Hybrid work is the name of the game for the near future employment. It offers, arguably, greater flexibility and is sometimes touted as more ecological as people do not have to commute to the office, or at least don’t have to do it all the time. There are arguments pro and contra; but wherever you stand on that side of hybrid work debate, have you considered what might happen to time off?
Throughout the pandemic, work has become more and more hectic. So much more, in fact, that there are debates about whether or not the 9-5, which, it is argued, was on its way out anyway, is also a completely outdated context that cannot survive the changes for the future.
But is that good or bad?
There is a reason we worked a 9-5 schedule, and those of us who in any way deal with office culture and burnout are aware of that – 9-5 was considered a realistic schedule to work. In theory, this amount of work, interspersed with breaks, is compatible with how our bodies work. Regardless, many still experience burnout, and while how we work may have to do with why we burn out, including bad hiring/firing practices, bullying etc, the amount we work isn’t uninvolved. We know for a fact that longer hours, no respite and constant pressure to work cause adverse effects, including literally working oneself to death, as well as the “death” of interpersonal and social connections (if you want to know more about that, please do a Google search; I could literally post nothing but references to all this here and would still not be finished, the topic is that big).
The slow erosion of the 9-5, then, isn’t necessarily a good thing…especially as hybrid work comes with the added threat of, wait for it,…overwork and burnout. And the thing about working from home is that it comes with added pressures that creep up on us – perception of what is truly work, distrust, micromanaging and above all constant or at least longer work as hours just fly by. Do you still get up and have a break for lunch? Or do you quickly have a bite (after all, the fridge is right around the corner), and hide it when you get an unexpected Zoom because so many are arguing it’s “impolite/improper” to eat or even drink on Zoom (whether it’s improper to barge in on someone’s lunch hour or after hours is ironically not being discussed)?
So what happens when holidays come into play?
The second half of the 20th century tv and film was littered with a very interesting theme…people who have to or “choose” to (after all, is it still your choice if you are suffering from an overenthusiastic boss, bad work ethics of colleagues and/or own complexes down to all manners of bad ideas having been passed down to you?) work during holidays. On the surface, this may look like a more or less serious take on Dickens’ infamous Scrooge. But in reality, it was also a take on something else – how we managed or failed to manage to integrate private life into a perhaps poorly managed work culture and work related laws. The theme is not irrelevant now, when people, especially women, have been leaving workforce in droves due to the work and life challenges during the pandemic. And it will become even more relevant as we continue to allow bad work practices to enter our lives and homes, and ultimately become written into laws.
Nowadays and in the near future, it may become logical for your boss to demand your presence on Zoom on Christmas eve. After all, it’s only Zoom, you don’t actually have to go anywhere! And make sure that your kids are quiet, that the dog isn’t barking, that your old grandma doesn’t pop into the picture, that your spouse is invisible in their silly Christmas sweater, that your dad isn’t heard making any kind of jokes, that the Christmas tree is hidden (after all, you need to be fully professional), that you are dressed to the nines (even though it’s actually 9pm…on a holiday), that you are fully sober and not at all eating any kind of treat, that the cat isn’t curled up anywhere visible…and make sure that you understand that, while this was a short call, you will in fact be going to bed at 2 am.
After all, it’s just a Zoom meeting, and it’s important!
For minorities, whose festivals don’t even necessarily get acknowledged, the situation may be even more difficult…and may lead to even more work-related stress, bias and toxicity.
But above all – is this truly the life we want to live?
I can see the future, and it’s not pretty. I don’t mean that in a dystopian, creepy, or even just psychic way. But understanding how humans work, how they do things, both adaptively and maladaptively, comes with a pro of being able to foresee how these changes may influence us. The constant stress, for instance, will have very definite effects not only on our own bodies and minds, but also on our families, friendships and ultimately society. If we are not very careful, if we do not set boundaries, legally and personally, wherever we can, we will allow especially toxic bosses and colleagues to effectively become our overlords (or we might do that to them if we are the overenthusiastic party), and the work to become a constantly present wave threatening to fall on our heads. And humans, like other mammals, do not respond well to that kind of stress.
The solution is to understand where changes come from. Nearly everything in our societies has been a consequence of SCR (social, cultural and religious) behaviour, which doesn’t necessarily take into account our psycho-physical needs, nor did it in the past. This is where concepts of time as experienced and utilised socially, the week, calendars and even holidays come from. But wherever they came from, they are here now, have been here a while and have a social meaning that spreads to both our personal identities and our wider, social, cultural and religious or atheist identities. And those are important too – for one, quite apart from the current debates about authentic self and workspace, we (especially our mental health and human connections) don’t generally take it that well when they are infringed upon.
Even without those very physical reasons, here’s one enshrined in human rights – we have a right to rest. We have a right to dignity. We have a right to health and to work. And these concepts and agreements created from them are heavily interconnected with our identity.
Holidays are an important part of who we are, whoever we are. It is paramount, if we want to create a good work environment and a good society for the present and the near future, that we preserve them in all their glorious diversity. This means making sure not only that they are acknowledged, but that they are also respected as a time off that we, as human beings, are entitled to. As the EU considers writing the right to be unavailable into law and the US, but also the rest of the world, considers their own further steps, we need to start a serious conversation on business level about how we intend to honour this even in case of regulation being slow to come, or not existing.
The goal of every business isn’t solely the work done. It’s not the product or the service. Rather, it is and should be the people – the people who represent the ideas, elbow grease and talent that drives, creates, challenges and innovates, thus making the product or service available. Work is by nature democratic, and we need to keep that in mind. And being allowed to work only a designated amount of time, however flexible, is an inalienable part of that.