Our Addiction to Work

In Western society, we are obsessed with work. Productivity, the sweat on our brow, and the title we carry are intrinsically linked to who we are. Being labeled a workaholic is a badge of honor that most of us tout. The real problem? Our job is on the brink of being taken over by technology and the mental health crisis we are already in is set to get even worse as millions lose their sense of identity and purpose. This is a call to Futurists to reframe the way we think about work within our own work. Can we begin to address the real reason we, as a culture, are so deeply intertwined with the idea of work and productivity and then find ways out of this addiction that will lead to a better tomorrow??

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While there is certainly not a lack of discussion around the future of work, there is a need to dig deeper, get to the core of the problem, and help society understand how they can come out on top. And that doesn’t mean just reskilling. Simone Stolzoff, author of The Good Enough Job, states in his Wired article, Tech Layoffs Reveal America’s Unhealthy Obsession With Work, that “increased uncertainty has led to much more open communication about the fact that even jobs that felt stable, are not necessarily such” and that this idea points to the fact that no one really knows what the future of work holds. It is just a free-for-all of ideas that are clouding our minds, making it difficult to focus on the real issue. The real issue, according to Simone is that we treat work as if it is our religious identity. Work is what gives so many of us our sense of purpose and if we take that away, what will we have left??

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How we got here could probably be attributed to a variety of reasons, some going back to the Protestant way of life that brought the British over in the first place. Work was a way of paying back what we owed God. In the article, Millennials Are Actually Workaholics, Sarah Green Carmichael, the Managing Editor of Ideas at Barron’s, talks about millennials in the workforce with the Senior Project Director, Katie Denis. Katie concludes that “This is the first totally connected generation, from the day they came into the workforce they’ve had email. They’ve never really left a physical place and said, ‘OK I’m done for the day’”. These forever-connected Millennials are now the leaders within our organizations and their bad habits are permeating into future generations.?

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It is no surprise that most baseline scenarios project futures where we simply upskill and come up with new jobs to do. In a Pew Research Center survey, The State of American Jobs, researchers found that “87% of workers believe it will be essential for them to get trained and develop new job skills throughout their work life in order to keep up with changes in the workplace”. On the flip side, collapse seems to be the only other option. A McKinsey study found that their midpoint scenario held that “around 15 percent of the global workforce, or about 400 million workers, could be displaced by automation in the period of 2016-2030”. McKinsey continues by saying “Under the fastest scenario we have modeled, that figure rises to 30%, or 800 million workers”. The same study suggested that in more advanced economies such as the US, automation could displace 20 to 25 percent of the workforce by 2030. It is no wonder people are in a state of panic. They are being told they will either be forced to learn new skills and hope there are roles to fill or no matter what you do, you won’t have a job. Either way is not a very hopeful future.?

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We, as Futurists, need to use our skills and experience to help redirect conversations, addressing the systemic obsession with work into more productive scenarios. We cannot ignore the fact that so much of what we rely on requires an income. Healthcare, childcare, money for food, and a place to live are all things that force us to work. Those are all issues that must be addressed accordingly. But what I would like to focus on is helping society realize that there is more to life, more to our identity, than a job. We need to use our position to help people identify meaningful values that exist outside of a nine-to-five and then create future scenarios of what our lives might look like fulfilling those values. We should be able to create personalized scenarios that help people visualize a world in which work is not everything that they do, and it certainly does not define who they are. Their skills and talents can be used in better, more meaningful ways rather than simply bringing home a big paycheck.?

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Tomorrow will come sooner than we know and, as I am sure we all are aware, changes in the working world are inevitable. Let’s do what we do best and get ahead of change, helping to open up conversations with communities now, and addressing the deeper issues of the relationship between ourselves and our job.?

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References:

Goode, L. (2023, April 14). Tech layoffs reveal America’s unhealthy obsession with work. WIRED. https://www.wired.com/story/plaintext-tech-layoffs-reveal-americas-unhealthy-obsession-with-work/

Carmichael, S. G. (2016, August 22). Millennials are actually workaholics, according to research. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2016/08/millennials-are-actually-workaholics-according-to-research

Rainie, L. (2022, September 15). Experts on the future of work, jobs training and skills. Pew Research Center: Internet, Science & Tech. https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2017/05/03/the-future-of-jobs-and-jobs-training/

Author, N. (2021, September 28). The State of American Jobs | Pew Research Center. Pew Research Center’s Social & Demographic Trends Project. https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2016/10/06/the-state-of-american-jobs/

Cozma, I. (2023, July 27). How to find, define, and use your values. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2023/02/how-to-find-define-and-use-your-values

AI, automation, and the future of work: Ten things to solve for. (2018, June 1). McKinsey & Company. https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/future-of-work/ai-automation-and-the-future-of-work-ten-things-to-solve-for

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