In Japan, a culture of overwork can be traced back to the 1950s, when the government pushed hard for the country to be rebuilt quickly after World War Two. People work long hours all over the world, for many different reasons. Overwork isn't a phenomenon exclusive to Silicon Valley or Wall Street. Could the post-pandemic world be our chance to try? Given how entrenched our admiration for high-stress work culture is, however, halting our overwork obsession will require cultural change. Yet, one thing is different: we understand far more about the consequences of overwork, and the toll burnout can take on our mental and physical health. In spirit, we're not so far from the Gekko years as we think. ![]() And since the pandemic hit, our work weeks have gotten longer we send emails and Slack messages at midnight as boundaries between our personal and professional lives dissolve. Billionaire tech entrepreneurs advocate sacrificing sleep so that people can "change the world". Co-working spaces are filled with posters urging us to "rise and grind" or "hustle harder". New studies show that workers around the world are putting in an average of 9.2 hours of unpaid overtime per week – up from 7.3 hours just a year ago. In fact, it is expanding into more sectors and professions, in slightly different packaging. If you live and breathe work (and toss in some moral flexibility), the message was, the rewards will be exciting – and immense.Īlthough many of us associate overly ambitious workaholism with the 1980s and the finance industry, the tendency to devote ourselves to work and glamourise long-hours culture remains as pervasive as ever. The movie – ultimately a cautionary tale – depicted work and wealth-obsessed executives putting in long hours in sleek skyscrapers to seal deals and boost their pay packets, at the expense of whoever got in their way. In 1987 Gordon Gekko, the unscrupulous cigar-smoking powerhouse in the film Wall Street, told the world: greed is good. When you’re done with this article, check out our full list of the year’s top stories. As we head into 2022, Worklife is running our best, most insightful and most essential stories from 2021.
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