So, working multiple jobs apparently now has a term for it. Polywork.
And, also apparently, it’s become trendy among Millennials (Gen Y) and Gen Z’ers. Apparently.
Alan MacLeod recently pointed this out on Twitter, posting some screenshots of headlines from news sources saying that it’s a thing, and it’s popular among people born between 1981 and anyone who’s now 16 to 18 and joining the workforce.
Well, tweeters are calling bull-pies on this as it’s hard to believe people would willingly work multiple jobs.
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Apparently 'polyworking' is a term used to describe working multiple jobs, and this journalist pointed out how the media is trying to make it into a trend
Image credits: AlanRMacLeod
So, journalistic writer and podcaster Alan MacLeod went to Twitter to share some screenshots of headlines from news sites, claiming that Millennials and Gen Z’ers “prefer,” “embrace” and are “gunning for” this thing called polywork.
The tweet read: “Heads up: They've come up with a new buzzword to describe desperately working multiple jobs just to survive.”
Alan MacLeod shared some headlines he found pushing a narrative of Millennials and Gen Z'ers enjoying working multiple jobs
Image credits: AlanRMacLeod
Image credits: AlanRMacLeod
Polywork is the concept of working multiple jobs or having multiple sources of income, quite likely part-time ones. Polywork is also a professional social medium, in the vein of LinkedIn, allowing people to share everything they do, whether professionally or otherwise.
According to the sources that MacLeod pointed out, there was a study done by Polywork that claims that over 70% of the study’s participants say the pandemic has accelerated the idea of having multiple jobs with two-thirds actually working multiple jobs.
Image credits: AlanRMacLeod
Image credits: AlanRMacLeod
Participants claimed that these multiple jobs gave them flexibility, helped avoid burn-out, or simply kept them busy because they needed it. And that’s all fine and dandy, but the headlines seemingly hinted at the idea that working multiple jobs has become hip and trendy among certain generations based on this data.
Well, a lot of people saw MacLeod’s tweet—as of this article, it has over 52,800 likes and 12,300 retweets—and were none too happy about it.
As soon as the tweet hit the airwaves, everyone and their mother started roasting the headlines
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The general tone of it all was “please stop making struggling under capitalism trendy.” Many thought that people doing polywork surely are doing this out of necessity, at the very least the majority of them.
One Tweeter even pointed out that, according to Google Trends, polywork as a concept is not even popping up all that much online for it to be considered trendy.
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But the roasts were aplenty. One user equated this situation to a CEO who claims he works 120 hours a month, but most of them are business lunches and golf as a meeting environment.
Another user took a jab at how the media can romanticize anything: “They are going to drive me crazy and then write an op-ed about how millennials enjoy taking psych ward staycations.”
Dan Price, that one CEO who cut his own profits to guarantee a $70k annual minimum to each employee, even came out to react with his “what fresh hell is this?”.
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You can check out the tweet, along with everyone’s reactions to this, here. But before you go, share with us your thoughts and take on this in the comment section below!