Work currently evokes ambivalence after a decade of hustle culture and pandemic-driven burnout. Conflicts over returning to the office versus flexible arrangements are intensifying. Younger workers insist on firm boundaries to protect personal time, while AI poses a real threat to job security. The present landscape frames a broader battle for time and livelihoods. A different approach proposes treating work as neither the only source of identity nor an unavoidable misery, but as a humane, enjoyable activity that contributes to meaning without defining personal worth.
After the work-centric hustle culture of the 2010s, then the backlash and widespread burnout brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic, the general feeling around work right now could be described as ambivalent at best. At worst, it's openly combative, as evinced by frequent references to the battle over working from home. Managers want employees back in the office; employees want flexibility, and to limit work's impact on their lives.
Gen Z, who have replaced millennials as the youthful influence shaping the workforce, are especially adamant that it should not intrude on their boundaries. Meanwhile, AI looms, threatening large-scale unemployment. The world of work is in flux, with a fight for our time and our livelihoods at the centre. Fun doesn't seem to factor into it but Bree Groff argues that it should.
Employees ask themselves, Wait, do I want to change the world, or do I want to go home and cook dinner?' An organisational consultant and change expert at the New York-based company SYPartners, Groff has worked with C-suite leaders people whose job titles begin with the word chief at Google, Microsoft, Hilton, Calvin Klein, Pfizer and other big names, to transform their corporate culture and improve their employees' time at work.
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