After a few months of “quiet quitting” at the forefront of our brains, the business news outlets have continued their streak of rebranding the horrors of late-stage capitalism into click-worthy buzzwords, this time, repackaging the concept of working multiple jobs to survive into the cutesy viral phrase, “Polyworking.”


Defined as “The phenomenon of working two or more jobs” per Fortune’s Orianna Rose Royle, Polyworking is the new “it” post-pandemic job trend that describes people who work multiple jobs just to get by.



Yet, instead of its typically blue-collar manifestations, teachers swapping their kitschy sweaters for Starbucks visors and, well, pretty much everyone moonlighting as OnlyFans creators, this modern iteration is a direct reaction to the transition towards work-from-home culture.


In a world of never-ending price gauging, many Americans have realized the hours spent sitting in traffic or bargaining with the gods of public transit are valuable tools in our losing battle against rising costs. As such, roughly a third of workers have hopped on the polyworking trend per new research … as much of a trend as eeking out of bankruptcy can be.



“Although more financial freedom and the chance to have multiple creative outlets should spell increased happiness for polyworkers, the research shows that’s not necessarily the case,” Royle explained, noting that researchers found those with more than one side hustle tend to feel more “burned out, stressed, and uninspired.”


Wow. Working several jobs to avoid economic ruin has consequences. Who could have possibly seen this coming?


Naturally, the people of Twitter were less-than-amused by coverage of this trend, describing in detail just how absolutely fucked we are.



As the new unofficial voice of the worker’s revolution, a Twitter user by the name of @femboyanc0m — so aptly put it “polyworking” is a funny way to say “no one can afford to live on the average paycheck.”