20-somethings learn to love their corporate jobs

Some days Hubbard, 29 years old, leaves for lunch at 11 a.m. sharp, walking to the office elevator and heading home to microwave a meal. Others, he visits a fast-food drive-through, eating in his car and back in his office swivel chair by 11:50. In videos of his routine posted to TikTok, he flashes a thumbs-up to the camera and gets back to work.

The viewers who follow and comment on Hubbard’s mundane slices of office life in Dallas say they enjoy watching someone who is so calm at work or wish for a role like his.

Hubbard and self-described “corporate girlies" and guys show how Gen Z and younger millennial workers—often viewed by their elders as “quiet quitters" and difficult colleagues—are loudly embracing corporate life and the stability of a paycheck.

Gen Z has overtaken baby boomers in the workforce this year, with 21 million of them employed full time in the U.S., according to an analysis from job-ranking site Glassdoor. They account for more than a third of all hires and 16.8% of the total workforce, according to payroll and HR data analyzed by ADP Research. The oldest members of Gen Z are 27, three years shy of the big 3-0. The youngest are 12, long from their office years.

Young workers in previous generations have questioned the value of corporate life before ultimately settling into the 40-hour workweek. Today’s junior employees say they are pleasantly surprised with their office jobs and the structure they offer, especially when jobs are harder to get. Paid time off and even dressing up for the day spur 20-somethings to brag about their jobs on social media.

“There’s this period where a lot of those corporate employers are pulling back on hiring," says Nick Bunker, economic research director for North America at Indeed Hiring Lab, an economic research arm of Indeed, the job site. “Maybe there’s a more renewed appreciation for the stability of the job."

A happy routine

Alicia Winterboer, a 22-year-old marketing coordinator at a home-construction company in Des Moines, Iowa, has seen plenty of #WorkTok posts calling out the negative aspects of white-collar work. Working for someone else, low or inconsistent pay, and toxic managers are common complaints about office life.

She prefers the opposite: videos of people like herself—corporate girlies—posting happily about their jobs and their office culture. She makes her own TikToks, too.

One of her TikTok posts with 84,000 views shows her sitting in her office, drinking the free coffee her company provides. The text overlaying the video lists other reasons she loves her job, such as listening to music and podcasts while working, wearing cute outfits to work and having weekends off.

“It is OK to have that 9-to-5, and it is OK to have that routine," Winterboer says.

Sidney Cooper, a self-described introvert, used to enjoy working remotely. But after a few months at home, the 26-year-old Evansville, Ind., marketing manager missed in-person interactions.

“It was lonely and depressing, and I wanted an in-office position," Cooper says.

Five months into her current role, Cooper says she relishes going to the office and interacting with her co-workers. Her job entails her putting on a lot of events in the community, giving her more chances to interact with others. She makes TikToks about the small things that make her happy at work, like a great avocado-toast lunch or a midday Diet Coke.

A renewed appreciation

White-collar Gen Z workers are staying at a company 18% longer than millennials did in their first seven years in the workforce, reports Live Data Technologies, an employment and job-change research provider.

“Gen Z is more aligned with Gen X and boomer timelines in terms of the amount of time they spend at a company," says Jason Saltzman, the firm’s director of growth. He says this period of employment is called “the great stay," since more people are sticking around.

For Kimberly Muñoz, working a corporate job was always the dream.

A 25-year-old senior data-operations analyst in Atlanta, she is the daughter of two immigrants and first in her immediate family to graduate from college. Her salary, career growth and paid time off are exactly what she wants.

During the pandemic, Muñoz saw social-media posts encouraging people to quit their unfulfilling jobs. Muñoz’s own TikToks show the joys of everyday job tasks like typing at her desk and eating lunch on her office’s rooftop. They also highlight the little extras: a work trip to Poland’s capital to meet with colleagues and plan for the coming year.

Muñoz posts to encourage people like her to pursue jobs in tech. In a TikTok she recorded on the Warsaw trip, she reflects about how far she has come as a first-generation college student.

There are always a few people who tell her she is stuck in the Matrix—or that real success means not working for someone else.

“I am genuinely proud of my career," Muñoz says. “Maybe that’s not success to everyone, but it’s success to me."

Shifting priorities

Flexible and hybrid office schedules also fuel appreciation for office life.

After almost four years in the public sector, MG Robinson, 34, feels like he has hit the corporate sweet spot: He works in a hybrid position for a healthcare company, with flexible paid time off, a great salary, a ladder to climb, and trust and respect from his co-workers.

“It really is a soft life," says Robinson, based in Brooklyn, N.Y. “I’ve definitely noticed a cultural shift back to the idea that corporate is a good place to be."

Hubbard, the senior benefits analyst, says his appreciation for office life deepened after he spent some years creating social-media posts for a trading-card company. The travel schedule and low pay burned him out. Recently married, with a new home and dog, Hubbard decided to return to the embrace of the cubicle in 2022.

His video skills are now used on TikTok, with clips of him answering emails, auditing data in Excel and making phone calls—tasks millions of other Americans also do every day.

Hubbard says he enjoys the humdrum, albeit stable life made possible by his corporate job. And he documents and celebrates his normal white-collar worker life as a way to counter social-media posts that promote lavish travel or getting rich quickly.

“That’s not reality for most," Hubbard says.