Addressing Work-Life Integration (or lack thereof) in the Current Economy
Fitness aside, we're living in pretty dire economic times. It's impressive to just keep yourself afloat right now, let alone hit the gym.
Good Morning!
I hope you had a great weekend.
There are quite a few questions out there about our current economy. So many that it can be dizzying.
Sadly, we won’t have answers for them in the short term, and we need to reckon with that while we JUST TRY TO MAKE IT BY in some of the worst economic conditions ever. Like, worse than The Great Depression.
Today, I will talk about who is asking those questions, who is attempting to answer them, and why outrage is not the answer because it’s doing more harm than good for our collective mental health.
First: We know inflation is incredibly high, and interest rates continue to rise. This should help the economy, but right now, most Americans dread trips to the grocery store. I cringe when I take my dog to the groomer and see the bill.
Second: This dread about spending is not only from inflation — partly due to excessive government spending and wage increases— but from corporations price-gouging at rates higher than they’re raising wages.
Let’s repeat that louder for all the CEOs complaining that work isn’t getting done or that no one wants to work.
In 2022, corporations posted record-breaking earnings calls, raising prices by about 8% while only raising wages by about 5%.
So when we think about why the work dynamic — the preference for remote jobs and more enormous salaries — has changed drastically, let’s remember those numbers.
It wasn’t just because we nixed long commutes and pointless meetings. Wage growth and the potential for better work conditions affect the bottom lines of workers and consumers everywhere.
“Why haven't we asked for bigger raises? After all, companies say they are desperate to hire, and workers have much power right now.”
- Stacey Vanek Smith, NPR’s Planet Money (and my former graduate school professor)
The Hangover We’re Still Dealing With
If you’re working hard at anything right now — work, your fitness, your relationships — and it feels extra draining, don’t you think there’s a reason for that?
Deloitte somewhat foreshadowed this in their 2021 summary, Preparing for a potential post-pandemic hangover from health behaviors. This concept began to warm up to what I’m referring to, but I still didn’t quite get it.
Their only half-true anticipation was a rose-colored glasses prediction of what would happen.
People would pay more attention to their health (they have, in some respects) and prioritize their “at-home economy” more (we have).
But a recent Qualtrics survey cited by The Wall Street Journal showed that the “importance” of work has diminished significantly to workers and managers alike.
While work might be less important to us, I think it’s important that our other focuses on what’s essential have shifted — more towards health, well-being, and personal lives.
This promotion of things, well, other than work, work work…seems to annoy economists.
There exists some doubt from prominent thinkers that four-day work weeks and flexible in-office policies are helping the economy regain its footing.
But the tug-of-war over the workweek isn’t happening because of an inherent distaste for work.
We just know now more than ever that working too hard isn’t good for our mental health.
While work might be less important to us, I think it’s important that our other focuses on what’s essential have shifted — more towards health, well-being, and personal lives.
Toughing It Out: Our Only Option
The argument that our current work-life balance desires aren’t good for our economy doesn’t hold up for me.
There isn’t enough data there for me to prove to me we’re not working hard. We are. In my first year in business as an independent trainer, I’ve hit a few snags, but I’ve seen enough consistency from my clients to know that they are working. How else would I get paid?
The unfortunate reality is that it’s hard to prove our productivity, even if we as individuals are working our asses off.
There are myriad factors at play for this problem, but the most notable include underreporting or flat-out misreporting of data and the subjectivity of what “productive” is.
The use of incorrect metrics, biases in data collection, or the failure to capture all relevant information are significant pitfalls of the current data collection cycle (remember that one, too, next time some economy concern-troll gets in your ear about “pEoPlE dOn’T wAnT tO wOrK”).
Also, an already-disengaged workforce will not do so well reporting their productivity if they’ve quiet quit.
The reality is this: work is harder for some of us because many of us worked harder during the pandemic than ever before.
Burnout doesn’t just happen. It’s a result of overwork and, quite literally, abuse. It’s not that America is “going soft.” The pandemic was a more challenging work environment for most people than some CEOs are willing to realize, and the disinterest in work likely stems from a lack of attention to this matter from the top down.
More college students are considering dropping out than ever before because of struggles with mental health.
Many students nowadays — myself included throughout my college and graduate career — work jobs to pay tuition, so I don’t know why we’re constantly being reminded to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps.
The workplace suffers from neglecting employee mental health, but some employers are, thankfully, listening.
For now, as shitty of a situation as it might be, we’ve got to tough it out and hope that things — wages, interest rates, and job security — will get better soon.
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