‘I’m done justifying paychecks’: Viral post is changing the way everyone thinks about their job

January is often the time when people look to make a change – whether it’s starting healthy habits, cutting out alcohol, or as one viral post shows us, reevaluating their entire approach to their job.

Twitter/X user Kritika Kumari reported a message from an anonymous poster with the title "Stop making me justify my paycheck" which has made a big impression on many readers.

In fact, the post which has racked up more than 172,000 likes and been viewed nearly 5 million times, seems to have got many people reconsidering their priorities in the workplace.

It reads: "I don't want a yearly performance review. I don't want to spend two hours filling out a form about my 'top accomplishments' like I forgot what I worked on all year. You saw the work. You paid me. That's the agreement.

"I also don't want to invent five ways I should magically do more next year for the same money. If I mess up, tell me when it happens. If I'm doing fine, stop asking me to write essays about it.

"Let me just enjoy the holidays and leave me be!"

Plenty agreed, with one commenting: "Annual performance reviews are just corporate theater, forced self-promotion over holidays while your actual impact is obvious to everyone who matters. Scrap the bureaucracy."

"Yearly humiliation ritual for corporate tools. It is what it is," another said.

However, others argued that it was pretty essential to people if they wanted to further their career.

"Performance reviews are where you justify a pay raise/ promotion. If you don’t want to participate that’s fine," one wrote.

Another wrote: "This is actually more for the people who don't go out of the way to self-promote. Yes, everyone knows what those people are doing, but it's the people who quietly achieve in the background. This was a system that was created to help them have a fair shot."

One more said: "Respectfully if someone is going to get paid $250-$300k or more, they should absolutely have to justify their paycheck."

With Gen Z taking a different approach to work than any generation before it, we won't be at all surprised if we see more posts revaluating work culture go viral in 2026.

Why not read…

• Gen Z are opting for 'career minimalism' in the workplace but what is it?
• Gen Z are flocking to these unconventional jobs in order to earn big - and it's working

How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel

Sign up to our free indy100 weekly newsletter

Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.