The Suffering of Workers: Is Anyone Really Listening?

Weariness and worry can make you bold. These twin feelings can prompt you to speak your mind and be damned about who is listening. And I am incredibly weary of worrying about workers—so get ready.

I have something to say. I’ve said it to friends. I’ve said it on calls. I’ve said it in presentations. But I’ve never said it here.

There is a nationwide need for leaders to take a hard look at the emotional journey their people have been on to increase their empathy now. Some of the best leaders are doing so, but we need more—way, way, way more—of our senior executives to take a hard look at the daily experience of work and imagine the pain of it. And then do something about it.

We can begin with a review of the last period of our professional lives. The American worker needs a witness.

Two and a half years ago, there was a crisis. Like most good people do in a crisis, they dug in. In a moment of heroic commitment, they abandoned boundaries and did what was needed. They slept less, smiled less, and got through a terrible and difficult time. But then, the sprint they signed up for changed. It became a marathon in duration, yet they maintained the intensity of that sprint, for months and months and eventually years.

During this period, people were trapped at home, on 24-hour childcare duty, afraid for their health and future. Yet they soldiered on. Some did without human touch and sunshine, and they soldiered on. They lost loved ones, missed friends and milestones, battled crushing loneliness, and were subjected to (no exaggeration) 8, 10, and 12 hours a day of back-to-back Zoom calls. They soldiered on.

And then, just at the moment when home offices became comfy and workers had the right chair, the right routine, and perhaps a new appreciation of their situation, it was time for hybrid. We flipped their world once again, directing people to wake up every morning and try to remember what kind of day it would be, where they would work, and how to do it right. And they did.

Now, when the burnout has lingered so long it has become latent and ingrained, when most employees’ tanks are so empty even the fumes are faint, it’s time for a pre-recession lockdown on headcount, development programs, and resources. Executive roles are being consolidated, and folks are being laid off by the thousands. Those left behind will need to pull up yet one more ounce of resolve from somewhere and do more with less. And oh, how they hate that phrase, but it will rule their lives in 2023.

No wonder people are quitting. They are having a “Network” moment.

In the 1976 movie Network, actor Peter Finch plays a newscaster, Howard Beale, who has an on-air meltdown. In an absolute emotional lather, he speaks through the camera directly to his viewers at home as he describes the litany of pain they are experiencing from the crushing inflation of the 1970s, the oil crisis, and the fear of the Russians. With the eyes of a wild man and a frighteningly disarrayed hairdo, he says to the audience, “First you have got to get mad. You’ve got to say, I’m a human being, God damn it! My life has value!” He then urges his viewers to rise from their armchairs everywhere, stick their heads out of their windows, and shout, “I’m as mad as hell and I’m not going to take this anymore.” And yell they do, from coast to coast.

What Beale and his TV audience wanted was for the basic experience of life to change.

The parallels to modern work are clear. People everywhere need the basic experience of work to become more pleasant, more doable, more rewarding. They need ease and autonomy. They need to be supported and listened to. Instead of screaming, they’re leaving—at least the ones who feel they can.

This rant of mine, this small “Network” moment of my own, has not been written to condemn executive actions taken in true need. There is so much we can’t control and crises that have to be dealt with. But I am so, so tired of seeing the worker’s soul being the last item on the list of priorities. Even the leadership of many organizations is often feeling raw and privately fragile with nowhere to turn. They are sandwiched between the teams they love and the goals they are given, providing air cover where they can for those they lead but with no one to do it for them.

This article contains no teaching. It contains only a blessing and a plea.

If you’re reading this and are one of the sufferers I have described, with little power to change your situation, I hope it has blessed you with at least one small thing—the nurturing feeling of being seen and witnessed. What you have been through is insane. Someone should take you by the shoulders and just say, “Wow, wow, wow,” shaking their head in a slow, loving, and deeply empathic way. And then they should hug you until you let go first.

On the other hand, if you’re reading this and you’re an executive who is thinking from your left brain about ways to do more with less, cut costs, and buckle down, just know there is a point when human beings break. Yes, of course, you need to protect your company to get through hard financial times. But your people ARE your company. They ARE your top line and your bottom line. And they will leave you. Or worse—stay and pretend to care. Or they will just break before your very eyes.

How would it be possible to lighten the load? There are several answers, and none will be accepted quickly by the typical senior executive. Some goals may have to be reached slower. Some dreams may have to get smaller. Some profit margins may need to become less aggressive. Shareholders may need to be slightly less ecstatic on the next call. Complacency with wasteful work will need to end. But again, lose your people and the ship goes down.

If you think I’m blind to the financial realities, if you think the kind of loving response I’m describing is not possible in light of current pressures, write to me. Let me talk you into it.

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You and your leadership are invited to a live fireside chat with me on the topic above on December 8 at 12:00 PM ET. This 45-minute session with me is a fearless and honest combination of support, sharing, and teaching. I hope you join us and drag with you the most senior executive you can get your hands on.