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Written by Kieran Delamont, Associate Editor, London Inc. | |
CULTURE
Nobody wants to work anymore (except me, of course)
The majority of employees have the perception that their own work ethic is stronger than their colleagues
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IT’S NOT HARD to find things in the world of work and the economy to feel bad about. We are, they say, in an economy of “bad vibes.”
Some of the causes are obvious: high prices, a job market that can seem disjointed and mismatched at the best of times and paycheques that don’t go as far as they used to. A certain malaise has set in, leading to a good dose of accusations that, as the saying goes, “nobody wants to work anymore.”
People have argued about this sentiment for decades now. But is it actually true?
Some new data from the University of Toronto research team of Scott Schieman and Daniel Hill and their Measuring Employment Sentiments and Social Inequality project set out to find an answer.
“Directly measuring work ethic is challenging,” they explained. “As one indicator, we asked respondents: ‘How much effort do you put into your job beyond what is required?’ If work ethic is waning, most people should answer, ‘none.’”
But they didn’t. Fifty-two per cent of Canadians said they put in a lot more effort than the bare minimum. Another 45 per cent said “some,” or “a little.” Only three per cent of respondents said their work ethic is waning.
“As much as things change about the organization and culture of work, the average worker’s willingness to go above and beyond has barely budged,” said Schieman and Hill.
But the researchers also set out to explain the disconnect between all the bad vibes and rhetoric about work these days and workers’ responses about their own work ethic. To do that, they asked workers whether they think other workers put in that little extra. “Only 13 percent of all workers believe that the average worker [goes] above and beyond what is required.”
In other words, most workers think they work hard, and are happy to do so. They just don’t extend that same assumption to everyone else.
What Schieman and Hill concluded is mostly good news. “Most workers say they are still willing to go above and beyond. On balance, that’s a good thing.” Plus, they also serve up some reasoning for why it seems like there’s only bad news to be had out there.
“There is a major disconnect between how hard we say we work and how hard we think others work,” they said. “Cutting into those bad vibes would be a small step toward repairing work’s damaged reputation.”
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CAREERS
Climbing down the career ladder
While most people strive to climb up the corporate ladder, some are choosing to step down by taking work of lesser status
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MANY PEOPLE SPEND their whole careers trying to go up the corporate ladder, step by step, eyes on the big prize. But after a few years in the corporate world, many younger workers are saying: “No thanks. In fact, drop me down a rung or two…”
“This may be controversial but I’m trying to descend the corporate ladder,” said viral TikToker Aaron Yin. “Some people want to be manager, and that’s okay: everyone deserves the chance to be chewed out by the CEO directly.”
Corporate ladder descenders are finding their own strategies to make it all work, often by diversifying their incomes rather than gunning for promotions. “Maybe they’re investing, maybe they’re working on a venture with friends on the weekends, maybe there’s another skill that they have that they monetize,” said Octavia Goredema, career coach and author. “When they look above them at the roles that they could move into, they don’t see anything that looks appealing.”
Some see a crisis in this idea. “If Gen Zs and millennials had more autonomy, purpose and inclusion at work, I believe they would feel more excited about contributing to their workplaces, and more eager to progress and ascend the corporate ladder,” wrote Laura Ashley-Timms.
But it still assumes that climbing the corporate ladder should be the end goal. As we’ve talked about before with the rise of dual-track compensation and promotion, not everyone wants to rise up the ladder in the first place; some people want to stay right where they are, in the role they like. Others have overextended themselves, and now want to step down. (Not that that’s always easy ― it can be hard, especially in interviews, to explain why you’re seeking a job that’s further down on the corporate ladder.)
“A corner office view isn’t for everyone,” noted FlexJobs. “There’s nothing wrong with taking a look around and deciding you’re better off in a different position.”
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Terry Talks: Overcoming WFH burnout
| Remote jobs can be good for you, but depending on your character, they can also have some unpleasant side effects. Burnout affects people in all walks of life and in all industries, so what makes remote workers different? Recognizing burnout symptoms early and taking action is of vital importance. The deeper you sink into it, the longer it will take to recover ― it’s as simple as that. | | | |
PRODUCTIVITY
The rise of 5-to-9ers, and what you can learn from the early bird tribe
Flexible work has led to an army of early risers putting in a half-day before the rest of us get going
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MOST OF US have heard the mantras before: “Early bird gets the worm,” “Rise and grind,” et cetera, et cetera. We’ve heard the stories of celebrity CEOs beating the rooster, waking up at 4 a.m., and maybe even scoffed at the idea of sacrificing those extra ZZZs in the morning.
Over on productivity TikTok, though, the workday routines of the early risers have been all the rage lately, and it’s hard to miss the many users posting their #5to9before9to5 these days. (We’re talking a.m. here, people.)
For some, it’s about early morning productivity ― getting up and getting a start on the workday. Others use the time to go to the gym, eat a nice breakfast and take care of themselves. For the five-to-niners, it’s the routine that’s important, more than what you fill it with.
On a personal level, many 5-to-9ers say it’s some of the only time they truly have to themselves. “I love waking up early, at a relaxed pace, and accomplishing things for myself long before the work day has started,” said Toronto TikToker Veronique Davidson. “In the morning, when the day is brand new, there is nothing that has filled my head in any detrimental way,” wrote another. “The mental landscape is wide open.”
We’re not just talking about aspirational morning routines, either; there’s evidence that many workers are keen to start their days earlier, thanks to the rise of flexible work. While managers still complain that late afternoons are a dead zone for work and productivity, the 5-to-9 may be a counterbalance.
Asana, the workflow software company, reported that more than one in five workers are logging on between 5 a.m. and 9 a.m. now, and 12 per cent of work tasks are completed during this period. Surveys continuously show that knowledge workers want flexibility in their hours; there could be a lot of benefits in embracing, and enabling, workers who want to start and end earlier in the day.
Those who have turned 5-to-9 work into a regular practice are often evangelists for it, especially in competitive white-collar fields. They feel productive, and they also look productive. One early riser told the Wall Street Journal that she works early, clocks out early, and focuses on getting important information to her bosses before they start for the day.
“They appreciate having that information first thing when they open their email,” Elvi Caperonis said. “In my experience, leaders are also early birds.”
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HEALTH & WELLNESS
Why we’re more exhausted than ever
People are looking to reestablish their relationship with work in order to reduce their pervasive sense of drain
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IF YOU HAD to sum it up, you might say that this whole newsletter is about tracking the ups and downs of the North American knowledge worker, who ― after years of relative safety and stability ― has found herself suddenly thrust into the centre of wave after wave of change and reform in the workplace. There was The Great Resignation, then RTO battles, experiments with four-day workweeks, the rise of AI, quiet quitting…the goes on, and on, and on.
How is the knowledge worker doing now? Exhausted, that’s how. Analysts and economists, always looking to periodize things, look at today’s white-collar workforce and increasingly see them living in what they are increasingly calling The Great Exhaustion.
"The Great Exhaustion is a reflection of this collective experience of being burned out, tired, emotionally fatigued, by work and all things in our world, as well, that go beyond work," said University of Ottawa organizational psychologist Jennifer Dimoff.
Many experts point the blame at digital communication. Work changed in a lot of ways post-pandemic, but one measurable difference is that digital communication takes up a lot more of the average worker’s time than before ― up to 60 per cent of the time spent using workplace tools, per one Microsoft study.
“Research connects increased digital communication with decreased satisfaction,” wrote Casey Newport.
Janed Candido, founder of Toronto-based Candido Consulting Group, worries that these tools are maxing people out. “In many cases, people are working far in excess of what would be considered a normal workday,” she told Benefits Canada. “And it’s not unreasonable to assume that people who are working remotely may be a victim to that even more than [in-office workers].”
If you’re one of those exhausted workers, perhaps the good news is that experts do believe that it’s just a phase ― that we’re in something like the teething phase of the new knowledge economy, hammering out the best way to reform workplace communication and productivity to the new era.
“In recent years, we’ve tried dramatic individual changes, such as quitting and moving to the country, or publicly declaring an intention to put in the minimum effort, but lasting improvements are likely to come from less romantic reforms,” writes Newport. “Even if we are now mired in a Great Exhaustion, we shouldn’t give up.”
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