so exhausted after that 9-to-5 week. “Yes, I love my job! My manager is awesome and my team is so fun. They preach work-life balance all the time and I truly am very grateful to even have a job in this economy.”
“I am trying to separate my job and the general 9-to-5 work culture because it gets super easy to fall into the trap of comfort in staying where you are. What I mean by this is that even though my job is, at its core, not extremely physically or mentally demanding, it's hard on my spirit and soul,” Julia explained.
“After the work day ends, we are free to do whatever we want. We practice our hobbies and hang out with friends and family. But thinking about the idea of working 8 hours a day, 5 days a week for the rest of my life is depressing. Especially since most of my free time is spent preparing for work, it doesn't actually feel like I'm living anymore. I feel like a cog in the drain: doing the same thing over and over again, every day.”
Having said that, Julia argues that it's hard to think about this and complain when she’s in a place of privilege. “I have a job, I'm making money, I have a roof over my head, and I live comfortably. But at some point, I feel like I'm not even living. After talking to a lot of friends who feel the same way, it made me feel like I was crazy for hating the work culture and wanting to quit.”
But even if Julia wanted to quit, it would be really difficult unless, she said, she had some other sort of substantial income. “Health/vision/dental insurance is basically tied to being a full-time employee, so that makes quitting almost impossible,” she added.
"Having a remote job would be ideal because it really helps with feeling like I'm living with a bit more freedom"
Julia said that she knows some companies are starting to implement the 4-day work week and she thinks it’s amazing. “I also think that having to go into the office for me is very mentally draining (even if it is only a couple days a week). Having a remote job would be ideal because it really helps with feeling like I'm living with a bit more freedom.”
The digital creator concluded by saying that she loves working at coffee shops and traveling while working, so having a fully remote job would speak to her soul.
The Great Resignation is in full swing in the US
But the author of this viral TikTok video is far from the only one feeling exhausted with today’s work model. In 2021, more than 47 million employees quit their jobs, many of whom were in search of an improved work-life balance and flexibility, increased compensation, and a strong company culture. This proved to be a major disruption in America's labor force, also known as The Great Resignation.
Prior to the pandemic, the habits and mental models of work centered around a physical space belonging to their employer. During the pandemic, the 56% of all workers who could do their job from home changed their habits and mental models of work to focus on the tasks they did, not where they did these tasks.
This allowed way more flexibility for the employees, who found the long-needed work-life balance they were lacking so much. As a result, the work-from-home work model proved to be just as efficient and productive, but with less stressed and happier employees.
Moreover, Dr. Gleb Tsipursky, the best-selling author and CEO of Disaster Avoidance Experts, argues that extensive research shows that coming to the office will do much more damage than good. [It will] “reduce worker performance, drive up company costs, and cause workers to spend more on their commutes, all increasing inflation.” Dr. Tsipursky, just like the majority of the experts in the area, see the work-from-office model as burden-bearing and outdated.
No wonder that there has been a surge in the newly coined phenomenon occurring in today’s workplaces called “quiet quitting.” In our previous interview, Dr. Tsipursky explained that the term emerged in March 2022, and refers to doing the bare minimum tasks of your job description well enough that you don't get fired.
“The concept quickly went viral on TikTok. Yet it only started to gain traction as an issue of concern among business leaders when government data on productivity released in August 2022 showed a sharp and unexpected drop in Q1 and Q2 of 2022,” he said. The drop in productivity at work linked to quiet quitting may be because “forcing employees to come to the office under the threat of discipline leads to disengagement, fear, and distrust.”
