A growing number of Gen Z workers are fed up with toxic workplaces where micromanagement and dismissed ideas are the norm, but instead of going straight to the HR with their complaints, they are turning to TikTok for advice on how to ‘protect their peace’.
The advice that they are getting isn’t about setting boundaries or documenting issues — it’s about “most unhinged, borderline unethical” things they can do to keep their sanity, Fortune reported.
Malicious compliance: A form of passive-aggressive protest
Gen Z’s most common and popular unhinged hack is malicious compliance. This is a passive-aggressive form of protest where employees follow instructions exactly as they are given, even when they know doing so will cause inefficiency or backfire.
“Once my job made us do ‘productivity’ timesheets and we all agreed to be maliciously compliant,” one user commented. “People were writing, “8:01, hang up jacket, 8:05 took tampon out.”
“I do exactly what my boss tells me. Word for word,” another user wrote. “If it wasn’t spelled out, it isn’t getting done. Malicious compliance.”
Other not-so-standard corporate survival tricks
Beyond malicious compliance, Gen Zers are using other creative methods to cope with toxic jobs, including:
- The “Let them” theory: This idea, originated from author Mel Robbins, is about letting go of things you can’t control.
- The “Gray Rock method”: This involves disengaging emotionally from a job or person as uninteresting as a “gray rock.”
- Faking a lawyer: Some workers copy a fake lawyer into emails to get difficult clients to cooperate.
“I tell myself we’re all characters in a sitcom like The Office,” a user said.
“I started lying about myself lol,” another user commented. “I would give different people different versions of events about myself and when someone confronted me about the stories being different, I knew they were talking about me behind my back.”
Whereas some young workers aren’t passively aggressively expressing their discontent and unhappiness at the workplace, instead, they are taking a direct approach of ‘revenge quitting.’
The shifting mindset of this generation
This online trend reflects a larger trend among Gen Z. Nearly 60% of Gen Zers described their current role as a “situationship,” a short-term job they never intended to stay in for the long term, according to a recent survey of young workers. Of those planning to leave their roles, nearly half said they expect to exit within the next year, and a quarter said they’re ready to quit at any moment.
Hence, for employers, the message is clear: failure to provide flexibility, growth, and respect for personal boundaries that the post-millennial generation strives for is leading to higher turnover rates, Fortune reported.
Psychologist warns of potential career damage
While these tactics may provide a temporary sense of relief, a workplace psychologist warns they could harm future career prospects.
The expert Ben Granger explains that employers may commit a psychological tendency called the fundamental attribution error, which is a tendency to assume that someone’s actions reflect their personality, rather than the environment they are in.
“If they [employers] have that perception, it can really do a lot of damage,” Granger told Fortune.
Granger suggests that a more productive approach would be to set realistic expectations during the hiring process and reframing challenges rather than retaliating.