For most of us, the decision to get a job was less related to an internal desire, but rather the economic and financial need to make money to survive.
But looking at today’s society, work has become glorified enough to be treated in many spaces as a religion, and this religion values people who give their entire lives to their careers.
This phenomenon has been called “workism”, defined as work becoming the overall purpose of an individual, and that the way to better the world is by working even more.
Hearing this, it may not be surprising, considering all over social media today, people are applauded and praised for staying up all night to finish a project, working 50 hour weeks, “hustling” for their company, and working towards career advancement.
However, once the global pandemic hit and the famous “Great Resignation”, companies began to discover that providing generous salaries was not enough to keep employees satisfied anymore. People wanted to feel that they were valuable parts of the company and wanted greater fulfillment at their jobs.
As a result, now 22% of companies incorporate some form of mindfulness practice, but even the ultimate goal of the company is to increase the bottom line (more revenue).
As this becomes a norm, employees working at these companies begin to find more of their identity and purpose within their job. For example, if an employee starts a job feeling shy and reserved, then it can be a boost to their self-confidence to start being recognized for the work they’re doing, which can begin to feel like the greatest part of their identity.
Not surprisingly, with the pandemic, church attendance has significantly decreased, and at a time where many things were uncertain, many Americans found comfort and developed close relationships with their “work family”.
A Pew Research study found that occupation and career is the second highest factor in making life meaningful—second only to family and children.
The workism phenomenon is relatively new, considering that work initially was something that was done out of financial need. Yet today, rich American men are working longer hours than both poorer men in the United States and rich men in similarly developed countries.
That means that although many rich men could afford more downtime, they choose to work longer hours because it is where they feel the most themselves.
Work begins to feel less like the thing that has to be done and instead the purpose of one’s livelihood, comparable to how a devout churchgoer would go to church as a meaningful part of their faith.
What has become acceptable in today’s work culture is expecting people to work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, “as long as they have flexibility,” as one human resources professional stated.
This primarily originated in Silicon Valley, where tech companies set the new standard about what it means to work hard. 92% of those interviewed worked at least 50 hours a week, with a whopping ⅓ of survey participants working 65 hours a week or more.
Many of these aforementioned tech companies were startups, which means deciding to work there was indeed a leap of faith as the vast majority of early startups fail. Nonetheless, the narrative has shifted to focusing more on “self-care” and finding one’s own deeper purpose within the work that they are doing.
The youth of today are beginning to experience this stronger as well, with 95% of teenagers citing that the most important thing to them was having a job or career that they enjoy. Ironically, one of the most common phrases at high school and college graduations is encouragement to find one’s purpose and passion.
This philosophy of working hard is inevitably leading many hardworking Americans to burnout, frustration, and anxiety related to their job, which has become their life.
The primary issue with workism is that if you exert all of your meaning towards work, you have less to go towards other things that are valuable in your life, as Carolyn Chen cited in her novel Work Play Code.
The question then becomes, how do we combat workism?
Many Americans have turned to therapy to seek wisdom regarding how to set healthy boundaries for themselves. This includes creating a balance between work, family, and extracurriculars that one enjoys.
If one is not cognizant of the way that work is taking over their life, then almost too easily, it becomes one’s master without even realizing it.