Dear friend,
Before the labor movement, work was making people sick. I’m talking about the movement that inspired Labor Day, of course. The reason we have 40-hour weeks, minimum wage, and no child labor.
What if we pretend I wrote that first sentence in the future: 5, 10, 20 years from now? Are we ready for a new labor movement*?
Businesses have a legal responsibility to provide employees with a safe working environment (how does that work when we’re working from home?) Yet people are still getting sick because of work. It’s a different kind of suffering. Less bleeding and lung disease, but just as much depression and anxiety. Mental health is health.
If you don’t think you’re sick, I invite you to look at your habits. How many of them are about distracting yourself? Scrolling social media, binge watching TV, gaming, that glass (or 3) of wine each evening. When people are suffering, they seek relief. They develop coping mechanisms that sometimes make them more sick, more detached, more troubled. I’m not trying to shame you. I’m trying to alert you.
What about work is causing people to suffer?
You can probably think of some things, point to a few particular people or processes. But wait a second. If we say that people’s actions cause suffering, then we’re blaming, and blame culture is bad. Right?
To prevent harm in the workplace, we need to know what is causing it. Labor reform movements can lobby for legal changes to things that cause physical harm because defining physical health is somewhat simple. No one may punch or stab you. Bleeding and bruises = bad. Mental health, emotional health, even spiritual health – all affected by our time at work – are harder to see, to pinpoint when someone changes from healthy to unhealthy.
Add to that the popular notion that adults are supposed to take responsibility for our own feelings, our own emotional health. That no one can actually make you feel anything. No one can emotionally punch you unless you allow it. How does that make you feel? A little pissed at me?
I actually love the idea that only I control my feelings. It’s something I work on for my own mental health. But it’s not that simple when it comes to groups of humans.
We’re not all so enlightened that other people’s actions never affect us. We’ve got deeply rooted emotional needs to belong, social norms to conform. Common business practices ask us to leave our emotional messes at home. “Be strong. Be resilient. There’s no time for that shit. It’s not productive. You are measured by your performance.”
Back to what’s causing the pain.
We humans cause our own suffering. That is the tension. We say things like “Be yourself. Do what feels right.” If we only ever did what felt right, we’d never make progress. We have to stretch.
Now for the part about privilege
Do we even deserve better working environments? After all, aren’t we lucky to not work in dangerous factories? Todays working conditions would look positively utopian to most 19th century workers. We’re not actively bleeding or collapsing from exhaustion. (Unless you are. In which case you are definitely not healthy.)
Shouldn’t we just be grateful to have jobs that pay above minimum wage? Aren’t we privileged, spoiled, keyboard jockeys?
Do you want to believe that story? Or do you want to feel what you are feeling? Maybe that’s burnout, insecurity, frustration, sadness. Maybe it’s hopefulness, possibility, love. Maybe it’s all of those things.
Good parenting used to mean keeping children alive and not abusing them. You might think “but that was children. We’re all adults here. We can take care of ourselves.” But do we? Does toxic leadership and blame culture count as a safe working environment?
I’ve had direct managers call me an idealist. Burned out and jaded by the environment, they sought to protect me. “The system is too broken,” they’d say. “Focus on what you can control.” It’s true.
I can control my words and actions.**
If I convince even one person to rethink how they show up at work, I’ve made a difference. Imagine if we all helped one person be a little more compassionate?
What might we do?
I’m not buying the story that having a desk job*** means I don’t have the right to be healthier.
I’m not buying the story that work can’t change. Things change all the damn time. We can let things happen to us, or we can choose what to do.
I’m also not buying the story that people can’t change. I can’t change others, but I can change myself. And that’s where it must start.
What might you do differently today?
Thank you for reading.
Love,
Kate
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Footnotes:
*It’s called a movement because it moves people from one place to another. We can get to a better place.
**And sometimes my feelings.
***As of this writing, I don’t have a job. Weird, huh? I was laid off a few months ago. If you’re interested in hiring me to help create a better future at your work, please consider what you’re willing to do to change yourself. Then hit me up. We’ll chat.