TikTok influencer: Full time work is ‘hard to manage’

A TikTok influencer has gone viral after sharing her top tips for surviving the 9-5 grind – and the video has reignited a fiery debate.

If you’re a Gen Z starting in your first full-time job this year, or returning to work today wanting a better work life balance for 2024, an influencer has some advice on how to survive the 9-5.

If you’re a Gen Z starting in your first full-time job this year, or returning to work today wanting a better work-life balance for 2024, an influencer has some advice on how to survive the 9-5 grind.

A video by UK-based TikTok user @ellsatthedisco offers three pieces of sage advice for those new to the full-time workforce.

The clip, titled “It’s rough out there,” has attracted over 20,000 views and dozens of comments.

Firstly, she tells viewers: “If you’re working 40 plus hours a week or working full time then in my opinion, there is no such thing as a work-life balance.

“It is so hard to manage and for those of us who aren’t doing content creation full time and have the luxury of going off to pilates every day at 11am, then we’re gonna need to stick to the 9 to 5 grind a bit longer.”

She adds: “You’re gonna need some tips to keep you as sane as possible during the week.”

The first of her tips is for workers not to upload, or to delete work-related apps such as Teams, Slack and their work email, off their personal mobile phones.

“You don’t realise the damage you’re doing to yourself when you’re checking all of those as if they’re social media apps,” she says.

“They’re in the rotation of Instagram, TikTok, Teams, Slack, emails – before you know it your whole identity will be work, whether you realise it or not.

“You’ll be talking about work, thinking about work, you’ll be dreaming about work and I’m speaking from experience.”

Ellsa goes on to say that unless people are a CEO then they really shouldn’t be doing work after hours and that if a job requires workers to use their personal mobiles for work purposes, then they really should be supplied with a company mobile.

“If you need to access them outside of working hours then your company should have no problem with providing you a work phone to do so,” she said.

“I don’t know about you but I am not a CEO and I don’t have shares in my company so I have no business to be updated constantly or checking in on this project and that project.”

TikTok user @ellsatthedisco has shared her tips on surviving the 9-5 grind of full-time work. Picture: TikTok.

She said employees should resit pressure to download work apps on their phones. Picture: TikTok.

Her next tip is to start and leave work on time, and even consider turning down overtime to ensure a work-life balance – a tip that could be considered controversial in light of the current cost of living crisis.

“Your work is gonna be there tomorrow and for the rest of your week.

“The time we have outside of work is minimal so it should be spent on you, you can’t put a price on time in my personal opinion.”

She adds: “I would turn down overtime so that I could have my own time at the end of the day to focus on me, whatever I needed.”

The TikTokker’s final tip is for workers to take a proper lunch break away from their desks.

“Just because everyone’s eating around you at their desks doesn’t mean to say that you have to.

“I dunno about your lunch break but mine is not paid for so I don’t understand why we would all feel the need to be chained to our desks when we’re not even getting paid to be there for that hour.”

She also said people shouldn’t feel pressured to spend their lunch break with colleagues who may be talking about work, or may be buying lunch from an outlet they can’t afford.

Instead, she suggests that if the weather allows, employees should “get out for a walk, listen to a podcast, reply to your mates even or scroll on TikTok – whatever you wanna do, just make sure you’ve reset for the afternoon.”

A key tip is for employees to only work their contracted hours and turn down overtime. Picture: TikTok.

She also suggests that workers get away from their desks during their lunch break. Picture: TikTok.

It seems many commenters agree with @ellsatthedisco – who posts frequent videos about work.

“The lunchtime boundaries are sooo important!!” one wrote, while another said “the BIGGEST mistake I make every time I start a new job is re-download slack to my phone”.

The video also garnered some funny responses including: “You’ll survive. Sincerely Yours Gen X” and “they better pour themselves a cup of ambition”.