The Changing Nature of Work
Most of us will spend a third of our life working.
Suppose you are reading this post in the United States. In that case, you may appreciate that we are a country defined by the notion of 'workism,' a term coined by American journalist Derek Thompson in his 2019 article for The Atlantic magazine, 'Workism Is Making Americans Miserable.'
Thompson noted that "work has morphed into a religious identity — promising transcendence and community, but failing to deliver. Workism [it] is the belief that work is not only necessary to economic production but also the centerpiece of one's identity and life's purpose; and the belief that any policy to promote human welfare must always encourage more work."
As Thompson writes, this is not a new phenomenon; it is enshrined in the ethos of the American Dream, that dream that preaches hard work begets material success and elevated status that further cements identity and standing. It has been and still is a national obsession that has been exported across the world.
The latest data from Gallup, in their State of the Global Workplace: 2023 Report, highlights that nearly six in 10 employees fell into the category of quiet quitting. Quiet quitting is what happens when someone psychologically disengages from work. They may be physically present or logged into their computer but don't know what to do or why it matters. When combined with actively disengaged employees, low engagement costs the global economy $8.8 trillion, or 9% of global GDP.
And yet, in a post-pandemic world, we are experiencing a significant reset in defining our relationship with the 'thing' we call work. For many of us, myself included, who did or maybe still cling to a job for life's meaning and purpose, the pandemic woke us up to a new reality.
Working sixty to sixty-five hours a week relentlessly, warped and wrapped up in a 9-to-5 that is more like a 7-to-7, with shorter vacations, shrinking benefits, and a normalized expectation of long hours to keep up with flow of meetings, emails, and ever-accelerated deadlines, has many of us now contending with a purposeful examination of where we work (office, hybrid, remote), what and how we work (increased automation, an AI future, digital technological advance) and fundamental questioning of why we do the work we do.
"Developing a healthier relationship to work is not as simple as quitting your job or taking up knitting. What we can control, however, are the expectations we place on our job. We can choose to subordinate work to life...it starts with a simple acknowledgment: you aren't what you do."
- Simone Stolzoff, author of 'The Good Enough Job'
In his recently published book, through a series of thought-provoking stories, Stolzoff chronicles what we lose when we expect work to be more than a job. At the core of his writing and research, Stolzoff prompts the reader to consider how we separate who we are from what we do and what it means for a job to be good enough.
Post-pandemic, we are increasingly redefining our relationship with work, fueled by a greater need for belonging and fulfillment. We have gained some clarity in the past few years. However, have you ever asked yourself, "If my job is my identity and I lose it, what is left?"
What would your answer be?
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Against this backdrop, the More Elephant podcast is ready for liftoff, starting on October 17th.
In the next few weeks, as we begin the podcast, we will be in conversation with entrepreneurs and writers who have been thinking about the redefinition of the "work" experience. Each has built solutions and insights on immediate action we can take to reclaim and reshape our relationship with work.
Indeed, it may surprise some that one of the entrepreneurial solutions we will hear about has been shaped over nearly twenty years. It addresses a quandary many primary caregivers faced in the early Oughts, fueling the saying, "The more things change, the more they stay the same!
My first podcast guest is Ben Brooks. Ben is the founder & CEO of PILOT, an award-winning employee career development software platform. Inspired by his successful CEO & executive coaching practice, Ben saw an opportunity to democratize executive coaching and empower employees at scale. He invested his life savings into founding a company whose mission is to ensure everyone "feels powerful at work."
In this identity journey, seeing ourselves as more than the work we do, how do we still show up as our authentic selves? Our authenticity is our power. So, what does it mean to feel powerful at work? How can we advocate for ourselves, prioritize our development, and navigate the unwritten workplace rules?
Join me in this inspiring conversation with Ben, and subscribe to the More Elephant for episode updates. Let's explore the changing nature of work as we showcase ideas that empower our future and combat workism by defining and implementing a balance between work and life, all as we listen, learn, live, better.
