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Half of Workers Around the World Are Struggling with Burnout

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Re: Half of Workers Around the World Are Struggling with Burnout

#81

Post by phil21 »

bdcravens wrote: post #3

Most people don't have "fulfilling" jobs. They have a paycheck. A very small percentage of Americans, let alone those around the world, have the privilege of analyzing how their job makes them feel. I get paid great money to play with computers. My father was an elementary school janitor.

> My father was an elementary school janitor.

If you paid me the same to be a janitor, I'd take that trade any day of the week. I've been a janitor before and while the job is not fun and has some shitty (pun intended) days - overall I was a better human being not being stuck behind a desk for 10+ hours a day.

Unfortunately our economy is what it is, so you can only really be paid for non-physical work these days. Thus a lot of folks who are doing quite well on paper are struggling internally living a life that simply does not suit them.

It's weird to live your entire life knowing you were not built to do what you do day in and day out to pay the bills.

Gilded cages are rampant in our industry.

Re: Half of Workers Around the World Are Struggling with Burnout

#82

Post by rolisz »

billy99k wrote: post #36

I stated my own consulting company a few years ago. Right now, it's just me. But I plan on hiring employees at some point. Consulting has prevented me from burnout. I almost never have to deal with bullshit corporate politics and if I hate a project, I find a new client.

Oh, you will have to deal with bullshit corporate politics, but in a different way. You will get projects where there will be conflicts between the stakeholders and you'll be sitting there waiting for the final final final final decision to be made.

Re: Half of Workers Around the World Are Struggling with Burnout

#83

Post by sodality2 »

marginalia_nu wrote: post #27
surgical_fire wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In either case, the purpose of what you are doing is earning a salary to pay your bills. Workers would do well to always keep it in mind.

If the only purpose of your life truly is to pay bills, that would cause anyone to burn out.

Not the only purpose of your life. Just the only purpose of working.

Re: Half of Workers Around the World Are Struggling with Burnout

#84

Post by emptyfile »

marginalia_nu wrote: post #7
bdcravens wrote: post #3

Most people don't have "fulfilling" jobs. They have a paycheck. A very small percentage of Americans, let alone those around the world, have the privilege of analyzing how their job makes them feel. I get paid great money to play with computers. My father was an elementary school janitor.

Big part of the problem is arguably alienation. A janitorial job can be rewarding because you can see that you are making a difference in the world. You get to meet the people whose lives are improved by what you do, every day. Filling out spreadsheets, it can be hard to tell what the purpose of what you are doing, whom it benefits, and how the world would be worse off if you simply didn't show up.

[dead]

Re: Half of Workers Around the World Are Struggling with Burnout

#85

Post by harimau777 »

bdcravens wrote: post #3

Most people don't have "fulfilling" jobs. They have a paycheck. A very small percentage of Americans, let alone those around the world, have the privilege of analyzing how their job makes them feel. I get paid great money to play with computers. My father was an elementary school janitor.

I'm not sure that I think that burnout is directly related to a job being fulfilling. It seems to me that it is more related to having a lot of responsibility but very little power. Or somewhat equivalently, being in a position where other people can make your work much more difficult without you having much control over it.

In software at least, I think it could also be related to the pace of modern development. Agile sprints mean that you are constantly in a situation where things are down to the wire.

Re: Half of Workers Around the World Are Struggling with Burnout

#86

Post by lifty »

Burnout is on the rise not only because of work itself, but also because of mobile phones and addictive applications like Twitter and Instagram. I notice this my myself, my wife and among my group of friends (millennials, some with kids some without). People use these apps to numb themselves but it saps them of motivation and leaves them with little energy to do their normal jobs, especially if it's office jobs.

Re: Half of Workers Around the World Are Struggling with Burnout

#87

Post by Nathanba »

vector_spaces wrote: post #65
rtpg wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't want to exotisize "blue collar" labor. That being said, I've always wondered if burnout ends up being more likely in roles where you feel like you're suppose to care. Being bored all the time is annoying and sucks, but being in a thing where you feel like you _shouldn't_ be bored and yet are also sucks. Does it suck more? Not sure!

I'm in tech after a decade working blue collar, most of my friends are still working blue collar, and they're all burned out Blue collar doesn't just pay you poorly -- it's also tedious, and there's a pervasive sense that nobody gives a damn about you, your safety, or really anything about you. "nobody" being managers, but also your white collar coworkers who "work upstairs", customers, security, etc. You have very l…

Yes and on top of all this the physical exertion that you are doing in a bluecollar job is really useless for health and that's the most positive way to describe it. I'd say that it's probably always very detrimental.

Re: Half of Workers Around the World Are Struggling with Burnout

#88

Post by FrustratedMonky »

snapcaster wrote: post #41
ikety wrote: post #25

I used to be an employee that would kill themselves for even minimum wage. I think being a hard worker regardless of reward is an honorable trait, but keeping that up for decades is difficult. Naturally I am very loyal and agreeable. I like to solve raw engineering problems, but also social ones. I find a way to adapt to pretty much anything and anyone. This almost always ends with my employer exploiting me. Recently…

Why did you think being a hard worker regardless of reward is an honorable trait? I don't mean any disrespect but when i read sentences like that all that pops into my head is "sucker"

US Protestant culture. Work is tied up with morals and faith.

Re: Half of Workers Around the World Are Struggling with Burnout

#89

Post by bratbag »

billy99k wrote: post #33

Isn't this what Ycombinator is all about? If you want fulfillment, start your own company and create the job that you are passionate about.

The one and only time I was burned out, there was no way in hell I was capable of that kind of initiative. Self-autonomy is one of the things it kills.

I only escaped burnout via an 'ah-HAH!' moment when reading up on strategy creation, and realised that I needed to start cutting down my workload to only what really matters and nothing more.

A startup environment is a terrible environment for anyone who cant cut through the weeds of the nice-to-have to see only the necessary.

Re: Half of Workers Around the World Are Struggling with Burnout

#90

Post by AnimalMuppet »

surgical_fire wrote: post #22
marginalia_nu wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Big part of the problem is arguably alienation. A janitorial job can be rewarding because you can see that you are making a difference in the world. You get to meet the people whose lives are improved by what you do, every day. Filling out spreadsheets, it can be hard to tell what the purpose of what you are doing, whom it benefits, and how the world would be worse off if you simply didn't show up.

In either case, the purpose of what you are doing is earning a salary to pay your bills. Workers would do well to always keep it in mind.

Of course I'm doing it for the money. I don't like my work that much. (When I was younger, I used to say "Don't they realize that I'd do this for free?" But even then, I'm not sure it was really true...)

But when I was working in medical instruments, and they brought in a doctor who explained how our instrument turned a surgery that had a 50/50 survival rate into one that had better than a 99% survival rate... I was more motivated to work there, and to work well there, and not because I was getting more money. My work had a purpose. It wasn't just a job.

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