If your job takes precedence over the rest of your life, preventing you from engaging in hobbies, spending time with loved ones, or just relaxing, you might be stuck in hustle culture. At Cottonwood, in Tucson, Arizona, we think it’s important for people to examine the choices they are making, whether by default or intention, and how those choices, like participating in hustle culture, might be impacting their mental health.
What is Hustle Culture?
Hustle culture is the notion that the harder people work and the more they accomplish, then the more value they have and the more they will be rewarded. Going beyond a good work ethic, hustle culture encourages people to go the extra mile for their job, working late nights, extra hours, and sometimes not really ever clocking out from work responsibilities. Employees may be encouraged to work when they are ill, skip lunch breaks, and push themselves beyond their boundaries. Social media has amplified this unhealthy and unsustainable trend by perpetuating the message that success requires non-stop work. Many employees are pushing back in favor of a “soft life” that is more relaxed, less complicated, and lower stress.
How Does Hustle Culture Impact Workers?
Human brains operate on natural cycles that allow high focus, only if we have necessary recovery periods. Without this rest, there is a predictable increase in burnout. Burnout results from mental and emotional exhaustion of constantly pushing yourself and never taking the breaks you need and deserve. Burnout can cause people to be the opposite of their aspirations, as they begin to:
- Perform less efficiently
- See a decrease in production
- Become avoidant
- Make more errors
- Lose interest in parts of the job they loved
- Become anxious or depressed
- Struggle to listen or care about those around them
There are also physical health consequences from burnout, which can include:
- High blood pressure
- Heart attacks
- Strokes
When Does Burnout Occur?
Research indicates that after about 50 hours of work a week, there is a sharp decline in productivity. This means that if a company responds to decreased productivity by demanding more overtime, they are only further reducing productivity. Employees may be physically present but incapable of doing more.
Escaping Hustle Culture
Workers often fear that if they set and enforce boundaries around work, they will lose their jobs. It is important for employers to support healthy work practices, including:
- Establishing clear boundaries and expectations. Employers must allow their workforce to really and truly clock out and have time for their priorities outside of work. By genuinely supporting work-life balance with adequate vacation and sick leave and respecting the employee’s need for time away from work, employers can help their employees to be their best selves on the clock.
- Practicing good self-care habits. Bosses can encourage staff to take short breaks throughout the day, to take a walk, stretch, get a cup of coffee, or otherwise reset. They can also encourage team members to prioritize sleep, healthy eating, and exercise by ensuring that staff have enough time and energy to accomplish these things and meet work expectations.
- Building resilience in the workforce. The ability to bounce back is largely a matter of how much support a person has and how effectively they are able to access that support when they need it. Employers who nurture strong professional and personal networks for their staff reap the benefits.
- Scheduling rest days and hobby time. People need to know that their days off will really be theirs to use, so that they can block out time to do things that bring them joy and recharge their batteries. If they are constantly thinking they are going to be called in to work, they stop planning these much-needed activities.
- Delegating the part of the job that isn’t their strong suit. Many employees have too many tasks to realistically accomplish, limited guidance on what they should prioritize, and no control over what they can hand off. If employees are given the chance to assess where they are getting the most return on effort for the company and making the best use of their own skill set, they may also be able to identify ways to expand on their successes, but they will never get that far, if they are drowning in work that isn’t accomplishing anything and which is ill-suited to their talents.
At Cottonwood, we recognize that mental health and recovery have to be priorities for our clients as they enter recovery and return to their daily lives. We help each person we serve to develop strategies that will keep them on track to build a life they find meaningful and worth living.
