By Dr. Chris D’Souza
“What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare?” – W.H. Davies
Who do you think is more admirable, Barack Obama, Abraham Lincoln, Jawaharlal Nehru and Mao Tse Tung, statesmen notorious for working long hours, or Keir Starmer, the recently appointed prime minister of the United Kingdom, who said he would not work on Fridays past six o’clock in the evening, and Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, who took a few weeks off following her re-election in June?
The response varies depending on the nation and society that a person moves in.
The fact that the first group of politicians are American or Asian and the second group is European may not be a coincidence. It is true that there are significant cultural disparities in the ways that nations value and associate ‘busyness’ and lengthy work hours with status. Admiring long hours of work is positively correlated with a productivity orientation (the persistent worry of being productive, making progress, and achieving more in less time), perceived social mobility, and the conviction that hard effort leads to success and social affirmation. These aspects are often higher in American society than in continental Europe, according to research by Silvia Bellezza, an associate professor of business in marketing at Columbia Business School (Bellezza, et.al., 2016). In Asian societies, especially those in China and India, dedication to work is seen as a virtue, often leading to long working hours and a high degree of commitment to one’s job. (Kalita 2023). In Australia, the landscape is changing.
“No time to stand beneath the boughs
And stare as long as sheep or cows:” – W.H.Davies
“Busyness” and a lack of free time have become common status markers in America and Asia, where most people associate them with people of greater social standing. In Australia, the answer is mixed. Going for a ‘beer’ on Friday afternoons has been a long-standing tradition in the Australian workplace. But today, in Australia, a “right to disconnect” rule has come into effect, offering relief to people who feel forced to take calls or read messages from employers after they finish their day’s work. The new law allows employees to ignore communications after hours if they choose to, without fear of being punished by their bosses. The European Union (EU) defines the right to disconnect as:
“a worker’s right to be able to disengage from work and refrain from engaging in work-related electronic communications, such as emails or other messages, during non-work hours”.
France is a pioneer, making it mandatory for companies with more than 50 employees to establish parameters for after-hours communication in 2016. Other countries that have adopted such laws are Belgium, Italy, Luxembourg, Spain, Slovakia, Argentina, Chile, Mexico, Ireland and the Philippines.
“No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass:” – W.H.Davies
Historically, working long hours did not generate admiration. In ancient Greece, while slaves carried out the labour, free males had nothing but contempt for it. The affluent Patricians of ancient Rome, who could afford to not work for a wage, loved to engage in ‘otium’, a Latin word meaning freedom from worrying about labour-leisure balances. In the 19th century, American economist and sociologist Thorstein Veblen made the following proposal:
“Conspicuous abstention from labour … becomes the conventional mark of superior pecuniary achievement’, whereas ‘labour is a mark of poverty and subjection’, inconsistent with a reputable standing in the community.”
Countess Violet Crawley even poses the inquisitive question, “What is a weekend?” in the television series Downton Abbey, which is based on a fictional Yorkshire country estate between 1912 and 1926 and follows the life of the aristocratic Crawley family and their domestic servants. In fact, for an early 20th-century British upper-class woman, it was too aristocratic to even comprehend the idea of a separate workweek and leisure week.
“No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night:” – W.H.Davies
How times change in just a few decades. Today, the richest person on the globe, Elon Musk, presents himself as a workaholic who puts in 80–100 hours a week. On social media, celebrities boast about their hectic schedules and hectic lives. Indeed, a study published in 1970 by the nonprofit National Bureau of Economic Research indicates that an entire century of diminishing work hours in the United States started to reverse, especially for highly educated, well-paid men. The U.S. Census Bureau’s most recent data also indicates that the wealthiest people put in the most overtime (Kuhn and Lozano, 2006).
This enormous change is partially due to the growth of knowledge-intensive economies. Human capital is one of the most highly valued economic assets in labour markets that are becoming more and more organised and competitive. Workers on the supply side make significant investments in their education and skill-building because they understand that their human capital is their most valuable asset. On the demand side, organisations, businesses, and headhunters fight to draw in and keep the brightest minds.
Because of all of this, working long hours has come to be seen as a status symbol and a means for people to prove their value. Working hard in economies that relied mostly on low-skilled industry and agriculture in the past might have been seen as a virtue, but it might not have meant that one was in great demand. But today’s hectic schedules and extended work hours do.
“No time to turn at Beauty’s glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance:” — W.H.Davies
It is interesting that despite the well-known negative effects of an overworked lifestyle on happiness, wellbeing, and health, many people still see a busy lifestyle as desirable and identify it with status.
Moreover, increased productivity does not always follow from longer workdays. We need to learn to work smarter, not harder.
Modern day corporations, in their quest for unbridled growth and excessive profits, they are pushing for their employees to work harder, often ignoring the well being of their employees. This work culture promoted by the two wealthiest people on the Globe, Elon Musk at his social media company X (formerly known as Twitter) and Jeff Bezos of Amazon. Reporter Caroline Colvin writes:
“Elon Musk is not the best at the whole employee experience thing, he has created toxic work environments across X, Tesla and SpaceX. Along with his billionaire bravado, Elon Musk is now synonymous with toxic workplace”. (Colvin, 2023).
Kristi Coulter, a former executive who spent 12 years in various positions at Amazon’s headquarters in Seattle says – “Working in Amazon offices was like slowly killing yourself” (Colomé, 2023),” In September 2024, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy announced that Amazon will now force all employees to return to office, bringing an end to the flexible working conditions at Amazon. Predictably, this has led to outrage among many Amazon employees, but frankly I don’t think their management cares.
There are numerous tragic stories about the lives of employees killed because of overworking by employers. On 27th Aug 2022, Audit and assurance specialist at Ernst & Young (EY) Sydney, Aishwarya Venkatachalam, 27, died when she committed suicide by plunging from the 11th floor terrace of her firm’s George St tower block in the CBD (Airs,2023).
And as I write this article comes the tragic news from India that a 26-year-old Chartered Accountant, Anna Sebastian Periyal, lost her life due to a “backbreaking workload” and “work stress” at EY. Anna’s mother, Anita Augustine, sent an email to EY India Chairman Rajiv Memani, detailing the circumstances surrounding her daughter’s death This email was published in full by the Times of India and is reproduced below (Times of India, 2024). She described it as a “wake-up call” for the company to reevaluate its work culture and prioritise the well-being of its employees.
“I am writing to you now, Rajiv, because I believe EY has a profound responsibility to ensure the well-being of its employees. Anna’s experience sheds light on a work culture that seems to glorify overwork while neglecting the very human beings behind the roles.
This is not just about my daughter; it’s about every young professional who joins EY filled with hopes and dreams, only to be crushed under the weight of unrealistic expectations. I took the time to read EY’s human rights statement, which bears your signature. I cannot reconcile the values expressed in that statement with the reality my daughter faced. How can EY begin to truly live by the values it professes?
Anna’s death should serve as a wake-up call for EY. It is time to reflect on the work culture
within your organization and take meaningful steps to prioritize the health and wellness of your employees. This means creating an environment where employees feel safe to speak up, where they are supported in managing their workload, and where their mental and physical well-being is not sacrificed for the sake of productivity.”
Throughout this article I have been quoting from Welsh poet W. H. Davies and tragically the last few lines of his poem apply to the sad ending to the life of Anna who sadly had…
“No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began?
A poor life this if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.”
Many contend that because life is moving so quickly these days, we might eventually start appreciating leisure time and slower lifestyles as status symbols again. Many professionals, particularly the younger ones, are calling for a slowdown at work, challenging the workaholic lives of before the pandemic, asking for shorter and more flexible workweeks, and scheduling more time for leisure. Instead of applauding on promotions, Gen Zs are boasting on social media about their “quiet quitting” and “great resignation” trends.
Could this mean that leisure is no longer valued as highly as it once was? I certainly hope not. But given that I am writing this article voluntarily, in the midst of the CMA Global Zoom programme, which involves teaching 150 people from 25 different countries at the same time, maybe I need to heed my own warnings. In the CMA program we train our participants to become not just ‘value creators’ focused on increasing shareholder wealth but ‘Sustainable Value Creators’ putting sustainability and ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) at the front and centre of value creation. Sustainability includes an emphasis on employee wellbeing.
Two decades ago, I made the move from India (with current world happiness index ranking 126 out of 146 countries), migrating to Australia (current world happiness index ranking 10 out of 146 countries) to improve the happiness and wellbeing of my family and myself (Helliwell, et.al., 2024). However, I found that it is as easy to practice ‘busyness’ in Australia as it was in India. As is evidenced by the two tragic examples mentioned above of young girls in EY Australia and EY India. As former employees of EY Australia tell me, the work culture in their teams at EY was very good. They say ‘work culture’ is very team and manager dependent. I agree with that assessment from my own experience. Good companies have toxic managers, and sometimes toxic companies may have good managers. Maybe all companies and countries should follow the lead of Bhutan which unlike most nations measuring progress through economic indicators like Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Bhutan follows a holistic approach by focusing on Gross National Happiness (GNH).
Incidentally, on the last day of the Global CMA Zoom programme, Prof Janek Ratnatunga reveals to all our participants that the secret formula for ‘Happiness’ is simply ‘wanting less’ than one ‘could have’. This is not only material things but also status and recognition. We are optimistic that our CMA ANZ members will foster a work culture that puts employee well being and happiness front and centre of their workplaces.
Nevertheless, optimism is insufficient, and some of these developments might not last. John Maynard Keynes, a prominent English economist, projected over a century ago that technological developments would reduce the length of our workweek to just 15 hours by 2028. Clearly, however, his vision is not coming to pass. Will we take advantage of the extra time we have to enjoy life as Generative AI increases our productivity and efficiency at work, or will we just stuff more things into our already full schedules in an attempt to feel important?
For the sake of societal happiness, I hope we go with the former.
“What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare?…
References:
Airs, Kevin (2023), “It took Aishwarya plunging to her death but now a damning report forces Australian corporate behemoth EY to admit: Our staff work too hard, Daily Mail, 27 July. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12342895/Aishwarya-Venkatachalam-Ey-Ernst-Young-Sydney-HQ-David-Larocca-Elizabeth-Broderick.html
Bellezza, Silvia; Paharia Neeru; and Keinan, Anat (2016), “Conspicuous Consumption of Time: When Busyness and Lack of Leisure Time Become a Status Symbol”, Journal of Consumer Research, 44 (1), pp. 118–138. https://doi.org/10.1093/jcr/ucw076
Colomé, Jordi Pérez (2023), “Working in Amazon offices was like slowly killing yourself: Life in the tech giant, according to a former executive” https://english.elpais.com/technology/2023-11-15/working-in-amazon-offices-was-like-slowly-killing-yourself-life-in-the-tech-giant-according-to-a-former-executive.html
Colvin, Caroline (2023), “In 2023, Elon Musk’s workplace cultures only got worse” https://www.hrdive.com/news/elon-musk-workplace-culture/703298/
Helliwell, John F., et.al., (2024). “Happiness of the younger, the older, and those in between”, Chapter 2, World Happiness Report. https://worldhappiness.report/ed/2024/happiness-of-the-younger-the-older-and-those-in-between/#ranking-of-happiness-2021-2023
Kalita, S. Mitra (2023), “The US Values Asian Work More Than Asian Lives”, Time Magazine, January 31. 2023 https://time.com/charter/6251395/the-us-values-asian-work-more-than-asian-lives/
Kuhn, Peter J. and Lozano, Fernando (2006), “Why High Earners Work Longer Hours, The Digest, National Bureau of Economic Research. January 7. https://www.nber.org/digest/jul06/why-high-earners-work-longer-hours
Times of India (2024) “26 year old employee’s mother writes letter to EY chairman: Annas death should serve as a wake up call for EY”, IT Tech Desk, Sept 20. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/technology/tech-news/26-year-old-employees-mother-writes-letter-to-ey-chairman-annas-death-should-serve-as-a-wake-up-call-for-ey/articleshow/113445667.cms