Every employee probably knows the difference between productive work and what a new report by software company Slack calls performative work – merely looking but not actually being busy. The data in the release shows that workers in some Asian countries – namely India, Japan and Singapore – seem to spend more time appearing to be working than employees in other places.

While Indians spent 43 percent of time in performative work, that number was 37 and 36 percent in Japan and Singapore, respectively. For comparison, U.S. respondents and those from Germany said they only appeared busy for 28 and 29 percent of the time. One outlier in Asia was South Korea, also with a low of 28 percent of work hours spent in “pretend mode”.

Who’s Only Looking Busy at Work? — https://www.statista.com/chart/30591/performative-productive-work/

And now we have a new productivity mantra…

Now that you’ve taken a break and worked on the root causes of your problem, it’s time to embrace a whole new mindset around work, money, and success. This is going to sound radical, but I want you to give yourself permission to achieve less.

The latest productivity mantra that we all need: ‘Achieve less’ — https://fortune.com/2023/08/16/latest-productivity-mantra-achieve-less-careers-mental-health-stress/

But The Boss may not agree with this new mantra…

While the debate over productivity in a remote office setting continues, one Australian woman is fighting back against her employer after being accused of not typing enough while working remotely.

Remote Employee Fired for ‘Low Keystroke Activity’ During Working Hours After 18 Years of Employment — https://www.entrepreneur.com/business-news/remote-worker-fired-for-low-keystroke-activity/457578

There’s a new description of the ideal job…

A lazy-girl job is any job that can be done from home within the standard 9-to-5 and has undemanding tasks and easygoing managers.. the jobs pay enough money ($60,000 to $80,000) for a young adult to live off but not feel pressure to work above their contracted hours.”

The term was coined in May 2023 by Gabrielle Judge, a 26-year-old career influencer. Judge told The Wall Street Journal that she was aware the word lazy would have a negative connotation, but she wanted to spark a conversation. “Lazy-girl jobs aren’t roles where you can slack off,” she said, “but career paths where your work-life balance should feel so awesome that you almost feel like you’re being lazy.”

Lazy-Girl Jobs Are Trending with Gen Z—Here’s How to Find One — https://www.rd.com/article/lazy-girl-jobs/

“Lazy-girl job” is one of the worse uses of the English language I’ve encountered because the use of the word “lazy” is bad. Really bad. The definition of any job done from home with undemanding tasks and easygoing managers is also bad. Really, really bad. A friend once told me the key to his success. With most jobs and careers the majority of us will be average performers (think bell curve). All you need to do to put yourself on the path to success is to be a little better than average. This lazy girl job thing is cultural acceptance of average or worse than average.

Working hard is not a guarantee of success. But not working hard is a guarantee of failure.