Work Less, Live More

The 40-hour workweek sucks. Ambition is overrated. Life is short. Confessions from the new and intentionally underemployed labour force

- By Rebecca Gao and Isabel B. Slone. Portratits by Steph MArtyniuk

Work hard, live hard is officially over. For anyone under 40, the so-called soft life is where it’s at: more time spent with friends and family, increased devotion to hobbies and developing new interests, fewer professional responsibilities, and a lot less stress.

Gen-Z and millennial employees are not—contrary to popular memes and hashtags like quiet quitting, lazy-girl jobs, bare-minimum Mondays and weekend Wednesdays—actually feckless. They’re anti-­burnout. They’re willing to work, and do it well, but they’re uninterested in handing over the bulk of their waking hours to bosses or subordinates. Ultimately, they’re prioritizing pleasure over profit.

The 20- and 30-something workers featured below want to dismantle long-held beliefs and vaunted attitudes about ambition, money and what constitutes a productive life. In short, they are committed to taking on less—and cool with making less—if it means they can live more.

Previous job: Manager at a tech start-up
Current job: Bookkeeper and retail worker
Lives in: Pickering