“Laying flat is not the same as being lazy and irresponsible, but also not chasing more material things like fame. At the same time you ensure that you have the necessary expenses and take responsibility for your parents”.
Luo Huazhong wrote that in a blog post on the Baido social media in 2021, well into the second year of the pandemic. In English, the term has been given the name “lying flat” – to lie flat.
According to The New York Times, Luo quit his job as a factory worker in Sichuan province and jumped on his bicycle to ride some 200 miles to Tibet to live a life there of odd jobs and meditation.
He called the blog post “Lying flat is justice”. It is seen as a breach of the authorities’ 996 work culture. It is based on the fact that you work from nine in the morning to nine in the evening six days a week.
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People in Beijing on their way to work. Since the pandemic, more people have opened their eyes to the fact that striving to get high in the professional career may not be the path to a happy life. Photo: Mark Schiefelbein/AP
Sees no future in working until 60
In Australia, News.com.au was recently able to report that young Australians were asking on social media for tips to be able to “lay flat” at work.
“I see no future in being forced to work relentlessly for over thirty more years,” wrote the Australian 23-year-old on the website Reddit.
“I can’t imagine a future where I work after turning 60,” he wrote further, when he asked for financial advice.
Watch video from the archive: With this you can sleep on the job
Working life professor: Nothing new
Knut Inge Fostervold, associate professor in work and organizational psychology at UiO,. Photo: UiO
– There are quite a few people who say: Why on earth should I join this carousel? It is nothing new in and of itself, there have always been people who have thought this way, says associate professor of work and organizational psychology at UiO, Knut Inge Fostervold to ABC Nyheter.
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He says it is not unnatural that the phenomenon has received a “hype” around it, particularly in East Asian societies such as China.
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– There is an extreme competitive culture which is based on the fact that you must work hard and persevere. It is the culture, but then someone in that culture comes to a conclusion that says; I have no chance here, why should I work my life out and still stand on the spot resting?
The realities of the American dream
He says it can also be compared to “the American dream” in the United States.
– Many eventually realize that the American dream does not apply to everyone, only those who have access to resources from before. Those who do not have access to these resources can work hard and persevere, but there will be structural patterns that make it almost impossible for them to achieve their goals. Why should they endure?
– In some of these cultures where it has been the ideal, there will also be, preferably young people, who do not follow the structures, says Fostervold.
Not as radical in Norway
Then perhaps it will not have as much interest here in Norway, where working life is not as competitively driven?
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– Both yes and no. Some young people today do not want to join this merry-go-round and jump off that system. We often see it in the idea of finding a small farm and living off your own resources. It is part of the same mindset, he explains.
– In all societies, our own included, there is a pressure to conform to how you should relate to work and stand up. Some say; why should I bother with this? I get by just fine with little, and don’t see the need to make extra money just to make money.
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– In our culture it is not shocking. The majority here will probably see it as funny, but not sensational, he says.
associate professor in work and organizational psychology at UiO, Knut Inge Fostervold compares the “lying flat” trend in China with the desire of some Norwegians to move from the city to, for example, a small farm in the countryside and live on self-produced food. Photo: Kyrre Lien / NTB
Don’t believe in people’s revolution – but has positive sides
In more authoritarian societies, such as China, however, such an attitude could cause concern among the authorities.
Chinese President Xi Jinping would prefer that workers in the country want to work as diligently as possible. Not everyone completely agrees with that. Photo: Ng Han Guan / AP / NTB Photo: NTB
– Of course it worries. Because it breaks with the idea of working hard and contributing to developing the nation. If there are many who do this, it could become a problem for the social models they build up, he says and quickly elaborates:
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– I don’t think this will be a big popular revolution.
At the same time, he points out that, although it can be frustrating for companies to have such employees, there are aspects of the phenomenon that more people should take note of.
– In one way, it’s nice. Because among the biggest problems we have in our society is that we consume too much. There is too much focus on perpetual growth and if you are to think about sustainability, then consumption must decrease. So in and of itself, this group is doing what we should all be doing, he says.
– I’m no slouch
The term is very reminiscent of a similar term “quiet quitters”, which has received a lot of attention in social media such as Instagram and Tiktok also in Norway.
TV 2 wrote about “quiet quitting” in 2022 and referred to it as “doing the absolute minimum at work, but enough to keep it. Bringing work assignments home, coming into work early, or answering e-mails and telephones after working hours is completely out of the question.”
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“I’m not a slacker who tries to do as little as possible at work. On the contrary, I am someone who always puts in the effort and says yes to an extra job guard more often than I really should. “Quiet quitting” is about doing your best within working hours and using your free time to be social or relax. “Work to live”, not “live to work”, wrote Nora Berntzen in a poll in Aftenposten, in response to the article in TV 2.
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More radical than “Quiet quitters”
According to Fostervold, there is a difference between “quiet quitters” and those who lie flat.
– Quiet quitting means that you should only do what you are set to do at work. No extra work, or extra effort. You must only follow the work instructions, what you are set to do and that’s it.
– Then you are in the production system as you should be, but you are not standing on anything extra. Lying flat is more about withdrawing completely from the existing factory model. It is more radical.
– They are therefore based on the same idea, but by lying flat you jump off the carousel completely, while “quiet quitters” are still involved, but you can say that they let the carousel go as slowly as possible.
Tags: employment trend companies fear contribute hamster wheel
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