Act Your Wage
Etymology
A pun on the scolding phrase "act your age," swapping "age" for the near-homophone "wage." It spread as a workplace slogan on TikTok around 2022 alongside quiet quitting. The wordplay is the whole appeal: it reframes doing-your-job-only as maturity rather than laziness.
noun phrase · /AKT yor WAYJ/
The principle of calibrating your effort to your pay — declining to take on unpaid responsibilities beyond what your salary actually covers.
What it names
A memorable rule of thumb for pushing back on scope creep at work, and for treating effort as something exchanged for money rather than owed indefinitely.
Example
When they asked her to manage a second team for free, she decided to act her wage and politely declined.
Related idea
Quiet quitting names the behavior from the outside, often with a hint of judgment; act your wage states the same choice as a principle the worker endorses.