OPINION: The future of work is failing to meet expectations

We were promised a four-day workweek and exciting creative work. Instead, we got burnout.

Let’s back this up. In the 80s, we fought long and hard against a system and way of living, called Communism, which was meant to be doom for us all.

Instead, we were fighting for a capitalist society that promised to keep delivering better outcomes for each new generation. It wasn’t hard to imagine. Post WWII, most things had been getting better and easier for everyone in these modern capitalist societies — we were just fighting for more of the same.

If we stayed the course, advances in society and steady increased in GDP would lead to wealthy nations which would provide better-quality and better access to healthcare and education. With our better health and higher education degrees, we’d be intellectually challenged in creative ways and meaningful pursuits at work, and from 55-years-old we’d retire but continue to contribute to our families and societies in ways that were less about financial reward and more about finding our passions.

More recently, they said opt-in to the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Like the previous revolutions, we could expect great change, but great benefits. These technological advances would help us reach that utopian end-point sooner. No more poverty or sickness, and we’d all be happy.

The Jetsons and Star Trek showed us that technology would make our lives and work easier. Automated flying cars would cut commute times, lengthy overseas holidays of self-discovery and wonder would be affordable to all, and all the mundane jobs would be done by robots so we could pursue creative careers that challenged us and gave our lives purpose. Rosie the robot maid would also do all our mundane household chores. Of course, we would also heed the danger stories, and design technology that was accessible, fair and benefitted all.

The reality is, quite frankly, the opposite.

More stress, less time, more pressures

We’re now smack bang in the middle of that Fourth Industrial Revolution, bringing together the physical, digital and biological to create exponentially growing and seemingly unending change in our lives, and it’s exhausting. We’re all burning out.

In 2019, the world finally stood up and took notice of the burnout problem. In May, the World Health Organization (WHO) added burnout to its list of globally recognised diseases, then later re-labelled it as an “occupational phenomenon” caused by chronic stress in the workplace. WHO estimates that one in five children or teenagers and one in four adults will experience burnout in their lives. This was further supported by the World Economic Forum labelling burnout a “mental health pandemic” and saying it was the new “21st century disease.”

Deloitte weighed in on our ‘always on’ work culture and a Gallup study showed that there is a global epidemic of burned-out workers who are experiencing (1) mistreatment, (2) unmanageable workloads, (3) a lack of role clarity, (4) a lack of support from their management, and (5) unreasonable time pressures.

Burnout means we’re constantly feeling busy, under pressure and like we have no time. We feel harassed by our technology and social media feeds always pinging. We feel the need to reply to work emails on our phones at 8pm or on Sunday mornings, just to keep up with our other colleagues who may actually be in the office at that time… and our bosses are answering emails then anyway. This is burnout.

We bought in, we played ball, and in exchange we got burnout. But surely we’re living better lives, right? 

Not really. 

For a lot of people, things haven’t gotten any better. Technological gains and efficiencies have benefitted not individuals but corporations, which are constantly striving to be more efficient, nimble and agile so they can fend off the next round of innovative start-ups. 

We’re spending more time working, in increasingly demanding and stressful jobs with blurred work-life boundaries, and yet for the first time since 1930, we’re earning less relative income than those who came before us and we have less financial security.

We also no longer have job security. Instead we’re constantly on alert, waiting for the tap on the shoulder that signals we should clear out our desks along with 10% of our teammates — yet we’re told we’re not loyal anymore, and we’re “lucky” if we’re chosen to stay to work twice as hard once everyone else has left. (check out Daniel H. Pink’s classic-but-still-relevant book Free Agent Nation for more about the changing world of work).

Even though Millennials and Gen-Xers are the most highly educated generations, everything is changing so fast that we’re constantly being asked to get skills, then re-skill and re-skill again to remain relevant in the workforce. Yet, companies know that you might not stay and they might make your role redundant anyway, so they’ve all but done away with costly in-house training and we’re now asked to sort out all that extra accreditation in our own time and with our own money.

Meanwhile, the wealth gap continues to increase, many of us have huge university debt, no prospects of ever buying a house, and we won’t be able to retire until we’re 75.

This is not the future we were promised.

We’re running really fast. Who knows where, but we’re running, we’re busy, and that’s all that matters. Right?

No! This always-on, high pressure rat-race is making us sick. Burnout is proof that we can’t run the corporate hamster wheel and navigate the rotating door of mass layoffs and climb the ladder of education all at once. We just can’t do it all.

We need to fight burnout and to do that we need to regain the control and balance in our lives. We need more time for our families and friends, and more time to exercise and look after ourselves, or just more time to simply relax.

Why can’t we have that four-day workweek we were promised?

So, it’s not a cure, but seriously, why can’t we have a four-day work week? 

No, I’m not talking about cramming 40-hours of work into four days and being paid less for the privilege. I’m talking about delivering on that promise that greater technological efficiency means workers see some benefits: getting to work less hours each week or getting more time off for instance. 

We could do five 6-hour days a week, or four 8-hour days a week — I don’t mind, either is OK with me. 

Recent news stories applauded Finland’s prime minister, Sanna Marin, for wanting to introduce a 4-day work week. “I believe people deserve to spend more time with their families, loved ones, hobbies and other aspects of life, such as culture,” Marin, 34, is quoted as saying in August last year before she took office. 

Unfortunately, the Finnish Government couldn’t have run faster from these news stories, quickly clarifying that introducing a 4-day workweek was “not on the Finnish Government agenda.” The message was clear, although this is a nice idea, no one in power would seriously consider this. Gasp, think of the economy! 

But here’s the thing, some companies have trialled these systems (working less) and have actually shown that employees end up being even more productive! It’s a win-win, and a no-brainer.

So, there is some hope for change, we just all have to move to New Zealand where Perpetual Guardian recently made a 4-day workweek available to its employees after a successful trial, as reported by Smart Company. Perpetual Guardian employees can opt-in for a weekly rest day while still receiving their normal salaries as long as they continue to meet their productivity objectives. And just to be clear, the trial showed that employees who embarked on the reduced workhours option were more productive and reported lower levels of stress.

According to New Europe, Sweden has also been trialling a reduced hour workweek: “In Sweden, where the 6-hour-day has already been in place since 2015, the results showed that employees were happier, wealthier and more productive as they were still fully paid and customers were more satisfied.”

Now I know that this is a small sample, and not all industries or job types will be suited to reduced work hours, but it is true that for some circumstances and some jobs, this can be made to work, both for the employer and employee — and it just might help to make a small difference to the burnout epidemic that is sweeping the world.

Plus burned-out employees are leaving corporations in droves anyway, costing organisation a while lot of money, so surely we have to try something, and why not a four-day workweek?

OK? Good.

So, now can we get back to delivering on that promise?

Unfortunately, while a four-day workweek is a nice start and possibly something that might shift the dial a little bit in the fight against burnout, it certainly isn’t a cure.

So, where do we go from here? How can we make capitalism deliver on its promise? You remember, the promise of a better life for individuals, not just stable GDP growth and bigger corporate profits. 

One thing is for sure, our current democratic, capitalist approach is coming apart at the seams, in fact the world has just gone a bit crazy lately (dare I say it? … Trump and Brexit, what the heck?). Has anyone stopped to consider that maybe it’s because the current system is not delivering on that promise of a better future for our children and our children’s children?

Now, I’m not overly political, and I’m sure I don’t have all the answers, but I do know that I’ve experienced the corporate hamster wheel and the burnout that went with it, and I’m looking for change. 

I see some hope in New Zealand, where Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, announced that her government was launching a “different approach for Government decision-making all together” by delivering a Wellbeing Budget rather than the traditional budget focused solely on growing GDP. Here’s how Ardern put it during a speech in New York:

“Traditionally, success or failure in politics has been measured in purely economic terms. Growth, GDP, your trade deficit and the level of debt you carry. On those terms, you would call New Zealand relatively successful. But in the last few years the deficiency of such measures has become stark. So, we are establishing brand new measure of national achievement that goes beyond growth.”

“While at a global level economic growth has been unprecedented, the distribution of benefits has been uneven at the level of individuals and communities. …. But we also need to do better at lifting the incomes of New Zealanders and sharing the gains of economic growth.”

Ardern then goes on to outline other measures of success for her government that are focused on relieving poverty, ensuring equality, improving the environment, and supporting accessibility to education for all.

Who would have thought!? This is a government focused not only on making sure the country gets richer (GDP), but more than that, focused on making sure that its people have better wellbeing outcomes.

Is this the capitalist model that actually delivers the promised utopia, or at least moves us in the right direction? 

Only time will tell.

In the meantime, I’m serious about that four-day workweek. Let’s talk!

Don’t forget to subscribe if you want to receive our weekly blog.