tag:theconversation.com,2011:/africa/topics/overwork-17187/articlesOverwork – The Conversation2022-06-29T12:06:07Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1837082022-06-29T12:06:07Z2022-06-29T12:06:07Z5 drawbacks to following your passion<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/471188/original/file-20220627-12-niphao.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=33%2C22%2C7315%2C4858&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Employees are more likely to put in long hours when they're passionate about their work.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/job-interview-first-impressions-royalty-free-image/498941586?adppopup=true">sturti / Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>After earning bachelor’s degrees in engineering and sociology, I was determined to do what I love. I headed straight to graduate school to investigate the social problems that frightened and fascinated me. </p>
<p>For almost a decade, I told everyone I encountered – students, cousins, baristas at the coffee shop I frequented – that they should do the same. “Follow your passion,” I counseled. “You can figure out the employment stuff later.”</p>
<p>It wasn’t until I began to research this <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520303232/the-trouble-with-passion">widely accepted career advice</a> that I understood how problematic – and rooted in privilege – it really was. </p>
<h2>The passion principle</h2>
<p>As a sociologist who <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=UnCxN24AAAAJ&view_op=list_works&sortby=pubdate">examines workforce culture and inequalities</a>, I interviewed college students and professional workers to learn what it really meant to pursue their dreams, which I will refer to here as the passion principle. I was stunned by what I found out about this principle in the research for my book “<a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520303232/the-trouble-with-passion">The Trouble with Passion</a>.”</p>
<p>I examined surveys that show the American public has held the passion principle in high regard as a <a href="https://www.erinacech.com/the-trouble-with-passion">career decision-making priority</a> since the 1980s. And its popularity <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/23780231211068660">is even stronger</a> among those facing pandemic-related job instability.</p>
<p>My interviews revealed that proponents of the passion principle found it compelling because they believed that following one’s passion can provide workers with both the motivation necessary to work hard and a place to find fulfillment. </p>
<p>Yet, what I found is that following one’s passion does not necessarily lead to fulfillment, but is one of the most powerful cultural forces perpetuating overwork. I also found that promoting the pursuit of one’s passion helps perpetuate social inequalities due to the fact that not everyone has the same economic resources to allow them to pursue their passion with ease. What follows are five major pitfalls of the passion principle that I discovered through my research. </p>
<h2>1. Reinforces social inequality</h2>
<p>While the passion principle is broadly popular, not everyone has the necessary resources to turn their passion into a stable, good-paying job.</p>
<p>Passion-seekers from wealthy families are better able to wait until a job in their passion comes along without worrying about <a href="https://educationdata.org/student-loan-default-rate">student loans</a> in the meantime. They are also better situated to take <a href="https://theconversation.com/covid-19-shows-why-its-time-to-finally-end-unpaid-college-internships-152797">unpaid internships</a> to get their foot in the door while their parents pay their rent or let them live at home.</p>
<p>And they often have access to parents’ social networks to help them find jobs. Surveys revealed that working-class and first-generation college graduates, regardless of their career field, are more likely than their wealthier peers to end up in low-paying unskilled jobs when they pursue their passion.</p>
<p>Colleges and universities, workplaces and career counselors who promote the “follow your passion” path for everyone, without leveling the playing field, help <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520303232/the-trouble-with-passion">perpetuate socioeconomic inequalities</a> among career aspirants.</p>
<p>Thus, those who promote the “follow your passion” path for everyone might be ignoring the fact that not everyone is equally able to find success while following that advice.</p>
<h2>2. A threat to well-being</h2>
<p>My research revealed that passion proponents see the pursuit of one’s passion as a good way to decide on a career, not only because having work in one’s passion might lead to a good job, but because it is believed to lead to a good life. To achieve this, passion-seekers invest much of their own sense of identity in their work.</p>
<p>Yet, the labor force is not structured around the goal of nurturing our authentic sense of self. Indeed, studies of laid-off workers have illustrated that those who were passionate about their work felt as though they <a href="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/F/bo16668097.html">lost a part of their identity</a> when they lost their jobs, along with their source of income.</p>
<p>When we rely on our jobs to give us a sense of purpose, we place our identities at the mercy of the global economy.</p>
<h2>3. Promotes exploitation</h2>
<p>It’s not just well-off passion-seekers who benefit from the passion principle. Employers of passionate workers do, too. I conducted an experiment to see <a href="https://www.erinacech.com/the-trouble-with-passion">how potential employers would respond</a> to job applicants who expressed different reasons for being interested in a job.</p>
<p>Not only do potential employers prefer passionate applicants over applicants who wanted the job for other reasons, but employers knowingly exploited this passion: Potential employers showed greater interest in passionate applicants in part because employers believed the applicants would work hard at their jobs without expecting an increase in pay.</p>
<h2>4. Reinforces the culture of overwork</h2>
<p>In conversations with college students and college-educated workers, I found that a substantial number were willing to sacrifice a good salary, job stability and leisure time to work in a job they love. Nearly half – or 46% – of college-educated workers I surveyed ranked interest or passion for the work as their first priority in a future job. This compared to only 21% who prioritized salary and 15% who prioritized work-family balance. Among those I interviewed, there were those who said they would willingly “eat ramen noodles every night” and “work 90 hours a week” if it meant they could follow their passion.</p>
<p>Although many professionals seek work in their area of passion precisely because they want to avoid the drudgery of working long hours doing tasks they aren’t personally committed to, passion-seeking ironically perpetuates the cultural expectations of overwork. Most passion-seekers I spoke to were willing to work long hours as long as it was work about which they were passionate. </p>
<h2>5. Dismisses labor market inequality</h2>
<p>I find that the passion principle isn’t just a guide that its followers use to make decisions about their own lives. For many, it also serves as an explanation for workforce inequality. For example, compared to those who don’t adhere to the passion principle, proponents were more likely to say women aren’t represented well in engineering because they followed their passion elsewhere, rather than acknowledging the deep <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0003122411420815">structural and cultural roots</a> of this underrepresentation. In other words, passion principle proponents tend to explain away patterns of labor market inequality as the benign result of individual passion-seeking.</p>
<h2>Avoiding pitfalls</h2>
<p>To avoid these pitfalls, people may want to base their career decisions on more than whether those decisions represent their passion. What do you need from your work in addition to a paycheck? Predictable hours? Enjoyable colleagues? Benefits? A respectful boss?</p>
<p>For those who are already employed in jobs you are passionate about, I encourage you to <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520303232/the-trouble-with-passion">diversify your portfolio of the ways in which you make meaning</a> – to nurture hobbies, activities, community service and identities that exist wholly outside of work. How can you make time to invest in these other ways to find purpose and satisfaction?</p>
<p>Another factor to consider is whether you are being fairly compensated for the extra passion-fueled efforts you contribute to your job. If you work for a company, does your manager know that you spent weekends reading books on team leadership or mentoring the newest member of your team after hours? We contribute to our own exploitation if we do uncompensated work for our job out of our passion for it.</p>
<p>My research for “<a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520303232/the-trouble-with-passion">The Trouble with Passion</a>” raises sobering questions about standard approaches to mentoring and career advising. Every year, millions of high school and college graduates gear up to enter the labor force full time, and millions more reevaluate their jobs. It is vital that the friends, parents, teachers and career coaches who counsel them begin to question if advising them to pursue their passion is something that could end up doing more harm than good.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/183708/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Erin A. Cech receives funding from the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research and the National Science Foundation</span></em></p>A sociologist took a critical look at the cherished career advice to ‘follow your passion.’ What she found is that this advice often brings unintended consequences.Erin A. Cech, Associate Professor of Sociology, University of MichiganLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1733082021-12-15T12:04:35Z2021-12-15T12:04:35ZHow workers become seduced by the cult of ‘optimal busyness’<p>The consultant was on her way to a demanding client meeting when she realised she had had a miscarriage. But she did not interrupt her day. Instead, she went on to complete the meeting at her client’s offices.</p>
<p>The woman, who works at an elite professional service firm in London, was one of the professionals we interviewed as part of <a href="https://pubsonline.informs.org/doi/abs/10.1287/orsc.2021.1486">our recent study</a> of the work life of highly educated professionals.</p>
<p>When we began our study in 2014, we set out to investigate how workers in demanding jobs managed their work-life balance. But soon after we started the interviews, we realised we needed to revise our focus, because it became clear that our interviewees were not seeking to balance their work and private life.</p>
<p>Instead, we found these workers were driven by a compulsion to be busy at all times, which meant they were also willing to sacrifice their family lives in important ways.</p>
<p>As one of our participants told us: “You become a little bit of a junkie for a deadline and work. It’s quite hard to switch off”.</p>
<p>While a common narrative in <a href="https://academic.oup.com/jcr/article-abstract/45/6/1142/4999270">research</a> and the <a href="https://hbr.org/2021/09/who-is-driving-the-great-resignation">media</a> is that people want to slow down their lifestyles these days, our findings reveal a strikingly different story.</p>
<p>The desire to work fewer hours among our interviewees was uncommon. Instead they were in pursuit of something else: “optimal busyness”.</p>
<h2>The quest for optimal busyness</h2>
<p>We interviewed 81 people who work in some of the biggest consulting and law firms in London. Half of the workers were women, half were men, and nearly all of them had at least one child. All of the professionals we interviewed suffered from time famine – constantly having too little time to do what they had to do.</p>
<p>To deal with this problem, they were drawn toward a compelling state of busyness, one in which they felt in control of their time. We call this “optimal busyness” – an attractive, accelerated temporal experience that is difficult to achieve and maintain.</p>
<p>Overall, we identified three different kinds of experiences of busyness: optimal busyness, excessive busyness, and quiet time. Optimal busyness is an elating and enjoyable temporal flow in which the workers felt at their best and most productive. This buzzing feeling gave them adrenaline and positive energy, which was exciting. When they were in this state, they felt nothing could stop them, and that they could, for example, save a company from going bankrupt.</p>
<p>Such an attraction toward busyness can be understood as a kind of <a href="https://academic.oup.com/jcr/article/44/1/118/2736404">status symbol</a> or badge of honour, a phenomenon that has been described in previous research.</p>
<p>But we found that this drive went far deeper than mere social signalling. The desired buzzing feeling was itself inherently addictive. One participant told us:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“I love the intensity of it, usually. I get a buzz out of it, that’s why I do the job that I do. I like it.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>We observed the pleasurable and positive state of optimal busyness often tipped over and became excessive. In such instances, professionals’ feelings of being in control of their time vanished. This is where busyness became overwhelming and sometimes depressing.</p>
<p>When the energising buzz of optimal busyness continued for too long without break, it became unbearable. Connection with family was often the first casualty. One participant went on a work trip and despite promises to call her family in the evening failed to do so – for the entire week.</p>
<p>We observed a similar pattern in the case of quiet time – that is, when the busy work period was suddenly interrupted by downtime, or typically, a holiday period. Quiet time was experienced as something undesirable and meaningless. It also caused boredom and even depression. The thought of a slower pace at work was a source of concern. One told us:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“When I don’t have deadlines I get bored. I’m much less productive because I like working on adrenaline.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>As well as interviewing busy knowledge workers, we also spoke to some of their partners. One partner said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“My wife is terrible. If she wakes up to go to toilet in the middle of the night, she checks her emails – even at 3 AM.”</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>The conditions for optimal busyness</h2>
<p>On one hand, workplaces produce the conditions that drive the quest for optimal busyness. We identified a number of mechanisms that did this, including unrealistic deadlines, performance metrics, time sheets, and the working culture itself – companies and peers expected everyone to be available to work at all times via their smartphones.</p>
<p>The firms we studied are elite institutions that hire the best university students with the highest grades. New recruits wanted to survive the impossible pressure because they knew it was the only way to get a promotion or to become an associate in the company. Busy working culture soon absorbed them and normalised unnatural working hours.</p>
<p>On the other hand, we found individuals themselves were also creating the conditions for optimal busyness. Some boosted their capacity to work with coffee, drugs, or physical exercise. Others went as far as isolating themselves in a hotel room so they could work without interruptions.</p>
<p>A common strategy was for workers to think: “This is only a short period and once I am through I will relax”. For most, the relaxation never happened.</p>
<h2>A culture of overwork</h2>
<p>For decades, scholars have observed the persistence of long working hours, overwork, and <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.2307/2667031">time famine</a>. These problems are ingrained in many professional work contexts, not only in consulting, audit or law firms.</p>
<p>Academia is another striking example: studies consistently show that researchers’ poor mental well-being is linked to increased performance expectations, competitive ethos, and meticulous metrics that produce <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1350508418805283">non-stop busyness</a>.</p>
<p>Our research offers a new way of understanding this phenomenon. The quest for optimal busyness is a vicious cycle. However, until recently there has been limited research that would uncover our everyday experiences of time and how they can take a hold of us.</p>
<p>The individuals we studied, albeit in an arguably extreme context, were often unaware what was happening to them. Perhaps it is time for us all to reflect on how and why we are so addicted to feeling busy.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/173308/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Les auteurs ne travaillent pas, ne conseillent pas, ne possèdent pas de parts, ne reçoivent pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'ont déclaré aucune autre affiliation que leur organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>Elite employers have created an atmosphere where workers constantly seek to be as busy as possible. Families are often the first casualty of this culture.Joonas Rokka, Professeur en marketing, EM Lyon Business SchoolIoana Lupu, Associate Professor, ESSEC Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1643932021-08-19T01:15:10Z2021-08-19T01:15:10ZWe’re all exhausted but are you experiencing burnout? Here’s what to look out for<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/416667/original/file-20210818-21-qo1jv0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/tired-young-african-american-single-mother-1155792856">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>With more than half the country in lockdown and many of the social support systems we rely on having been put on hold, it’s no wonder people are feeling overwhelmed and exhausted. For some, such feelings may ultimately culminate in burnout. </p>
<p>Before the COVID-19 pandemic, burnout was, for the most part, considered a work-related issue. But in our <a href="https://journals.lww.com/jonmd/Fulltext/2020/06000/A_Qualitative_Reexamination_of_the_Key_Features_of.4.aspx?casa_token=FglgrQqgjlkAAAAA:0-ZmTZV5V5c1fnAKvtV_RfDEaIRyGYLNKYNwBFdvxoTKMNF2UbXt4op3shRsTmG71a0M14CNcnCB-ZQ6RUEDG8Y">research</a>, we have identified burnout in people outside of the workplace, including those who are dealing with other life stressors, such as caring for loved ones full-time. </p>
<p>Now, because of the pandemic, rates of burnout appear to be <a href="https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20200330-covid-19-how-to-learn-a-new-skill-in-coronavirus-quarantine">rising</a>, especially since working from home means workers are often required to “<a href="https://www.aihs.org.au/news-and-publications/news/how-covid-19-has-contributed-increased-risk-burnout">do more with less</a>” and be online and available 24/7, as well as home-school children.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/its-ok-if-you-have-a-little-cry-in-lockdown-youre-grieving-165329">It's OK if you have a little cry in lockdown. You're grieving</a>
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<p>We have been researching burnout to determine how to best identify and manage it. This research is outlined in a recently published book – <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58612823-burnout">Burnout: A guide to identifying burnout and pathways to recovery</a> – and summarised here. </p>
<h2>What is burnout?</h2>
<p>The most widely used burnout measure, the <a href="https://www.mindgarden.com/117-maslach-burnout-inventory-mbi">Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI)</a>, defines it by three criteria: </p>
<ul>
<li>exhaustion</li>
<li>loss of empathy towards service recipients or cynicism directed towards one’s job</li>
<li>reduced professional accomplishment. </li>
</ul>
<p>But the MBI has been widely <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02678370500297720">critiqued</a>. One concern is it overlooks key symptoms that are prominent in burnout and may be especially debilitating, such as cognitive dysfunction (which might include forgetting things or not being able to concentrate).</p>
<p>Another concern is it was derived solely from researching burnout in those who work directly with patients or clients, such as health-care workers and those in other caring professions. Nuances of burnout that occur in other contexts may have been overlooked. </p>
<h2>Our alternative – the Sydney Burnout Measure</h2>
<p>In <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0165178119320384?casa_token=DQrTPInX5B0AAAAA:qqG9nMHeDBtKK2uLs3A9A3oSRfQLAPz17G3r6CJRwY8SW8Tknvwa5Duh18duIMfcfEqRc0XI">our</a> <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0165178121003206?casa_token=Kp_mI1xZ8oUAAAAA:0P69aTEedKXdf2cAe_dAV6c6ULpHCBMgsIlBBIIEA6IT2jT6HefriPYzvzdFc-yfCCpJesCw">studies</a>, we asked more than 1,000 participants who said they’d experienced burnout to report their main symptoms. They worked across a range of contexts, from paid employment positions to more “informal” work positions such as caring for elderly parents and/or children. </p>
<p>We found the syndrome comprised of not just exhaustion, but also cognitive dysfunction, withdrawal and disconnection from the world and those around you, and reduced work performance (whether that be in paid work or in tasks you are responsible for at home), commonly accompanied by depression, anxiety and insomnia. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Person sits in a dark room on the couch with their head in their hands." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/416712/original/file-20210818-21-5pzw34.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/416712/original/file-20210818-21-5pzw34.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416712/original/file-20210818-21-5pzw34.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416712/original/file-20210818-21-5pzw34.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416712/original/file-20210818-21-5pzw34.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416712/original/file-20210818-21-5pzw34.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416712/original/file-20210818-21-5pzw34.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Burnout can include withdrawal or disconnection from the world and those around you.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/BH8-YFSNEIw">Annie Sprat/Unsplash</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We collated the burnout symptoms we identified into our own measure. <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58612823-burnout">The Sydney Burnout Measure</a>, or SBM, is a checklist of 34 burnout symptoms, with a high score on our measure indicative that you might have burnout. </p>
<p>But it’s also possible to get a high score because of some other underlying condition that shares several of burnout’s symptoms, such as depression. To assess for this possibility, approaching a GP or mental health professional may be necessary. </p>
<p>These professionals will use their clinical experience to assess whether the symptoms you have are likely the consequence of burnout, or whether they could be due to some other mental health condition. Such clarification is important as different psychological conditions often require disorder-specific treatment strategies. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/compassion-fatigue-the-cost-some-workers-pay-for-caring-30865">Compassion fatigue: the cost some workers pay for caring</a>
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<h2>Addressing the external stressor</h2>
<p>Once you know you have burnout, what can be done about it? </p>
<p>As a first step, the causes of your burnout need to be identified, so you can work to reduce their impact. </p>
<p>External causes of burnout can come from your workplace (such as being overloaded, being overlooked for a promotion, working overtime) or from the home (including caring for multiple children and/or elderly parents, being primarily responsible for domestic duties). </p>
<p>A combination of both factors could be at play, especially during our current state of lockdown, where many are juggling working-from-home demands, financial difficulties <em>and</em> home-schooling children. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A busy dad homeschools his two children, while working on his laptop." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/416735/original/file-20210818-15-i1qnjv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/416735/original/file-20210818-15-i1qnjv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416735/original/file-20210818-15-i1qnjv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416735/original/file-20210818-15-i1qnjv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416735/original/file-20210818-15-i1qnjv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416735/original/file-20210818-15-i1qnjv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416735/original/file-20210818-15-i1qnjv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Many people are currently juggling multiple demands as they work from home in the pandemic.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/work-home-man-works-on-laptop-1681318753">Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>Seeking resolution from your boss or manager may be useful in overcoming some work stressors. Can they extend your deadlines, or arrange flexible working hours around your child-rearing responsibilities? </p>
<p>For factors in the home, asking family members to assist in juggling tasks, or researching whether some tasks can be outsourced (for example, can you hire a cleaner or a babysitter once a week?) may be of use. </p>
<h2>Applying de-stressing strategies</h2>
<p>When escaping these stressors isn’t possible, you may have to bring on some de-stressing strategies to help curb your burnout symptoms. Things like exercise, meditation and practising mindfulness are consistently nominated by our study participants as most helpful. </p>
<p>Such practices not only help you to distract and relax, but also have proven biological benefits, such as <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17437199.2020.1760727">reducing levels of stress hormones</a> throughout the body. </p>
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Read more:
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<p>Consulting a mental health professional can also be useful here, as they will have several specific cognitive strategies to help reduce anxiety and stress. </p>
<h2>Addressing a predisposing factor: perfectionism</h2>
<p>While stressors experienced at work or at home may set the wheels of burnout in motion, our <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0165178119320384?casa_token=DQrTPInX5B0AAAAA:qqG9nMHeDBtKK2uLs3A9A3oSRfQLAPz17G3r6CJRwY8SW8Tknvwa5Duh18duIMfcfEqRc0XI">analyses</a> indicated burnout may also develop as a result of predisposing personality traits, especially perfectionism. </p>
<p>People with perfectionistic traits are usually excellent workers, as they’re extremely reliable and conscientious. However, they’re also prone to burnout as they set unrealistic and unrelenting standards for their own performance, which are ultimately impossible to live up to. </p>
<p>We therefore suggest managing burnout requires not only addressing precipitating work stressors and employing de-stressing strategies, but also tweaking any predisposing personality style. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Man sits on computer at home work station." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/416714/original/file-20210818-27-1p2m2ku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/416714/original/file-20210818-27-1p2m2ku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416714/original/file-20210818-27-1p2m2ku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416714/original/file-20210818-27-1p2m2ku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416714/original/file-20210818-27-1p2m2ku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416714/original/file-20210818-27-1p2m2ku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416714/original/file-20210818-27-1p2m2ku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Getting it done is more important than making it perfect.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/GUnNgIYzDVY">Nathana Rebouças/Unsplash</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Several <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/40172/too-perfect-by-jeannette-de-wyze-and-allan-e-mallinger-md/">strategies</a> can assist in modifying perfectionistic thoughts and behaviours. For example, learning to focus more on the “big picture” rather than the finer details can help prevent procrastination, which is a common consequence of perfectionism. </p>
<p>So, when starting a task, you want to approach it with the goal of getting it done (no matter how poor the quality) rather than ensuring it’s perfect from the get-go. You can go back and fix it later. </p>
<p>Learning to avoid black and white thinking (“If this goes wrong, I will definitely lose my job”) is another important strategy for addressing perfectionism. Consider instead the shades of grey (“If this goes wrong, I can try to approach it from another angle”). </p>
<p>A mental health professional may also be of assistance here, as they can offer therapeutic techniques, often taken from cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT), that help people notice and modify unhelpful thinking patterns that are common in perfectionism and make them prone to stress and anxiety.</p>
<p>Overall, the key to managing burnout is identifying whether the presenting problem actually <em>is</em> burnout and not another condition. If it’s burnout, the key drivers (including any personality contribution) need to be determined. Only then can management strategies targeting each causal factor be applied. </p>
<hr>
<p><em>Gabriela and Gordon’s book, <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58612823-burnout">Burnout: A guide to identifying burnout and pathways to recovery</a>, co-authored by Kerrie Eyers, is published by Allen & Unwin.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/164393/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gordon Parker receives funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council (grant number GNT1176689). </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gabriela Tavella does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Feeling exhausted, unable to concentrate and wanting to withdraw and disconnect from the world and those around you? You could be heading towards burnout.Gabriela Tavella, Research Officer, UNSW School of Psychiatry, UNSW SydneyGordon Parker, Scientia Professor, UNSW SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1534112021-02-08T10:30:18Z2021-02-08T10:30:18ZWork addiction can be harmful to mental health<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/381941/original/file-20210202-17-1xj1d3j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=74%2C24%2C8256%2C5462&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">'Workaholics' are driven to work excessively.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/profile-side-photo-depressed-stressed-afro-1702515196">Roman Samborskyi/ Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>As a culture, we’ve come to value <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.4276/030802214X14122630932430">growth and productivity</a>, making paid work not only a necessity, but a <a href="https://theconversation.com/culture-of-overwork-overshadows-better-more-balanced-lives-17605">central concern</a> in peoples’ lives. Yet this attitude towards work is harming us more than it’s helping, with research showing that workaholism (also known as work addiction) is a growing problem in the <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30982051/">industrialised world</a>. And according to the findings of a recent study, work addiction is linked with <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7593928/">poorer mental health</a>.</p>
<p>Work addiction is a <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/18/6536">clinical condition</a> characterised by an obsessive and compulsive interest in work. People usually work more than they’re required to, either by the workplace or because of financial need. Other characteristics include being concerned about their performance at work, rigid thinking and perfectionism, which is often <a href="https://www.karger.com/Article/Abstract/499672">projected onto others</a>. </p>
<p>People with work addiction are driven to work excessively, despite the <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0149206314522301?icid=int.sj-full-text.similar-articles.3">detrimental impacts</a> this has on their personal health and wellbeing, and relationships. People at risk of developing work addiction often have low self esteem, experience doubt about their performance at work, or have obsessive compulsive <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3835604/">personality traits</a>.</p>
<p>Numerous studies have shown the negative impact of work addiction on mental health. But a <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7593928/">recent study</a> on workers in France investigated why work addiction happens to better understand the impact it has on mental and physical health.</p>
<p>The researchers looked at a total of 187 workers from a range of different occupations and demographics, who were asked to answer four different questionnaires. They found that high work demands and people who worked in high pressure roles – for example managers with greater responsibilities – were the most significant factors contributing to the risk of work addiction. </p>
<p>Where this was accompanied by working longer hours than required and having an obsessive approach to work, there was an even greater risk of developing work addiction. Women were also shown to be more predisposed to developing work addiction than men. Although it’s not entirely clear why women were more likely to develop work addiction, <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0152978">other research</a> has had similar findings.</p>
<p>Workers with depression were twice as likely to develop work addiction compared to those without a mental health issue. Poor quality of sleep, high levels of stress and low levels of overall wellbeing were also identified as high risk factors. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Young man working on his laptop in the dark." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/381923/original/file-20210202-21-qejjcb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/381923/original/file-20210202-21-qejjcb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381923/original/file-20210202-21-qejjcb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381923/original/file-20210202-21-qejjcb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381923/original/file-20210202-21-qejjcb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381923/original/file-20210202-21-qejjcb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381923/original/file-20210202-21-qejjcb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">People in high pressure roles were more likely to develop woork addiction.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/caucasian-workaholic-young-man-working-late-1894629088">Garabel/ Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>Although this study’s sample size was small, previous research has also shown that work addiction is associated with depression, stress, sleep disorders and <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0149206314522301">lower mental health</a>. <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02678370902834021">Burnout </a> and <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3835604/">exhaustion</a> were also reported.</p>
<h2>Mental health</h2>
<p>Work addiction is more common in industrialised countries where <a href="https://www.karger.com/Article/Abstract/499672#ref39">work performance</a> is a measure of success. This suggests that <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.4276/030802214X14122630932430">neoliberal ideas</a> about work are influential in increasing the risk of work addiction. These ideas place pressure on intensifying workloads and performance at work in order to promote economic growth. They also focus on increasing a person’s responsibilities at work. </p>
<p>Given the harms of work addiction, radical changes in both workplaces and society will be necessary. As <a href="https://uk.jkp.com/products/challenging-stress-burnout-and-rustout">I have argued</a> before, this would require society to stop viewing work as a pivotal tool of performance and growth, and instead place greater value and importance on the health and wellbeing of the worker, both individually and collectively.</p>
<p>Support and change can actually happen in the workplace itself, which is why it’s important for employers to recognise and address work demands in a positive way. For example, one study has found that increasing job security and <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10615806.2015.1070833">opportunities for development</a> lowered the risk of work addiction.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/18/6536">Other studies</a> have suggested that work-life balance interventions could reduce the risk or work addiction. For example, if workplaces actively reduce working hours in order to give employees a chance to spend more time with their family, it can actually result in better work performance. And, fewer working hours may also reduce family conflict for workers, as employees are able to engage in family time more meaningfully.</p>
<p>Promoting work-life balance has also been shown to increase both <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1744987118809506">physical and psychological health</a>, and personal resilience for workers. Balancing time and energy used on work and personal life helps people feel better – subsequently both improving mental and physical health.</p>
<p>All this suggests that workplaces should develop work-life balance initiatives, provide opportunities for career development and increase job security to prevent work addiction from happening. These changes may also lower stress and absenteeism while improving performance. </p>
<p>But not all workplaces have these kind of strategies in place – and they can be hard to implement because of our culture’s focus on performance and economic growth. If you’re concerned you have or are developing work addiction, address the problem now if possible. </p>
<p>Seek support at work by talking to managers and peers if you can, ask for performance feedback, or even see if there is a way you can work to reduce some of your working hours. Speaking to mental health and wellbeing services can also help. If you don’t have support in your workplace, try talking with friends and family, and ask for their help in refocusing your time – such as having them remind you to take breaks from work.</p>
<p>Of course, better work-life balance will help, but this can be a very hard thing to do as it requires adjusting daily patterns and changing how you think and feel. But if you’re able to balance work with other activities – such as seeing family and friends, exercising, or enjoying hobbies – your <a href="https://uk.jkp.com/products/challenging-stress-burnout-and-rustout">mental health and wellbeing</a> will improve.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/153411/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Teena J Clouston does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>‘Workaholics’ are driven to work excessively, even despite the negative impact this has on health.Teena J Clouston, Professor in Occupational Therapy, Life Balance and Wellbeing, Cardiff UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1226332019-09-02T19:52:45Z2019-09-02T19:52:45ZMost of us who work long hours like the jobs we are in. Those who don’t, change jobs quickly<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/290481/original/file-20190902-175710-2zvbdd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=700%2C200%2C1884%2C1001&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Few Australians keep working long hours for long, unless they really, really like their jobs.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>We are forever being told that we work long hours, many of them not formally paid. And we do. Nearly a quarter of working Australians say they work more than 50 hours per week. Around half of them say they would like to work less.</p>
<p>We are told long hours are bad for mental health, bad for families, and bad for the environment. But if they are really so bad, why do we work them? </p>
<p>One explanation is that we have no choice – many of us are trapped in jobs that require excessive hours from which we can’t escape.</p>
<h2>Trapped?</h2>
<p>But in Australia, these claims have been rarely tested.</p>
<p>We’ve done so in a <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/ssqu.12648">new paper</a> which makes use of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/theres-a-reason-youre-feeling-no-better-off-than-10-years-ago-heres-what-hilda-says-about-well-being-121098">HILDA</a> Household Labour and Income Dynamics in Australia survey, and found them wanting.</p>
<p>Overall job satisfaction among overworkers is quite high, at an average of 7.1 out of 10. This is less than the level of satisfaction of workers in similar or identical jobs, who are working as many hours as they would like. Their overall satisfaction averages 7.9 out of 10. But nonetheless, overworkers like their jobs.</p>
<p>HILDA includes useful questions about the components of job satisfaction, including satisfaction with hours, pay, flexibility, security, and work itself. </p>
<p>Overworkers have relatively low satisfaction with hours and flexibility, at 5.1 and 6.1, respectively, compared with 7.9 and 7.8 for matched workers.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/go-home-on-time-working-long-hours-increases-your-chance-of-having-a-stroke-119388">Go home on time! Working long hours increases your chance of having a stroke</a>
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<p>But overworkers are compensated for these unwelcome hours with higher pay, better job security, and more interesting work. Their levels of satisfaction on these metrics are on par with those of matched workers or even exceed them in the case of satisfaction with the work itself.</p>
<p>The findings align with our findings about who is most likely to overwork. Managers are 10% more likely to work long hours than average workers, and professionals 5% more likely.</p>
<h2>It gets better</h2>
<p>HILDA follows the same people year after year, allowing us to track changes in work patterns over time. We use this remarkable feature to track dissatisfied overworkers (those reporting less than 5 on the satisfaction scale) to see whether they are are indeed “trapped” in unhappy jobs.</p>
<p>Every year, 28% of dissatisfied overworkers change jobs. On average their situation improves. Their wages are typically A$6 per hour higher and they work 11 hours per week fewer than dissatisfied overworkers who stay.</p>
<p>Those overworkers who don’t change jobs also typically see improvements.</p>
<h2>Hours shrink over time</h2>
<p>Over time, usually within two years, their hours fall back to the point at which they are no longer dissatisfied. We cannot see why in the data, but we can speculate that they are able to negotiate with their employers for fewer work hours or better pay or conditions.</p>
<p>What about those overworkers who remain dissatisfied after two years, don’t enjoy improvements in their conditions, and don’t change jobs – the ones who are trapped.</p>
<p>They are extremely rare. </p>
<p>Across the 15 years of HILDA data we examined, we found 13,069 cases of overwork and 1,929 cases of dissatisfied overwork. Only 139 did not change jobs within 24 months.</p>
<p>The number of cases is so small that we have to be be cautious when speculating about why they seem to be trapped. </p>
<p>We have identified two associations that deserve further investigation. </p>
<h2>Very few have nowhere to go</h2>
<p>First, 14% were hospitality, retail, or service managers; 10% were farm managers or agricultural workers; 8% were road and rail drivers. Each of these industries is characterised by rigid and often long work hours.</p>
<p>Second, very few of the trapped overworkers were educated to a university level. That makes them reliant on experience to command high wages. It means that changing jobs or industries to get fewer hours can cost them a lot in wages because they lose their job-specific and industry-specific experience. </p>
<p>Overall, becoming trapped in overwork is uncommon in Australia, meaning in this respect Australia’s labour market works well. </p>
<p>Incidentally, this is even more true for underwork. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/are-you-burnt-out-at-work-ask-yourself-these-4-questions-118128">Are you burnt out at work? Ask yourself these 4 questions</a>
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<p>Workers who say they want to increase their working hours can usually do it within 12 months. </p>
<p>Part-time work is important for parents and others trying to juggle caring responsibilities and employment. It will also become increasingly important for older Australians who might want to stay employed but work fewer hours as they near retirement. It is wrong to see part-time work as a problem. </p>
<p>Indeed, a fixation on restoring the 38- or 40-hour week might be linked to traditional, patriarchal views of men working full-time and women staying at home. It would impede new and creative ways of sharing caring and employment.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/its-time-to-put-the-15-hour-work-week-back-on-the-agenda-106754">It's time to put the 15-hour work week back on the agenda</a>
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<p>Intervening in labour markets to support the traditional working week would have large (negative) economic effects. People typically resolve concerns about working hours by themselves, usually to their satisfaction.</p>
<p>If we remain concerned about overwork – notwithstanding that most of those doing it don’t see it as a problem for long – it would be wisest to tackle it by tackling our culture (things such as the protestant work-ethic) rather than by doing anything to impede the workings of labour market.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/122633/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>We’ve tested the claim that overworkers have no choice, and found it wanting.Mark Fabian, Lecturer, Australian National UniversityRobert Breunig, Professor of Economics and Director, Tax and Transfer Policy Institute, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1193882019-06-27T20:44:38Z2019-06-27T20:44:38ZGo home on time! Working long hours increases your chance of having a stroke<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281518/original/file-20190627-76726-mkvqc8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Is it time to cut back on overtime?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/g9KFpAfQ5bc">Annie Spratt</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Australia is in the <a href="https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/australias-welfare/australias-welfare-2017/contents/table-of-contents">bottom third</a> of OECD countries when it comes to working long hours, with <a href="https://www.aihw.gov.au/getmedia/ac1e8df0-4f19-4c59-9df8-3211c395bd3f/aihw-australias-welfare-2017-chapter4-1.pdf.aspx">13% of us</a> clocking up 50 hours or more a week in paid work. </p>
<p>These long hours are bad for our health. A new <a href="https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/STROKEAHA.119.025454">study</a> from France has found that regularly working long days of ten hours or more increases our risk of having a stroke. </p>
<p>Other <a href="https://academic.oup.com/occmed/article/67/5/377/3859790">research</a> has found that employees who work long work hours are likely to have poorer mental health and lower-quality sleep. </p>
<p>Long working hours have also been <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10618741">shown</a> to increase likelihood of smoking, excessive drinking, and weight gain.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/long-hours-at-the-office-could-be-killing-you-the-case-for-a-shorter-working-week-116369">Long hours at the office could be killing you – the case for a shorter working week</a>
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<h2>Long hours are bad for our health</h2>
<p>The effects of regular long work hours on our health are wide-ranging. </p>
<p>The new French <a href="https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/STROKEAHA.119.025454">study</a> of more than 143 ,000 participants found those who worked ten or more hours a day for at least 50 days per year had a 29% greater risk of stroke. </p>
<p>The association showed no difference between men and women, but was stronger in white-collar workers under 50 years of age. </p>
<p>Another meta-analysis of more than 600,000 people, <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(15)60295-1/fulltext">published in the British medical journal The Lancet</a>, found similar effects. Employees working long hours (40-55 hours per week) have a higher risk of stroke compared with those working standard working hours (35-40 hours per week). </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281521/original/file-20190627-76730-v4l7y6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281521/original/file-20190627-76730-v4l7y6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281521/original/file-20190627-76730-v4l7y6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281521/original/file-20190627-76730-v4l7y6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281521/original/file-20190627-76730-v4l7y6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281521/original/file-20190627-76730-v4l7y6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281521/original/file-20190627-76730-v4l7y6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The association between long working hours and stroke was stronger among white-collar workers.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/UIpFY1Umamw">Bonneval Sebastien</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Irregular work hours, or shift work, has also been <a href="https://oem.bmj.com/content/58/1/68">associated</a> with a range of negative health and well-being outcomes, including the disruption of our circadian rhythm, sleep, accident rates, mental health, and the risk of having a heart attack. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/power-naps-and-meals-dont-always-help-shift-workers-make-it-through-the-night-74745">Power naps and meals don't always help shift workers make it through the night</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>And it’s not just the physical effects. Regularly working long hours <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11482-017-9509-8">results</a> in poor work-life balance, leading to lower job satisfaction and performance, as well as lower satisfaction with life and relationships.</p>
<h2>Why are we working more?</h2>
<p>Although many countries have imposed statutory limits on the work week, worldwide <a href="https://academic.oup.com/occmed/article/67/5/377/3859790">around 22% of workers</a> are working more than 48 hours a week. In Japan, long work hours are such a significant issue that <em>karoshi</em> – translated as “death by overwork” – is a legally recognised cause of death. </p>
<p>Concerns around automation, slow wage growth, and increasing underemployment are <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953619303284">some of the reasons</a> Australians are working longer. A <a href="https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/theausinstitute/pages/2893/attachments/original/1542666753/GHOTD_2018_An_Update_Final_Formatted.pdf?1542666753">2018 study</a> showed Australians worked around 3.2 billion hours in unpaid overtime.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/are-you-burnt-out-at-work-ask-yourself-these-4-questions-118128">Are you burnt out at work? Ask yourself these 4 questions</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>And work doesn’t end for many people when they leave the office. If they aren’t doing extra work at home, taking calls, or attending after-hours meetings online, working second jobs is increasingly becoming the norm. Many Australians now work <a href="https://engage.vic.gov.au/inquiry-on-demand-workforce">additional jobs</a> through the gig economy. </p>
<h2>The influence of job control</h2>
<p>Autonomy and “decision latitude” at work – that is, the level of control over how and when you perform your duties – is a contributing factor to the increased risk of health problems. </p>
<p>Low levels of decision latitude, as well as shift work, <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02678378708258525">are associated</a> with a greater risk of heart attacks and strokes. Individual control plays a significant role in human behaviour; the extent to which we believe we can control our environment considerably <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/001872678603901104">impacts</a> our perceptions of and reactions to that environment.</p>
<p>Early psychology <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1974-04306-001">research</a>, for example, showed that reactions to the administration of an electric shock were very much influenced by the perception of control the person had over the stimulus (even if they did not actually have control).</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281522/original/file-20190627-76713-k70grg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281522/original/file-20190627-76713-k70grg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=373&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281522/original/file-20190627-76713-k70grg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=373&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281522/original/file-20190627-76713-k70grg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=373&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281522/original/file-20190627-76713-k70grg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=469&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281522/original/file-20190627-76713-k70grg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=469&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281522/original/file-20190627-76713-k70grg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=469&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Workers who have little autonomy or control are more likely to experience health problems than those who have a high level of control.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/zFSo6bnZJTw">NeONBRAND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/teachers-are-more-depressed-and-anxious-than-the-average-australian-117267">Teachers are more depressed and anxious than the average Australian</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>These findings were echoed in data from the <a href="https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/australias-welfare/australias-welfare-2017/contents/table-of-contents">Australian Institute of Health and Welfare</a>. It found that a lack of alignment between an individual’s preferences and their actual working hours resulted in lower reported levels of satisfaction and mental health. The results applied both to workers who worked long hours and to those who wanted more hours. </p>
<h2>What can employers do?</h2>
<p>Effective communication with employees is important. Employees may be <a href="https://www.inc.com/betsy-mikel/microsoft-studied-what-made-their-employees-miserable-they-now-coach-managers-to-do-1-thing-differently.html">unable to complete</a> their work in standard hours, for example, as a result of having to spend excessive amounts of time in meetings.</p>
<p>Employers can take steps to implement policies to ensure that long work isn’t occurring regularly. The Australia Institute holds an <a href="https://www.gohomeontimeday.org.au/">annual</a> Go Home on Time Day to encourage employees to achieve work-life balance. While this initiative raises awareness of work hours, going home on time should be the norm rather than the exception. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/business-owners-control-of-their-work-life-balance-is-the-fine-line-between-hard-work-and-hell-100762">Business owners' control of their work-life balance is the fine line between hard work and hell</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Increasing employees’ input into their work schedule and hours can have <a href="https://oem.bmj.com/content/58/1/68">positive effects</a> on performance and well-being. </p>
<p>The design of the workplace to promote well-being is an important factor. Research on shift work has <a href="https://oem.bmj.com/content/58/1/68">shown</a> that enhancing the workplace by providing food, child care, health care, accessible transport, and recreational facilities can reduce the effects of shift work.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281519/original/file-20190627-76722-1d76ntd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281519/original/file-20190627-76722-1d76ntd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281519/original/file-20190627-76722-1d76ntd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281519/original/file-20190627-76722-1d76ntd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281519/original/file-20190627-76722-1d76ntd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281519/original/file-20190627-76722-1d76ntd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281519/original/file-20190627-76722-1d76ntd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">By improving conditions and benefits, employers can help ameliorate the negative health impact of shift work.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/n-HtQS7IgU4">Asael Peña</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Finally, implementing flexible work practices, where employees have some control over their schedule, to encourage work-life balance has been <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/ntwe.12052">shown</a> to have positive effects on well-being.</p>
<p>Such initiatives require ongoing support. Japan instituted Premium Friday, encouraging employees to go home at 3pm once a month. Initial <a href="https://prtimes.jp/main/html/rd/p/000000249.000001551.html">results</a>, however, showed that only 3.7% of employees took up the initiative. The low take-up can be <a href="https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2017/12/12/national/japanese-workers-feel-guilty-taking-time-off-use-fewer-holidays-international-peers-survey/#.XRRSKJMzbUI">attributed</a> to a cultural norm of lengthy work days, and a collectivist mindset where employees worry about inconveniencing peers when they take time off.</p>
<p>Given the rise in concerns about future work, and workplace cultures where long hours are the norm, change may be slow in coming about, despite the negative health effects of long work hours.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/119388/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Libby (Elizabeth) Sander does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A new French study shows people who regularly work ten-hour days have a 29% greater risk of having a stroke than their peers. Long hours also affect your relationships, sleep and mental health.Libby (Elizabeth) Sander, Assistant Professor of Organisational Behaviour, Bond Business School, Bond UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1181282019-06-04T02:58:25Z2019-06-04T02:58:25ZAre you burnt out at work? Ask yourself these 4 questions<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/277564/original/file-20190603-69055-1615ib1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">In today's digital age, we're losing the ability to switch off from our work.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">From shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>It’s normal to feel stressed at work from time to time. But for some people, the stress becomes all-consuming, leading to exhaustion, cynicism and hatred towards your job. This is known as burnout. </p>
<p>Burnout used to be classified as a <a href="https://icd.who.int/browse10/2010/en#/Z73.0">problem related to life management</a>, but last week the World Health Organisation <a href="https://www.who.int/mental_health/evidence/burn-out/en/">re-labelled the syndrome</a> as an “occupational phenomenon” to better reflect that burnout is a work-based syndrome caused by chronic stress. </p>
<p>The newly listed dimensions of burnout are: </p>
<ul>
<li>feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion</li>
<li>increased mental distance from one’s job, or feelings of negativism or cynicism related to one’s job</li>
<li>reduced professional efficacy (work performance).<br></li>
</ul>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/extinguished-and-anguished-what-is-burnout-and-what-can-we-do-about-it-90452">Extinguished and anguished: what is burnout and what can we do about it?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>In the era of smartphones and 24-7 emails, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to switch off from the workplace and from those who have power over us. </p>
<p>The new definition of burnout should be a wake-up call for employers to treat chronic stress that has not been successfully managed as a work health and safety issue. </p>
<h2>How do you know if you’re burnt out?</h2>
<p>If you think you might be suffering burnout, ask yourself the following questions:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>has anyone close to you asked you to cut down on your work?</p></li>
<li><p>in recent months have you become angry or resentful about your work or about colleagues, clients or patients?</p></li>
<li><p>do you feel guilty that you are not spending enough time with your friends, family or even yourself?</p></li>
<li><p>do you find yourself becoming increasingly emotional, for example crying, getting angry, shouting, or feeling tense for no obvious reason?</p></li>
</ol>
<p>If you answered yes to any of these questions, it might be time for change. </p>
<p>These questions were devised for the <a href="https://academic.oup.com/bjaed/article/17/10/334/3865410">United Kingdom Practitioner Health Programme</a> and are a good starting point for all workers to identify if you are at risk of burning out.</p>
<p>(You can also complete the British Medical Association’s <a href="https://web2.bma.org.uk/drs4drsburn.nsf/quest?OpenForm">online burnout questionnaire</a>, although it’s tailored for doctors so the drop-down menu will ask you to select a medical specialty). </p>
<p>If you think you’re suffering burnout, the first step is to talk to your line manager or workplace counsellor. Many workplaces now also have confidential external psychologists as part of their <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26652267">employee assistance programme</a>. </p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/277813/original/file-20190604-69063-1v2sy53.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/277813/original/file-20190604-69063-1v2sy53.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=1002&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277813/original/file-20190604-69063-1v2sy53.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=1002&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277813/original/file-20190604-69063-1v2sy53.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=1002&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277813/original/file-20190604-69063-1v2sy53.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1259&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277813/original/file-20190604-69063-1v2sy53.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1259&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277813/original/file-20190604-69063-1v2sy53.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1259&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wes Mountain/The Conversation</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<h2>What causes burnout?</h2>
<p>We all have different levels of capacity to cope with emotional and physical strains. </p>
<p>When we <a href="https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/indhealth/46/4/46_4_326/_article/-char/en">exceed our ability to cope</a>, something has to give; the body becomes stressed if you push yourself either mentally or physically beyond your capacity. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/three-reasons-to-get-your-stress-levels-in-check-this-year-86764">Three reasons to get your stress levels in check this year</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>People who burn out <a href="https://academic.oup.com/bjaed/article/17/10/334/3865410">often feel</a> a sense of emotional exhaustion or indifference, and may treat colleagues, clients or patients in a detached or dehumanised way. They become distant from their job and lose the zeal for their chosen career. </p>
<p>They might become cynical, less effective at work, and lack the desire for personal achievement. In the long term, this is not helpful for the person or the organisation. </p>
<p>While burnout isn’t a mental health disorder, it can lead to more <a href="https://academic.oup.com/bjaed/article/17/10/334/3865410">serious issues</a> such as family breakdowns, chronic fatigue syndrome, anxiety, depression, insomnia, and <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27167661">alcohol and drug abuse</a>. </p>
<h2>Who is most at risk?</h2>
<p>Any worker who deals with people has the potential to suffer from burnout. This might include teachers, care workers, prison officers or retail staff. </p>
<p>Emergency service workers – such as police, paramedics, nurses and doctors – <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5635559/">are at even higher risk</a> because they continually work in high-stress conditions. </p>
<p>A <a href="https://www.medscape.com/slideshow/2019-lifestyle-burnout-depression-6011056?faf=1#1">recent survey</a> of 15,000 US doctors found 44% were experiencing symptoms of burnout. As one neurologist explained:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I dread coming to work. I find myself being short when dealing with staff and patients. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>French research on <a href="https://www.hindawi.com/journals/bmri/2019/6462472/">hospital emergency department staff</a> found one in three (34%) were burnt out because of excessive workloads and high demands for care. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/277782/original/file-20190604-69071-94h8ie.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/277782/original/file-20190604-69071-94h8ie.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277782/original/file-20190604-69071-94h8ie.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277782/original/file-20190604-69071-94h8ie.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277782/original/file-20190604-69071-94h8ie.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277782/original/file-20190604-69071-94h8ie.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277782/original/file-20190604-69071-94h8ie.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">When you’re close to burnout, there’s a fine line between coping and not coping.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/download/confirm/1365174449?src=t0m1a7uPEWo5WHOztY6HyA-3-87&size=huge_jpg">gpointstudio/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Lawyers are another profession vulnerable to burnout. In a <a href="https://www.australasianlawyer.com.au/news/lawyers-fear-professional-burnout-says-survey-203506.aspx">survey</a> of 1,000 employees of a renowned London law firm, 73% of lawyers expressed feelings of burnout and 58% put this down to the need for a better work-life balance. </p>
<p>No matter what job you do, if you are pushed beyond your ability to <a href="https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/indhealth/46/4/46_4_326/_article/-char/en">cope</a> for long periods of time, you’re likely to suffer burnout. </p>
<h2>It’s OK to say no to more work</h2>
<p>Employers have an organisational obligation to promote staff well-being and ensure staff aren’t overworked, overstressed, and headed towards burnout.</p>
<p>There are things we can all do to reduce our own risk of burnout. One is to boost our levels of resilience. This means we’re <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23442430">able to respond to stress</a> in a healthy way and can bounce back after challenges and grow stronger in the process. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/corporate-resilience-training-works-but-what-are-we-being-asked-to-bear-54827">Corporate resilience training works – but what are we being asked to bear?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>You can build your resilience by learning to switch off, setting boundaries for your work, and thinking more about play. As much as you can, inoculate yourself against job interference and prevent it from ebbing into your personal life. </p>
<p>No matter what your profession, don’t let your job become the only way you define yourself as a person. </p>
<p>And if your job is making you miserable, consider moving jobs or at least have a look at what else is out there. You may surprise yourself. </p>
<p><em>If you or anyone you know needs help or support, you can call <a href="http://www.lifeline.org.au/">Lifeline</a> on 13 11 14.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/118128/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael Musker does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Has anyone close to you asked you to cut down on your work? Do you feel guilty that you’re not spending enough time with your friends, family or even yourself? It might be time for change.Michael Musker, Senior Research Fellow, South Australian Health & Medical Research InstituteLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1002182018-07-25T10:46:13Z2018-07-25T10:46:13ZTruck drivers are overtired, overworked and underpaid<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/228836/original/file-20180723-189310-y111iu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">More than half of all U.S. truck drivers exceed the federal limit of 60 hours per week.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">5m3photos/shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Research shows that economic pressure pushes drivers to work extremely long hours, contributing significantly to truck crashes. </p>
<p>A 2010 survey by the U.S. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health showed that, on average, long-haul truck drivers work <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26397196">50 percent more hours than typical workers</a> and regularly violate U.S. regulations limiting commercial driver work hours for safety reasons.</p>
<p>Long working hours and intense economic pressure are important to everyday motorists, because the truck driver’s workplace is everyone’s roadway. Trucking casualties claim not only the lives of truck drivers, but a significant number of other roadway users – pedestrians, bicyclists, and automobile drivers and passengers. In 2015, 3,836 people <a href="https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/sites/fmcsa.dot.gov/files/docs/safety/data-and-statistics/81121/2017-pocket-guide-large-truck-and-bus-statistics-final-508c-0001.pdf">lost their lives in heavy vehicle crashes in the U.S.</a> </p>
<p><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=yj8WP5gAAAAJ&hl=en">My team’s research</a>, as well as <a href="https://eprints.mdx.ac.uk/7206/">numerous other studies</a>, shows a strong link between pay and safety. We calculated that, at 60 cents per mile, truck drivers will trade labor for leisure, working fewer hours and thereby reducing crashes and improving highway safety.</p>
<p><iframe id="0kat1" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/0kat1/4/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<h2>Dangerous driving</h2>
<p><a href="http://doi.org/10.1177/1035304617728440">In one study</a>, we looked at the University of Michigan Trucking Industry Program truck stop-based driver survey of 573 mostly long-haul truckers. </p>
<p>Most truck drivers do not get paid for loading, unloading and other delay time, so they regularly record that work time as “off duty,” conserving their available work hours and allowing them to extend their work week. Because this work time goes unpaid, cargo owners feel free to waste this time, costing American truck drivers <a href="https://www.oig.dot.gov/sites/default/files/FMCSA%20Driver%20Detention%20Final%20Report.pdf">more than US$1 billion per year</a>. The Office of the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Transportation finds that each 15 minutes of excessive delay time increases the average expected crash rate by 6.2 percent.</p>
<p>Truckers log this unpaid labor as off-duty so that they can drive more hours during the week. Indeed, the long-haul truck driver survey shows that more than half of all U.S. truck drivers exceed the weekly limit of 60 hours per week. One in 5 of these drivers work more than 75 hours per week.</p>
<p>In addition to long hours and low pay, truck drivers face dangerous workplace pressure. <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1035304618781654">My study</a> looked at the <a href="https://ai.fmcsa.dot.gov/LTCCS/">U.S. Large Truck Crash Causation Study</a> of more than 1,000 truck-involved crashes. This study shows the last action that a driver took – such as failing to brake for stopped traffic – before the crash. The data suggests that fatigue and driver aggressiveness – in addition to the already substantial economic pressure – make it significantly more likely that the truck driver is responsible for the crash. </p>
<p>There are no good public data on mileage rates. However, according to <a href="https://www.overdriveonline.com/pay-trends-part-2-various-segments-rewarding-performance/">one private survey</a>, the average dry van truck driver with three years experience made 35 cents per mile in 2010. Wages have gone up since then and may be about 40 cents now, but this is in an unusually tight labor market. No matter how you cut it, wages are far lower than the predicted “safe rate” or safety wage.</p>
<h2>Political battles</h2>
<p>In Australia, the Transport Workers Union <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/news/australia-s-deadliest-industry-truck-drivers-rally-for-better-conditions">has called on the government</a> to increase truck driver safety by increasing rates. This month, they asked the federal government to reintroduce a road safety watchdog that would mandate minimum wages and working conditions for interstate truck drivers.</p>
<p>Australia actually once had a road safety watchdog, the Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal, but that was scrapped in 2016. The government decided to kill it based on <a href="https://docs.jobs.gov.au/system/files/doc/other/2016_review_of_the_rsrs.pdf">a private consulting report</a> that claimed that the link between pay rates and safety was bogus. </p>
<p>However, the report actually showed a 50 percent <a href="https://bitre.gov.au/publications/ongoing/road-trauma-involving-heavy-vehicles.aspx">decline in fatal heavy truck crashes</a> after the tribunal was established in 2012, <a href="https://cdn.theconversation.com/static_files/files/212/Belzer-2016-Evaluating_the_PwC__Review_of_the.pdf?1532457839">failing to quantify the benefit</a> of the approximately 25 percent decline in the number of deaths.</p>
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<p>Safe rates are not just an Australian or American problem. In 2015, trucking employers, labor organizations and 25 governments signed <a href="http://www.ilo.org/sector/activities/sectoral-meetings/WCMS_337096/lang--en/index.htm">a tripartite global consensus agreement</a> at the International Labour Office in Geneva, Switzerland. All parties agreed that low rates paid to truck and bus companies and their drivers contributes to unnecessarily dangers on the world’s highways, <a href="http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_dialogue/---sector/documents/meetingdocument/wcms_458146.pdf">pledging to conduct further research on the problem</a>.</p>
<p>In my view, a “safe rates” program – raising pay rates by about 50 percent and paying drivers for all working time – would go a long way toward reducing this risk and the cost borne by victims of crashes.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/100218/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael Belzer received funding for this research, in part, from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and the US Department of Transportation Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.</span></em></p>Low pay pushes drivers to work extremely long hours, causing more crashes and more traffic deaths.Michael Belzer, Associate Professor, Economics, Wayne State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/835702017-10-01T18:39:52Z2017-10-01T18:39:52ZWhat happened to our promised leisure time? And will we find it in the smart city?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/187506/original/file-20170926-22303-1lre8oc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The floor scrubber of the year 2000, as seen from the 19th century, complete with attendant human.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:France_in_XXI_Century._Electric_scrubbing.jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Whether it’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/science-fiction-helps-us-deal-with-science-fact-a-lesson-from-terminators-killer-robots-50249">the use of Terminator imagery</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/science-fiction-and-dystopia-whats-the-connection-8586">visions of dystopia</a>, or <a href="https://theconversation.com/personal-genomics-where-science-fiction-meets-reality-8840">discussions of genomics</a>, it’s common practice to use the metaphors and framing of speculative fiction to guide discussion into new and innovative areas. </p>
<p>A common theme is a world where humans do less work and machines do more. Why have we not yet reached that point?</p>
<p>I recently gave a talk on the implications of blockchain technologies for international trade. This technology can automate work that was manual and error-prone, bringing benefits with less human labour. </p>
<p>A colleague from another university reminded me afterwards that the promise of less work in the future was a mainstay of science fiction. Given my interests in smart city technologies, he asked, why did I think that we would finally see a real reduction in human work, as had been promised for so many years?</p>
<hr>
<p><em><strong>Further reading:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/creative-city-smart-city-whose-city-is-it-78258">Creative city, smart city … whose city is it?</a></em></p>
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<h2>Trend towards shorter weeks reversed</h2>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/187511/original/file-20170926-10935-pfc5es.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/187511/original/file-20170926-10935-pfc5es.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/187511/original/file-20170926-10935-pfc5es.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=380&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/187511/original/file-20170926-10935-pfc5es.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=380&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/187511/original/file-20170926-10935-pfc5es.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=380&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/187511/original/file-20170926-10935-pfc5es.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=477&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/187511/original/file-20170926-10935-pfc5es.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=477&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/187511/original/file-20170926-10935-pfc5es.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=477&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">More visions of the year 2000 from <em>En L’An 2000</em>, a series of cards from the turn of the last century.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://publicdomainreview.org/collections/france-in-the-year-2000-1899-1910/">publicdomainreview.org</a></span>
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<p>To answer this question, we need to return to the mid-late 19th century, when the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/timelines/zp7dwmn">explosion of science-fiction writing began</a>. Here are some <a href="https://publicdomainreview.org/collections/france-in-the-year-2000-1899-1910/">Parisian illustrations of the year 2000</a>. In these pictures, manual effort is reduced to button-pushing and supervision. Machines do the work and, hence, humans do less.</p>
<p>But what became of all this saved time? What happened to the leisure-oriented future? </p>
<p>A small amount of history is in order, as the 40-hour working week is a relatively new development. At the start of the 19th century, 100-hour weeks were <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com.au/history-of-the-40-hour-workweek-2015-10">not uncommon</a>, and Australia has a <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/hindsight/the-rise-and-fall-of-the-8-hour-day-part-one--888/2987598">long history of labour movements</a> to develop a liveable working week. </p>
<p>The adoption of the 40-hour working week is often interpreted as a boon for workers but, <a href="http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/ford-factory-workers-get-40-hour-week">as Henry Ford admitted</a>, it is as much a benefit for employers. Ford observed that fatigued workers made more mistakes. Asking his workers to put in more than 40 hours a week usually cost him more money than he made. </p>
<p>John Maynard Keynes, <a href="https://assets.aspeninstitute.org/content/uploads/files/content/upload/Intro_and_Section_I.pdf">writing in 1930</a>, thought we’d be working 30 hours a week by 2030. Our problem would be <em>too much</em> free time.</p>
<p>We were on track to reducing working hours until 1980, when we went the other way. Working harder, for longer, somehow became desirable. And demandable.</p>
<p>Rutger Bregman has explored this at length in his book, <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/au/utopia-for-realists-9781408893210/">Utopia for Realists</a>. He champions a 15-hour work week to remove “bullshit jobs” and to give humans time to do useful and rewarding things. But this is at odds with how we often think about work. Work, and the amount of work we do, frequently defines our value.</p>
<p>Overwork is often interpreted as commitment, rather than inefficiency. The visions of reduced working weeks were, whether the authors knew it or not, visions of a more effective workforce. But to admit to doing less work is often interpreted as a proxy for caring less. </p>
<p>Given subsistence and thriving are generally related to the job we do, work is not just important in terms of perception, it is vital to survival.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/no-its-not-you-why-wellness-isnt-the-answer-to-overwork-42124">No, it's not you: why 'wellness' isn't the answer to overwork</a>
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<h2>So what’s different now?</h2>
<p>Returning to my colleague’s question, have we actually reached a point where we could work less and get the same amount of work done? If so, why now?</p>
<p>In the developed world, home appliances have greatly reduced the need for physical labour. Fewer people need to be involved in tasks that once left them little time to do much else. </p>
<p>For example, the word processor and email have, to a great extent, replaced the dedicated secretarial staff that briefly flourished with the rise of the typewriter. At one time all copies were made with manual scribes, carefully duplicating what they read. Then we had carbon paper. Then photocopiers. Then printers. Then the requirement for physical copy reduced. </p>
<p>An entire stream of labour appeared and disappeared as technology advanced. We freed ourselves of one kind of work; we just replaced it with another.</p>
<p>The rise of robotics has heralded a new model for labour: one where humans can be removed from the entirety of a task, beyond supervision or programming. But we know that we may not always want to do this. In India, Nitin Gadkari, the minister for road transport, highways and shipping, <a href="https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/07/indias-transport-minister-vows-to-ban-self-driving-cars-to-save-jobs/">said</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We won’t allow driverless cars in India. … I am very clear on this. We won’t allow any technology that takes away jobs.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>India has 400 million workers, 12.5 million of them identified in <a href="http://censusindia.gov.in/Census_And_You/economic_activity.aspx">transport, storage and communication</a> industries. Putting millions of people out of work is at odds with India’s plans to increase the numbers in the workforce.</p>
<p>So we have two reasons emerging for why we haven’t seen the promised labour reductions. The first is our perceptions of working hours as proxy value of an employee. The second is that few governments want to cause widespread unemployment as this is then linked to social and economic issues. </p>
<p>But this is at odds with what we know about work: too much of it is bad for us and the job itself.</p>
<h2>Working out the post-work economy</h2>
<p>Until now, these answers have been enough because we didn’t really have machines that could replace us. But that has changed in many areas. Planes can land themselves. Cars can drive themselves. Computer-controlled trains run in many subways and airports of the world. </p>
<p>In terms of transport, then, humans are rapidly becoming superfluous, except as passengers. And transport is only one example. We can now say “let someone else do it” and have that someone not be human.</p>
<p>We finally have the means to sensibly replace human labour, without forcing that work on to someone else. But this does not mean we can simply do that. We need to work out how to support people in a post-work economy.</p>
<p>We need to accurately identify which jobs machines can’t do. We need to identify how we will be social without the accidental socialisation caused by the necessity of work. </p>
<p>We now live in the age predicted by science fiction. It’s up to us whether we choose to give ourselves the leisure, or not.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-new-labour-struggle-less-work-same-pay-and-basic-income-for-all-76903">The new labour struggle: less work, same pay, and basic income for all</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/83570/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nick Falkner is employed at the University of Adelaide as an Associate Professor in the School of Computer Science and is director of the Australian Smart Cities Consortium.</span></em></p>A common theme from science fiction is a vision of a world where humans do less work and machines do more. Why have we not yet reached that point?Nick Falkner, Associate Professor and Director of the Australian Smart Cities Consortium, University of AdelaideLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/758482017-04-30T20:02:24Z2017-04-30T20:02:24ZYour sons and your daughters: mental health in the age of overtime<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/164964/original/image-20170411-26741-o2ibi7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">In a country consistently rated as one of the world’s most liveable, we’ve somehow developed a deadly disregard toward our own welfare.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/Joel Carrett</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>This piece is republished with permission from <a href="https://griffithreview.com/editions/millennials-strike-back/">Millennials Strike Back</a>, the 56th edition of Griffith Review. Articles are a little longer than most published on The Conversation, and present an in-depth analysis of the challenges facing the oft-criticised millennial generation.</em></p>
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<p>Weary working warriors of Australia, we need to talk about what your heroic long hours, your selfless overtime, and your lack of self-care is doing to our nation’s mental health.</p>
<p>I’m looking at anyone who associates the word “millennial” with young people who seem to feel entitled to the “good things” in life but are unwilling to put in the hard work to earn them; anyone who thinks being overworked and underpaid is a normal way to start your career.</p>
<p>Without a doubt, you’re going to experience some deep-seated resistance to what I am about to say. It’s not your fault; your work ethic has been conditioned with each and every pay cheque, and I’m about to undermine it. But you need to hear this, for the good of us all. </p>
<p>So, for the love of God, will you do yourselves the favour of putting aside your well-meant anxieties and hard-earned wisdoms for a minute, and just listen?</p>
<p>First up, let me lay out my privilege. I’m a PhD student currently investigating the genetics of mental illness – post-natal psychosis, to be precise – at the University of Cambridge.</p>
<p>I’m incredibly lucky: I’m studying at a university consistently ranked in the world’s top five; I have a partial scholarship and a well-funded lab; and my college graduate-student committee supplies me with a steady stream of free tea, biscuits and well-written magazine essays. </p>
<p>Before Cambridge I was a resident of <a href="http://www.anu.edu.au/study/accommodation/student-residences/bruce-hall">Bruce Hall</a>, the first (and best) residential hall at the Australian National University. Again a partial scholarship, again a very well-run and funded program, and again a student committee and college infrastructure that facilitated a warm, vibrant and welcoming community. I’ve done pretty well so far.</p>
<p>And now, my motivation for sticking my neck out: my mental health. It’s never been top notch, and it was probably never going to be (which is kind of how I ended up studying its inheritance and manifestation). </p>
<p>Both sides of my family have depressive tendencies, and I’m <a href="https://www.whatdoescismean.com/whatdoescismean/">cis-female</a> – which, depending on what you read, gives me a higher chance either of suffering depression or communicating that I’m depressed. </p>
<p>After several undiagnosed “rough patches” in my late teens and early twenties, I finally ended up on an SSRI medication after succumbing to a crushing state of depressive exhaustion in the first year of my PhD, most likely precipitated by the British winter. I currently function pretty well as long as I minimise sources of mental, emotional and physiological stress in my life. And there’s the bind.</p>
<p>I openly embrace my high-achiever-type neuroses, but my studies aren’t the biggest risk to my hard-earned homeostasis. You’d be forgiven for assuming so: not a week seems to go by without a Guardian article describing anxiety and depression in students. But data on the cause has been thin on the ground. </p>
<p>Fortunately, in 2014, the Graduate Assembly of the University of California, Berkeley, administered a survey investigating graduate-student wellbeing. The <a href="http://ga.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Well-Being-Report-Deck.pdf">resulting report</a> found 47% of responding PhD students, and 37% of masters students, “reach the threshold considered depressed”. </p>
<p>First out of the top-ten predictors was career prospects. Academic progress was seventh on the list, behind physical health, living conditions, academic engagement, social support and financial confidence. Makes sense to me. </p>
<p>Tiring as it can be to spend all day in my departmental library engaged in a battle of wits with the living, breathing thing that is my thesis, I love the freedom and flexibility that comes with student life. </p>
<p>What puts me at risk of a low patch is cramped rooms and uncomfortable single beds, overcooked cafeteria meals and under-equipped student gyms, and lacking an income that permits minor creature comforts, let alone achieving the milestones of modern adulthood: buying property, building a community, saving for a distant holiday and a very distant retirement. </p>
<p>Happily, if all goes relatively well, I should submit my thesis halfway through this year, defend it shortly after that and, with my newly Oxbridged CV, secure a well-paying job. But despite the double bed on my horizon, I’m deeply troubled by what leaving student life will do to my mental health.</p>
<h2>A worsening ‘balance’</h2>
<p>We’ve been “having the conversation” about mental health in Australia for a few years now. As a result, slow, ponderous change is occurring within the leviathan of a system intended to protect and care for people in crisis. </p>
<p>But all the awareness campaigns have had little effect on the “garden variety” mental illness that’s actually causing most of the disability and death.</p>
<p>Even if you (still) think we’re merely medicalising the normal ups and downs of life, you’ve got to admit there are a lot of people in a lot of pain. You may have heard that, on average, <a href="http://www.mindframe-media.info/for-mental-health-and-suicide-prevention/talking-to-media-about-mental-illness/facts-and-stats">one in five adults</a> experience anxiety, mood disorders or substance abuse every year. </p>
<p>You may even have heard that the <a href="http://www.aihw.gov.au/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=60129556207">leading cause of disease burden</a> within the 15-44 age bracket is “suicide and self-inflicted injuries” for males and “anxiety and depressive disorders” for females. These statistics can only relate to what people are actually diagnosed with, or will admit to.</p>
<p>The hard data is much more dire. <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/by%20Subject/3303.0%7E2015%7EMain%20Features%7EIntentional%20self-harm:%20key%20characteristics%7E8">Cause-of-death statistics</a> released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics in 2015 revealed that suicide is the leading cause of death for people aged 15-44, and the second-leading cause for those aged 44-54 – regardless of gender.</p>
<p>The number of lives lost to suicide is simply too great for the “serious” mental illnesses – debilitating depression, bipolar and psychotic disorders – to be the main cause. What’s killing us is common despair. In a country consistently rated as one of the world’s most liveable, we’ve somehow developed a deadly disregard toward our own welfare.</p>
<p>The Australian way of life is highly ranked across almost every dimension in the <a href="http://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/">OECD Better Life Index</a>, from income and housing, through social connection, education and health, to civic engagement and environmental quality. But when it comes to work–life balance we’re far below the average. We’re 29th, in fact, below the US and UK (and Chile and Slovenia and Hungary and…), and things show no sign of improvement. </p>
<p>In 2014, The Australia Institute <a href="http://www.tai.org.au/sites/defualt/files/P99%20Walking%20the%20tightrope.pdf">reported</a> that work-life balance had worsened for 42% of the workforce in the previous five years. In addition, the proportion of workers reporting improvement was only a few percentage points larger than those reporting no change at all. </p>
<p>The greatest problem was longer hours, many of which weren’t even paid; almost A$110 billion of hours were effectively donated in the year of the report.</p>
<p>What’s the big deal about work–life balance? A little hard work and a few years of long hours never hurt anybody, right?</p>
<p>Give me a dollar for every time someone says it’s a rite of passage for the young, it’s a valiant sacrifice by working parents or, most crucially, it’s just how things are and we cannot change it, and I’d have enough for a house deposit. Here’s where the urge to slam my head into the nearest solid object becomes almost overwhelming, because when work-life balance goes awry, the first thing to suffer is mental and physical health.</p>
<p>When people are short on time, they simply don’t prioritise personal care anymore. I’m talking about eating, sleeping, exercising – the holy trinity of basic, essential personal maintenance. </p>
<p>We know that not getting enough quality sleep is <a href="https://psychcentral.com/lib/sleep-and-mental-health-disorders/">intimately connected</a> to mental illness risk. Exercise too: aside from the physical benefits, regular exercise can have <a href="http://www.apa.org/monitor/2011/12/exercise.aspx">huge effects</a> on our mood. And evidence emerging from cutting-edge labs suggests that diet might have a <a href="https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/a-to-z/d/diet-and-mental-health">crucial role</a> in influencing neurochemicals via the billions of bacteria living in our guts.</p>
<p>If you’re stressed, exhausted and unwell, your mind and body become drastically less able to deal with the challenges life throws at us – everything from maintaining healthy personal relationships to riding the waves of global change. </p>
<p>And if you’re not in the habit of taking time out for your mental health, when those challenges hit us, we can become anxious and/or depressed, or simply function less well in life. This state of poor functioning makes people more likely to end up in the awful spiral that leads to suicide. We know this, and yet we seem unable to do anything about it.</p>
<p>The World Economic Forum and the Harvard School of Public Health estimate the <a href="http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Harvard_HE_GlobalEconomicBurdenNonCommunicableDiseases_2011.pdf">global cost of mental health conditions</a> at around US$2.5 trillion, with almost two-thirds of this coming from indirect costs – loss of productivity and income resulting from disability and death. </p>
<p>For Australia, the estimated costs of lost productivity are in the billions. In 2014, <a href="https://www.headsup.org.au/docs/default-source/resources/bl1269-brochure---pwc-roi-analysis.pdf?sfvrsn=6">PricewaterhouseCoopers estimated</a> mental-health-related absenteeism costs the Australian economy A$4.7 billion annually, while presenteeism costs A$6.1 billion. And if all the hours of unpaid overtime were given to work seekers as paid work, unemployment could be virtually non-existent.</p>
<p>Change is possible, but only if you, my working warriors, are willing to allow it – if you let go of the toxic idea that this is “just how things are”. </p>
<p>Some of the socioeconomic tools necessary are already being trialled and implemented in such diverse environments as Silicon Valley and the Scandinavian bloc. With some tweaking, experimenting and help from your friendly neighbourhood millennial, they can be made to work for Australia too.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/164965/original/image-20170411-26733-1jif53b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/164965/original/image-20170411-26733-1jif53b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164965/original/image-20170411-26733-1jif53b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164965/original/image-20170411-26733-1jif53b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164965/original/image-20170411-26733-1jif53b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164965/original/image-20170411-26733-1jif53b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164965/original/image-20170411-26733-1jif53b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Not getting enough quality sleep is intimately connected to mental health risk.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Change the definitions of work and rest</h2>
<p>At its most basic, the solution to what maligns us is rest. When we properly account for all the “work” a person does in a day by adding caring, training, travelling and maintaining to the equation, and then acknowledge that work with a proper allowance of time and resources, we will ease a great amount of the psychological-turned-physiological stress plaguing us.</p>
<p>In my second year at Cambridge I was elected as our college graduate-committee welfare officer. It was my job to try to improve and protect the mental welfare of more than 200 high-achieving, workaholic, more-than-slightly neurotic Cambridge students. </p>
<p>It’s a task I still have in an unofficial capacity – how could I not?</p>
<p>I can’t stop my friends and fellows from working long hours if they want to. Some of them are even physiologically capable of it – but most of them aren’t. Yet they won’t look after themselves until someone gives them permission. </p>
<p>And my most effective tool for doing that is changing their definition of “work”. Because, really, work is anything that is not rest. That’s why discussions about the “unpaid economy” have been going since the notion of GDP was created and defined in the 1940s.</p>
<p>What the UK calls the <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/releases/householdsatelliteaccounts2011to2014">“household satellite account”</a> includes child care, transport, nutrition, household maintenance, clothing and laundry, adult care and volunteering – all tasks that have a paid equivalent. </p>
<p>If you are teaching your child to read, or helping with homework, you are working. If you’re cleaning or mending for yourself or someone else, you are working. If you’re helping a loved one through a rough patch, whether by accompanying them to appointments, cooking them a nutritious meal or just providing a listening ear, you are working.</p>
<p>So, in reality, if the nature of work is properly taken into account, we’re working far more than eight hours a day, five days a week. And we’re therefore not allocating enough time and resources for rest. </p>
<p>Proper rest means self-care or leisure: socialising, playing games, working on hobbies. These are states of flow and immersion, the roots of the current mindfulness movement. </p>
<p>Is it any wonder that hands-on crafts such as colouring, knitting and collaging have gained popularity in the past few years, when we’re working harder than ever, for longer than ever and with less time to recover than ever. </p>
<p>Whip out a colouring book and a set of pencils and you can rapidly put yourself into a state where all you’re thinking about is staying within the lines and which colour to use next. Your heart rate drops, your blood pressure eases: you are at rest. </p>
<p>One of the reasons social media and smartphones can be so “addictive” is their ability to instantly distract you, to suck you into a state of pseudo-flow. The hypnotic progression of beautiful photos on Instagram, the ability to tap into your inner child and send dorky pictures on Snapchat – used improperly, these are drug-like quick fixes, embraced by a population desperate for rest.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/164787/original/image-20170411-31875-16226m1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/164787/original/image-20170411-31875-16226m1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164787/original/image-20170411-31875-16226m1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164787/original/image-20170411-31875-16226m1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164787/original/image-20170411-31875-16226m1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164787/original/image-20170411-31875-16226m1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164787/original/image-20170411-31875-16226m1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Whip out a colouring book and a set of pencils and you can rapidly put yourself at ease.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>New problems, old solutions</h2>
<p>But what to do? </p>
<p>One solution is a <a href="https://theconversation.com/universal-basic-income-the-dangerous-idea-of-2016-70395">universal basic income</a>: giving people free money. The idea is not new; it’s actually been done before. </p>
<p>Alaska has been successfully reducing poverty and inequality for more than 35 years by <a href="http://basicincome.org/news/2016/09/alaska-us-amount-2016-permanent-fund-dividend-1022/">providing universal dividends</a> from the use of national assets – in its case the money came from oil resources, but it could also come from as varied sources as mineral and water rights or financial infrastructure and intellectual property. </p>
<p>And in the 1970s, Canada <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2014/12/23/mincome-in-dauphin-manitoba_n_6335682.html">ran an experiment</a> that provided a basic living wage for all two-parent, two-child families in the town of Dauphin, Manitoba, that were earning less than CA$50,000. In just four years, Dauphin had increased high-school completion, decreased doctor and hospital visits, and boosted mental health.</p>
<p>Universal basic income is a <a href="https://theconversation.com/universal-basic-income-the-dangerous-idea-of-2016-70395">radical concept</a>. But it’s shown enough promise that Silicon Valley start-up incubator Y-Combinator has decided to <a href="https://qz.com/696377/y-combinator-is-running-a-basic-income-experiment-with-100-oakland-families/">test it</a> in Oakland, California. Local, state and federal governments are also working on trials in <a href="http://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/3/6/14007230/kenya-basic-income-givedirectly-experiment-village">rural parts of Kenya</a>, in <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/06/netherlands-utrecht-universal-basic-income-experiment/487883/">urban Utrecht</a>, in <a href="https://qz.com/914247/canada-is-betting-on-a-universal-basic-income-to-help-cities-gutted-by-manufacturing-job-loss/">Ontario</a>, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jan/03/finland-trials-basic-income-for-unemployed">Finland</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/jan/08/universal-basic-income-glasgow-welfare-revolution">Scotland</a>. </p>
<p>For governments and businesses, universal basic income offers a way to simplify welfare, bolster the wages of the new “precariat”, and prepare for the coming mechanisation of huge swathes of the workforce in the near future. </p>
<p>Used properly, it could also be a huge boon for mental health. Consistent provision of a safety net could reduce the impulse to keep working instead of taking time to rest and recover. It could make leaving an unhealthy work situation easier, putting pressure on employers to keep their workplaces healthy. And, finally, it could allow for measuring and monetising the unpaid economy.</p>
<p>As a young and inexperienced student, a universal basic income calls out to my lefty soul. But the solution could be even simpler: reduce the numbers of hours people have to spend at work. </p>
<p>A Melbourne Institute study <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/workers-over-40-perform-best-with-three-day-week-25-hours-melbourne-institute-study-a6988921.html">made waves last year</a> when it found that the optimal working week for the over-40s was only 25-30 hours: six hours a day, or a three-day week. </p>
<p>And, as multiple trials in Sweden <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/business-38843341">have shown</a>, a six-hour workday with no cut in wages can actually increase profit by boosting productivity. Workers also tend to be happier and healthier, leading, in time, to increased productivity.</p>
<p>Another way to free up time for rest could be literally changing the way we live.</p>
<p><a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1080/00050067.2010.482109/abstract">A survey</a> of more than 6,000 students from two major Australian universities found that students had better-than-expected mental health if they were living in university residences, with parents, or with a partner and/or family. </p>
<p>Living with community brings more benefits than reducing rent and warding off loneliness. When tasks such as cooking, cleaning and care work are divided, each person has more time for self-care and leisure. What’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-co-housing-could-make-homes-cheaper-and-greener-39235">now being called “co-housing”</a> – a model where communal spaces exist but each inhabitant or family has more private space than the average flatmate – is already gaining popularity with young professionals and creatives alike. </p>
<p>On a large scale, as in university residences, co-housing could even create jobs – for example, in communal kitchens. Living densely could also help solve the problems of urban sprawl threatening Australia’s economic and environmental sustainability, by reducing commuting times and enabling better resource sharing.</p>
<p>So, the solutions are out there, just waiting to be applied in our economically blessed Australian context. Yes, they involve sweeping change, long-term planning and pie-in-the-sky thinking, but so did the huge social schemes implemented by the last generation to be born in a time of plenty and grow up in an era of increasing instability.</p>
<p>The solutions of the postwar reformers are faltering now, faced with vast changes in technology, society and environment – but the youth of today are equal to the challenge.</p>
<p>The Pew Research Centre <a href="http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/files/2010/10/millennials-confident-connected-open-to-change.pdf">has named millennials</a> “the most educated generation ever”. They’re clever, they’re informed, they’re driven, they’re charitable, they’re idealistic. And, most of all, they are desperate to reject the unhealthy working hours, unsustainable wages and unrealistic goals of modern employment.</p>
<p>Desperate enough to brush off labels of entitled, lazy and naive in order to pursue a way of living that they feel in their hearts must be right. They can and will change your lives for the better, if only you let them.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>If you are feeling distressed or are concerned about a friend, family member or work colleague, call <a href="http://www.lifeline.org.au">Lifeline</a> 13 11 14, <a href="http://www.suicidecallbackservice.org.au">Suicide Call Back Service</a> 1300 659 467, or <a href="http://www.kidshelp.com.au">Kids Helpline</a> 1800 55 1800.</em></p>
<p><em>You can read other essays from Griffith Review’s latest edition <a href="https://griffithreview.com/editions/millennials-strike-back/">here</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/75848/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Courtney A Landers does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>All the awareness campaigns have had little effect on the ‘garden variety’ mental illness that’s causing most of the disability and death.Courtney A Landers, PhD Candidate in Mental Health Genetics, University of CambridgeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/635712016-08-08T09:55:49Z2016-08-08T09:55:49ZFive things junior doctors need to know before they hit the wards<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/133217/original/image-20160805-466-16mct73.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Time to take the rough with the smooth.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">John Gomez/Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>At this time of year around 7,000 newly graduated junior doctors are starting their first full time medical jobs – and thousands of other junior doctors will also be beginning new rotations in new areas of medicine, as their relentless training continues. August is always a milestone for the many thousands of new doctors hitting the wards, but this one is particularly significant because it also marks the date when the new junior doctor’s contract – the subject of such <a href="https://theconversation.com/jeremy-hunt-cant-win-his-fight-with-doctors-they-have-always-held-the-power-in-the-nhs-48421">bitter disputes</a> earlier this year – goes “live”.</p>
<p>The new contract will see premium pay for weekend and unsociable working redefined, and replaced by a broader pay rise for “banded” (standard) hours, which junior doctors perceive will result in a reduction in pay for the many working unsociable shifts. </p>
<p>It is no secret that for many junior doctors, the battles of the last few months have caused <a href="http://www.itv.com/news/update/2016-03-09/junior-doctor-says-nhs-morale-at-an-all-time-low/">staff morale to hit an all time low</a>, “with high levels of anxiety, stress and burnout” reported in many of the junior staff. In response to this, health secretary Jeremy Hunt announced an inquiry looking into why there is such a problem with morale on the wards. But junior doctors <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/feb/26/junior-doctors-will-boycott-review-into-poor-morale">have refused to cooperate</a> because the inquiry will not be looking into issues of pay and conditions of service. </p>
<p>If you’re a junior doctor about to head onto the wards you might be wondering what you’re about to get yourself into, and what life on the job will actually be like. Well as part of <a href="http://lubswww.leeds.ac.uk/ceric/publications/policy-contributions/">our research</a> looking at the meaningfulness of work, we have been talking to junior doctors to find out first-hand what morale is actually like for them and their colleagues. So with this in mind, here’s what they’ll need to know before hitting the wards over the next few weeks. </p>
<h2>You will be overworked</h2>
<p>Many junior doctors we spoke to said the volume of work they were expected to do was only just bearable – which is mostly because of understaffing. </p>
<p>One of our interviewees said: “We were constantly understaffed. On one of the jobs I did, there were just three junior doctors, when you knew there should have been five on the rota – so it’s like three people trying to do the job of five people.” </p>
<p>On shifts like this – it’s important to prioritise the most urgent tasks, as well as to delegate. And jobs need to be escalated to senior colleagues if they need to be. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/133223/original/image-20160805-470-i05j32.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/133223/original/image-20160805-470-i05j32.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133223/original/image-20160805-470-i05j32.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133223/original/image-20160805-470-i05j32.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133223/original/image-20160805-470-i05j32.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133223/original/image-20160805-470-i05j32.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133223/original/image-20160805-470-i05j32.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Catch up on those zzz whenever you can.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photographee.eu/Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>But you will love the job and your colleagues</h2>
<p>Morale was highest among junior doctors who had decided what speciality area of medicine they wanted to pursue because they faced lower levels of insecurity regarding their future career paths. </p>
<p>The doctors we spoke to reported strong feelings of vocational attachment to the day-to-day tasks they carried out, as well as a strong sense of community cohesion being part of a unit with like-minded colleagues. </p>
<p>One of the junior doctors we spoke to simply told us how she is now doing a job she loves – and you can’t say fairer than that.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/133230/original/image-20160805-493-10zhmjd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/133230/original/image-20160805-493-10zhmjd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133230/original/image-20160805-493-10zhmjd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133230/original/image-20160805-493-10zhmjd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133230/original/image-20160805-493-10zhmjd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133230/original/image-20160805-493-10zhmjd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133230/original/image-20160805-493-10zhmjd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘We’re all in this together’.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">michaeljung/Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>At times, you will be frustrated</h2>
<p>Many junior doctors told us about a lack of understanding among non-clinical managers of patient care and medical practice. </p>
<p>One told us about a day spent writing discharge letters: “You’re doing a job you could have done when you were 15-years-old, then you get grief for not doing them fast enough, even though you’re going as fast as possible.” </p>
<p>While days like these are frustrating, it’s important to focus on the fact that each letter gets a patient out of hospital, freeing up space for others.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/133225/original/image-20160805-513-14nzp53.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/133225/original/image-20160805-513-14nzp53.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133225/original/image-20160805-513-14nzp53.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133225/original/image-20160805-513-14nzp53.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133225/original/image-20160805-513-14nzp53.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133225/original/image-20160805-513-14nzp53.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133225/original/image-20160805-513-14nzp53.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Trying to stay cool, calm and collected is important.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">michaeljung/Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>So it’s important not to neglect your social life</h2>
<p>It’s no surprise that a career in medicine involves long and unsociable hours, alongside rigid timetables. One of the registrars we spoke to said: “We have no choice and are given the hours and that is it … it becomes increasingly frustrating that you have no choice.” </p>
<p>But we found that many junior doctors will work together to accommodate and cover each others’ personal and holiday requests. </p>
<p>Also, if a hospital or deanery has a junior doctor’s mess, doctors should take advantage of the socials that are organised – which are usually around payday. They are a great way to blow off steam and catch up with colleagues in a non-clinical setting at the end of a month’s work.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/133231/original/image-20160805-501-1waoxbi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/133231/original/image-20160805-501-1waoxbi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133231/original/image-20160805-501-1waoxbi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133231/original/image-20160805-501-1waoxbi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133231/original/image-20160805-501-1waoxbi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133231/original/image-20160805-501-1waoxbi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133231/original/image-20160805-501-1waoxbi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Taking time out from the day job is important.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Monkey Business Images/Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The reasons behind doing the job</h2>
<p>One junior doctor we spoke to summed up the advice she’d give to newly-starting foundation trainees – which really encapsulates the toughness and optimism of those on the job – despite facing increasing pressure from both patients, managers and the government. </p>
<p>She said: “Keep positive. The work atmosphere and morale in the NHS is not at its best with the current junior doctor contract issues. Life as a junior doctor is hard but we do it for a reason, to care for our patients who need us to do our best and brighten up their day and make them better, so don’t forget why you are doing this job.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/63571/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andy Charlwood receives funding from The British Academy.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Hugh Cook and Nick Jephson do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Listen up junior doctors, here is your survival guide.Nick Jephson, Teaching Fellow in Work and Employment Relations, University of LeedsAndy Charlwood, Professor in Human Resources Management and Organisational Behaviour, Loughborough UniversityHugh Cook, Lecturer in Employment Relations, University of LeedsLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/454842015-09-07T04:44:50Z2015-09-07T04:44:50ZHealth Check: Stressed at work? How to beat common traps in the rat race<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/91116/original/image-20150807-9956-14oqepe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Even in a dreary office, by understanding how your brain works you can change how it feels to be there.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">from www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Hunched over, hardly moving for hours on end, hitting the same buttons again and again in the hope of a future reward … sound familiar?</p>
<p>I’ve spent most of my 20-year career as a neuroscientist in laboratories, studying rats and other animals to better understand how and why our brains get stuck in vicious cycles of addictive behaviour.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/91139/original/image-20150807-27568-6c4aqe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/91139/original/image-20150807-27568-6c4aqe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/91139/original/image-20150807-27568-6c4aqe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/91139/original/image-20150807-27568-6c4aqe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/91139/original/image-20150807-27568-6c4aqe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/91139/original/image-20150807-27568-6c4aqe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/91139/original/image-20150807-27568-6c4aqe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/91139/original/image-20150807-27568-6c4aqe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sometimes going to work can feel like this.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?country_code=AU&page_number=1&position=26&safesearch=1&search_language=en&search_type=keyword_search&searchterm=rat%20reward&sort_method=relevance2&source=search&timestamp=1438930584&tracking_id=v3Yw21GAuix_k0fLpMun5A&version=llv1&page=1&inline=121043458">from www.shutterstock.com</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>But over the past two years, I’ve also started working with people on applying what I know in the human world of work. And what I see in most of the workplaces I visit – everywhere from corporate office towers to government departments and blue-collar work sites – is strikingly similar to the <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16759333">behaviour of addicted lab rats</a>.</p>
<p>Even when there’s a big cage they could explore, if you set up a reward system where rats repeatedly hit a lever to get another dose of <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26136145">alcohol</a> or <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25496905">sugar</a>, they won’t go anywhere but instead keep doing the same thing, day in, day out, until they die.</p>
<p>Yet there are proven ways to help lab rats and humans cope much better in a stressful environment – starting by realising you can change what’s in your mirror.</p>
<h2>Are you someone others want to mirror?</h2>
<p>The first sign of an unhealthy workplace is a pervading silence: everyone huddled at their desks, heads down, eyes glued to their screen. In that kind of environment, you won’t see many people trying new things or taking risks; instead, it’s all about <em>looking</em> the busiest.</p>
<p>If you were to ask someone there how well the workplace is working, you’re also likely to discover that people are afraid to delegate or share their work, let alone share credit with others. And there’s little eye contact to be seen, with few signs of social interaction or collaboration.</p>
<p>We’ve all worked in places like that. But be warned: we become like the environment we work and live in, and the people we connect with.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/91121/original/image-20150807-4409-r111k3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/91121/original/image-20150807-4409-r111k3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/91121/original/image-20150807-4409-r111k3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/91121/original/image-20150807-4409-r111k3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/91121/original/image-20150807-4409-r111k3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/91121/original/image-20150807-4409-r111k3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/91121/original/image-20150807-4409-r111k3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/91121/original/image-20150807-4409-r111k3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Lab rats and mice are social creatures, just like us.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-207253507/stock-photo-photo-of-little-brown-and-black-laboratory-mouses.html?src=dt_last_search-5">Igor Stramyk from www.shutterstock.com</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>That’s because we are social animals, with <a href="https://theconversation.com/we-watch-and-learn-the-moves-even-when-were-immobile-12393">mirror neurons</a> that help us mimic <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18985120">each other’s actions</a>. Mirror neurons are one of the reasons we learn quickly and how innovation spreads rapidly; think of the success of Facebook as an advertising platform. </p>
<p>The brain’s mirror neurons have recently been proposed as the basis for the rapid spread of <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19338501">language</a> and innovation that created human civilisations. It’s also a matter of self-interest: being nice to your colleagues is a good idea, not least because <a href="https://theconversation.com/you-should-really-be-nicer-to-your-colleagues-rude-behavior-is-contagious-44795">rude behaviour is contagious</a>.</p>
<p>The social environment of a workplace <a href="https://hbr.org/2012/04/the-new-science-of-building-great-teams/ar/1">powerfully predicts</a> the level of engagement, creativity and innovation of its people and its products.</p>
<p>But you can influence what you see and experience at work – including through movement and connection to others.</p>
<p>For a start, if you’re sitting down reading this, <a href="https://theconversation.com/office-workers-stand-up-from-your-desk-for-two-hours-a-day-42552">stand up</a>. </p>
<p>Look around for someone to talk to or have a cup of coffee with; and when you do, ask how they are and focus on <a href="http://olle.aogp.com.au/pluginfile.php/6573/mod_resource/content/1/Active%20listeningAFP.pdf">actively listening</a>, rather than feeling that you should offer solutions to any problems they might raise.</p>
<h2>Give your brain a ‘neurobic’ workout</h2>
<p>Repeating the same task <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26054036">locks our brains into autopilot</a> and before long we are distracted and bored. Suddenly, we find we have spent several hours on Facebook, checking emails, scanning the news, all to make us feel better and more stimulated, though only for the short term.</p>
<p>Your brain is a thinking and learning machine. When you’re bored, it’s screaming out for something new or challenging to think about – often the very things we choose to put off, such as tackling that 50-page report for your boss, or calling a difficult client.</p>
<p>Like rats in a cage, we need <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25191297">new stimuli to be motivated to explore</a>. Otherwise we keep pressing the same lever to get the same reward – and nothing changes. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/aNXhyPj-RsM?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">A rat with an electrode wired to its lateral hypothalamus receives a feeling of reward every time it presses a lever – reinforcing the lever-pressing behaviour.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Professor Kent Berridge and his colleagues have shown that when dopamine is released in response to something novel, it stimulates motivation. His research has shown that blocking dopamine in the brain doesn’t affect how often the rats exhibit pleasure responses – but it reduces the rats’ motivation and turns them into <a href="http://www.lsa.umich.edu/psych/research&labs/berridge/VideoIndex.htm">lazy and unmotivated rats</a>.</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/f7E0mTJQ2KM?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Rewarding viewing – learn more about your brain and the reward system in just two minutes.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>If we want to stimulate our motivation brain circuits to <a href="http://www.jneurosci.org/content/31/43/15264.long">think more flexibly</a> and creatively, we need to get our brains off autopilot.</p>
<p>How? One way is through “<a href="http://www.keepyourbrainalive.com/">neurobics</a>”, a term coined by the late neurobiologist Lawrence Katz. This involves engaging different parts of the brain by doing familiar tasks using different approaches, such as brushing your teeth or dialling the phone with your non-dominant hand. </p>
<p>Or you could try the inexpensive exercises at <a href="http://www.brainhq.com/">BrainHQ</a>, which Todd Sampson used on the ABC TV show <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/tv/programs/redesign-my-brain-with-todd-sampson/">Redesign My Brain</a> (screened in the US as <a href="http://www.brainhq.com/#assessment/hack_my_brain">Hack My Brain</a>). Or you could read Michael Merzenich’s <a href="http://www.soft-wired.com/">Soft-Wired</a>, which explains the science behind taking better care of brains of all ages.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/fnOxcvukHh8?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Neuroscientist Selena Bartlett explains how we can prevent brain ageing, while also teaching our brain positive lessons.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Take a deep breath, then watch your thoughts</h2>
<p>When you woke up this morning, what was the first thing you said to yourself? Was it “I can’t wait to start the day!”? Or was it more along the lines of: “Thank goodness it’s Friday. I hate my job and my life…”?</p>
<p>Guess what? Whatever you thought, you were right.</p>
<p>The brain is constantly shaped by your thoughts patterns and <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19776221">stress activates the amygdala</a>, a part of the emotional brain.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/90832/original/image-20150805-22485-1tpow7b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/90832/original/image-20150805-22485-1tpow7b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/90832/original/image-20150805-22485-1tpow7b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/90832/original/image-20150805-22485-1tpow7b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/90832/original/image-20150805-22485-1tpow7b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/90832/original/image-20150805-22485-1tpow7b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/90832/original/image-20150805-22485-1tpow7b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/90832/original/image-20150805-22485-1tpow7b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Your amygdala is a small but powerful part of the brain, commonly associated with fear and anxiety.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Selena Bartlett</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>When you’re on a roll and thinking positively, good things seem to come your way. When your moods and thoughts are negative, your life seems to reflect that. The pattern feeds itself: whether positive or negative, you are <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25018719">learning and wiring it</a> into your brain.</p>
<p>To start to become more aware of your own thinking patterns, try <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25386148">a deep-breathing exercise</a>. Breathe in through your nose for four counts and out for four counts, and notice what you are thinking and write it down. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24600370">Brain scans</a> reveal how much we can change what’s happening in our own minds through controlled breathing, especially when we make it a habit. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/m8rRzTtP7Tc?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Neuroscientist Sara Lazar’s brain scans show meditation can actually change the size of key regions of our brain, improving our memory and making us more empathetic, compassionate and resilient under stress.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Movement, connection to others, “neurobics” and controlling your breathing are all important steps towards a healthier work life.</p>
<p>By rewiring our own brains for the better, we can each cope more effectively with the daily stresses of the rat race. And because we’re social animals, you may even see some positive changes being mirrored back by those around you.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/45484/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Selena Bartlett recently started a NeuroSPARK Brain Fitness Lab at QUT.
Selena's animal research lab is currently funded by the Australian Research Council and the National Health and Medical Research Council.</span></em></p>In many of the workplaces I visit as a neuroscientist, stressed workers behave much like addicted lab rats. But you don’t have to quit the rat race to start feeling better at work.Selena Bartlett, Professor, Neuroscience, Mental Health and Well Being, Faculty of Health, Queensland University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/421242015-05-21T20:05:11Z2015-05-21T20:05:11ZNo, it’s not you: why ‘wellness’ isn’t the answer to overwork<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/82477/original/image-20150521-17365-st5xaj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">No amount of yoga will save us from the effects of overwork.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Taro Taylor/Flickr</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Many of the people who visit me in my therapy practice spend time talking about work. How much work there is, how they never seem to be able to get it all done, how many hours they spend at work, how tired they are all the time and how fearful they are about losing their jobs. They’ve read articles telling them how they can improve their work/life balance. They’ve delegated and relegated, meditated and ruminated. </p>
<p>Women in particular come in suffering the effects of overwork, <a href="http://asr.sagepub.com/content/79/3/457">losing out financially</a> in the longer hours marathon, or perhaps more frighteningly, <a href="http://asr.sagepub.com/content/75/2/303.short">sacrificing their work</a> to help manage a male partner’s crazy schedule. And yet they persist in locating the problem internally. Is there something else they can do, they wonder, to manage it all better? Maybe there’s something wrong with them; they just can’t seem to live and work at the same time.</p>
<p>We’re <a href="http://www.tai.org.au/content/walking-tightrope-have-australians-achieved-worklife-balance">working longer hours</a> than ever before, and as our employment conditions <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/worklife-balance-is-getting-worse-for-australians-new-report-20141118-11otw6.html">continue to worsen</a>, they’re simply repackaged into a new version of normal in an effort to make the truly pathological state of many of our workplaces appear acceptable. And despite the fact that the <a href="http://psycnet.apa.org/psycinfo/1997-36453-000">very best evidence </a>we have about the causes of work stress and burnout point to factors present in the workplace rather than in us, the stress reduction industry and the helping professions’ focus on individual self-care strategies is at an all-time high.</p>
<h2>Too busy to be well</h2>
<p>Have a look at the lifestyle section of any major newspaper and you’ll find a host of articles on how to stay well in a life that’s too busy to live in. But the facts are plainer than we’re being led to believe. Many of us simply <a href="http://www.transformingthenation.com.au/2013/11/the-high-health-cost-of-overwork/">work too much</a> to really be well. </p>
<p>Nothing can alleviate the stress of overwork except working less. Like the road signs say, only sleep cures fatigue. We need to be reminded of this because tired long-haul drivers can be deluded into thinking that coffee, a can of Mother or an upbeat bit of music might help them stay awake. For the madly overworked, we need reminding that the only cure for working too much is to stop. It’s as simple as that.</p>
<p>In the last month or so I’ve had several clients raise the issue of overwork with their managers, with the following results. One had a consultant brought in to assess her team’s workloads against their position descriptions. Each member was found to be working at between 130 and 160% of their load. So the load was reset and anyone working at below 150% was told they weren’t pulling their weight.</p>
<p>Another workplace appointed an organisational psychologist to assess the team’s interpersonal relationships as a way of responding to a workload complaint. As a result, my client was told his personal commitment to reasonable working hours was putting his team at risk and he was put on a program of performance management. Another was simply told not to come in again.</p>
<p>Despite the endless column inches devoted to how we can find balance in our busy working lives, the solution here isn’t personal, it’s political. Those of us working in the health and wellbeing industries have had our skills hijacked by commercial interests. Employee Assistance Programs, corporate stress management training and the burgeoning multi-billion dollar <a href="http://www.globalwellnesssummit.com/industry-resource">wellness industry</a> all trade on, support and are supported by the culture of overwork. If we are truly committed to wellbeing, we need to remember who our clients are meant to be and be willing to risk acting in their best interests.</p>
<p>No amount of multivitamins, yoga, meditation, sweaty exercise, superfoods or extreme time management, as brilliant as all these things can be, is going to save us from the effects of too much work. This is not something we can adapt to. Not something we need to adjust the rest of our lives around. It is not possible and it’s unethical to pretend otherwise. Like a low-flying plane, the insidious culture of overwork is deafening and the only way we can really feel better is if we can find a way to make it stop.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/42124/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Zoë Krupka does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>More and more workplaces are turning to the wellness industry to try and solve the problem of overwork.Zoë Krupka, PhD Student Faculty of Health Sciences, La Trobe UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.