"It's true that hard work never killed anybody, but I figure why take the chance." The origin of this cheeky quote, often found on teenagers' T-shirts, is at a Washington dinner in 1987. The self-deprecating quip came mid-speech from then-US President Ronald Reagan who was often targeted for being "lazy and lethargic" and loving his afternoon naps. It is not ageing well in a world where the toxic productivity treadmill is gathering speed.
Unending work hours, the current default for hard work, are indeed killing people. Very young people. A 26-year-old chartered accountant employed with EY in Pune reportedly died from her workload earlier this week. Anna Augustine was just four months into her first job at the audit and consulting firm, one of the global Big Four.
'She Kept Pushing Herself'
"She worked tirelessly at EY, giving her all to meet the demands placed on her. However, the workload, new environment, and long hours took a toll on her physically, emotionally, and mentally. She began experiencing anxiety, sleeplessness, and stress soon after joining, but she kept pushing herself, believing that hard work and perseverance were the keys to success," Anna's grieving mother Anita wrote in a letter to EY chief Rajiv Memani. She wrote how Anna's managers dumped work on her at odd hours because they wanted to watch cricket matches. When she raised concerns about being unable to rest, she was told working nights was normal and that is what she should do.
The modern rat race has ensured that working long hours is seen as a badge of honour. It is often normalised by leaders people look up to. Prime Minister Narendra Modi takes pride in barely sleeping because he works almost round the clock. Although the PM allows that such punishing workaholism is not for everyone, it inspires many to egg others on with his example at the peril of their health. Business tycoon Narayana Murthy believes young people should raise productivity and work harder, at least 70 hours a week.
The argument here is not against hard, productive work. It is a cavill against the yardstick, which routinely is the number of hours and not the content of the job done. Never in human history have young white-collar workers toiled so relentlessly in service of corporate goals (read profits).
The Inescapable White-Collar Grind
Slave-driving employees was a managerial trait confined once upon a time to sweatshops and informal shop floors. But now white-collar grind is particularly overdone, especially in the finance and consulting sectors. Others such as law firms and even some non-profit foundations aren't far behind.
Outrage engulfed Wall Street in May when a 35-year-old Bank of America associate died after logging multiple 100-hour weeks. The banking industry already had work-hour restrictions, which were put in place a decade ago after a sleep-deprived intern died of a seizure. A Wall Street Journal investigation showed that "long hours and deference to bosses' commands, no matter how unreasonable, are the norm industrywide". Novice workers were always at the receiving end.
Overwork and burnout risk have spread to unexpected fields. Elite footballers in Europe are contemplating a strike after more matches were added to their annual schedule. The warning came from Manchester City midfielder Rodri, who is expected to play as many as 75 games for club and country in the 2024-25 season. "It is too much," Rodri was quoted as saying on Tuesday. "Not everything is about money or marketing. It is about the quality on show."
Backbreaking Work, Everywhere
Club owners, regulators and broadcasters are naturally happy to add matches in pursuit of revenues and profits. That even superstar sportspersons feel the heat of organised greed says something. Financiers would see it as elevating productivity and sweating assets. But as Rodri quipped, "When I am not tired I perform better."
Back-breaking work in other areas that was hardly visible in public discourse is now in focus. Rising demand for maternity leave and benefits has put the spotlight on unpaid household work done by pregnant women, especially in tradition-bound villages. The setting may be different, but the work afflicted on household novices (read young brides) is similar to what Anna went through at EY.
Greed At All Levels
There is no end to greed and it is stacked up from the supervisors at the lowest level, whose job it is to extract the most from their workers, all the way to the top of the food chain, the fat return-seekers who put up the dough. As Arun Maira, former chairman of BCG, argues here," the social and business culture of greed for more wealth, in which they are all locked, will not be easy to change. But it must be changed to make the world better for everyone". At the moment, it feels like wishful thinking. The pandemic-inspired introspection and debate around work, supervision, management, automation, lay-offs and living has fizzled out. Amazon, which cut 27,000 jobs in 2023, reverting to a five-day work-week perhaps is the tail end of pandemic-induced corporate forbearance.
The pressure will only increase as artificial intelligence proliferates in the workplace. Human beings, whose productivity and quality of work depend on their physical and psychological state, will not be able to match always - on AI's evenness and steady state. For companies, it eliminates the need to spend on maintaining the physical and psychological health of their workers. It's cost-effective, productive, and more often than not, anti-human. So are certain managerial practices.
(Dinesh Narayanan is a Delhi-based journalist and author of 'The RSS And The Making Of The Deep Nation'.)
Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of the author